I woke up in the Buttermilks and drove up to South Lake to meet Kevin and Kendra. We set off from the trailhead at 7:30 or so, and made our way up towards the peaks. After a few miles we turned off trail and passed through some beautiful basins. It was nice hiking with other people after hiking most of the summer alone.
I hadn’t read much of the beta since I assumed the route would be easy. When we got to the ridge we found some pretty tough going, loose third maybe even fourth class. I donned my helmet and got to work. Kendra and Kevin were a little more uncomfortable, and did not have helmets. They ultimately ended up turning around 100ft or so from the summit. I climbed the small summit block and debated whether to head for Pt. Powell or not.
Ultimately, as it was so close, I decided to go for it. Looks can be deceiving, it took almost an hour and a half over loose scree each way to traverse the short distance between the two summits. What had been planned as a rest day before starting my evolution trip suddenly got a lot longer. I was feeling good though, and soon I was back on Thompson. The ridge was certainly an exposed down climb, but I felt comfortable the whole way. Soon I was skipping down boulders and slabs as I made good time back to South Lake.
