Climbing Borah Peak |
 First attempt: However, when we reached the top of a small cliff above the first snow-covered couloir we had to cross, Eric and I took a long, hard look at the state of the snow on the mountain. It didn't look stable, and the hot July sun undoubtedly would have meant that the snow would have been even more treacherous by the time we'd have been coming down from the summit. We had already met a couple of climbers who'd turned round, and – very reluctantly – we decided to do so too. This photograph, which quite clearly shows the amount of snow on the upper-most sections of the mountain, was taken at about 11,500 feet / 3,500 metres, shortly before we started descending at 9:40 am. |