Ok…now THIS actually gave me some butterflies. It’s definitely narrow, as can be determined when you use both hands on one top-rock (so the size of the top-rock then has perspective), but the 360 camera makes it really difficult to see actual scale. The 1:40ish mark, however…that area is hardcore. Again, it could be the camera, but it looks like you’re nearly hanging on the right side of the ridge, and with no rope. I don’t know if you share this opinion, but this looks more hardcore than the knife edge on Capitol. Would you say that is true, or is the knife edge harrier? Lastly…watching this made me think you had done this before, as you walk across the top-rocks without checking if they are stable. From the video, ALL the rock looks loose, yes…all of it…even the stuff you walk on. Wicked cool vid man. PS are your boots the Lowa Expert GTX mountaineering boots?
It's definitely intense. The camera can make it a bit more extreme, but it's the most exposed thing I've done. Much more exposed and a steeper drop than the knife edge on Capitol. I have La Sportiva G Techs now, but I believe these were those Lowas you're referring to. They were great for me but I upgraded to something a little bit lighter and warmer.
I need more exposure to heights. Stuff scares me to death... one thing though... when you stand up and are on that ridge. I start to get a bit dizzy doing that as you cannot see the ground immediately in front of you aside from the ridge. You must not have any issue like that...?
Yeah I don't have that issue anymore. It's taken me gradually getting more and more comfortable with exposure to be able to hike and climb things like this.
The traverse itself is very stable. The route up Little Bear is a ton of loose rock and is one of the more notorious 14er routes for that, but I was fortunate to climb it with snow still in the couloir so I avoided most of that.
I was actually wearing mountaineering boots for this because the couloir up Little Bear was full of snow and I needed crampons. I also needed crampons on some of the low sections of this traverse.
