We followed the diagrams from the first traverse and wound up descending to a cliff above the South Cascade Glacier. I consulted the topographic maps and determined we should have continued left up the Le Conte Glacier (rather than descend right) to reach the upper slopes of the South Cascade Glacier. We had to climb back up 1,000 feet to get back on course. THIS was the low point of morale.

For a sense of scale in this picture, look in the lower left corner for the people climbing back up from the cliff. Updated guides have corrected the error in the route description. At least we had better topographic maps than the original party, but GPS was still many years in the future.

I wanted to make sure there would not be another route-finding error, so I planned to go as fast as I could to a col where I could confirm we could descend to the planned camp site near White Rock Lakes. Barb's boyfriend Pete had been giving me a hard time for days; now he called me a “shrimp.” I had suffered his insults in silence, wanting to maintain peace in the group and confident everyone else could see he was an ass; but this was the limit. When we got back to the Le Conte Glacier and roped up, I put Pete on my rope (knowing that he would have to prove he could keep up) and let the others form their own ropes, telling them follow at their own pace. I then ran almost 2 miles, gaining 1,000 feet in the soft snow before stopping at the pass leading down to our next camp. When we stopped at the col Pete collapsed, gasping. He never gave me a hard time after that.