Guy Entering Sargents Traverse

February 15th, 2010 - In order to bypass the gendarmes on the ridge, we traversed onto the east side of the ridge before eventually cutting back over to the west side. These slopes were steeper than expected, but perfect snow made for fast and solid climbing. It stays steep throughout, which makes for a very long traverse. Guy Bresler is entering the traverse on 50 degree slopes that stayed steep for a long ways down. Thrilling! The second, more distinct snow crest from the left in the photo is where you exit the traverse and climb to a notch in the ridge. In my topo photo the snow ridge extends down to the 2nd Buttress. For convenience, I'm calling this stretch the "Sargents Traverse".