We spent half-an-hour...

We spent half-an-hour prusik-downclimbing this short arête to get into the northeast basin of the NE Peak. This was a half-hour of light we could have used later. The arête was almost downclimbable without the need for a safety line. Or at least we almost had the guts to free climb down it. Once past this there were no more difficulties all the way to Pk 4960+. I shouldn't say that. There was one more difficulty: the interminable snow slog. Feb. 19, 2005.