Vesper Peak attempt

I got up this morning at 5:45 to take advantage of the sun's recent late rising, so I could catch the morning alpenglow for my drive into the mountains.
This Veteran's Day, weather-wise, couldn't've been better. Conditions-wise, it could hardly have been worse.
The instant I got into the hanging glacier valley, I found snow, which I expected. But as I so often find in my naivete, conditions were nothing like what I expected. I debated with myself last night over whether to bring skis, eventually deciding not to because it seemed like a hassle since I don't know how to telemark ski, figuring I'd just boot bring cramps and an ice ax and I'd be fine, like that last time I climbed Vesper, in May.
This snow, however, despite being relatively early in the morning and a chilly day, was very soft, and neither shallow enough to be ignored, nor deep enough that I still didn't have to tangle with unseen boulders under the snow.

 

All of this left me a bit sad, but I continued through the horrible, soupy snow. The snow was of just the right consistency to give me a smile of hope and joy that it might actually take my weight, before I stepped in, sunk to thigh deep and slid back a foot. On every single step.
The views were nothing short of spectacular, though.
Headlee Pass was the worst, with the extreme steepness making me slip backward 4/5 of a step for every step I made of progress.

After much struggling I finally made it towards the top of the pass.

I got to the pass and then had to decide whether I wanted to continue. Having really worked up an appetite from the previous 3 hours of brutal snow-struggling, I had lunch and read some of my book while thinking about whether to go on. I realized I probably faced a similar fight from the pass to the summit. Still, with the unusually good weather I was considering at least trying to continue, until I found that the cold wind blowing over the pass had conspired to chill my hands and feet numb. Since I wasn't willing to sacrifice fingers or toes for the cause, I decided to head down at a brisk pace to warm my hands back up and get my soaking feet out of the snow.

I went back to the car, spent a good hour reading while gazing at Sperry's bulk and Del Campo's majestic shelves before peacing out.