RIDE IT?
What exactly is going on here? That tiny green thing in the middle – is that a person? But why are they... riding the ridge? Well, that person is me, and I’ll tell you exactly why I’m straddling the snow like a novice cowboy. You see, I’d started out from a wonderfully solid and wide bank of snow back near where this photo was taken from. But as I’d wandered out along the ridge, it became narrower and softer. Far from being a reassuringly frozen crest of hardened névé, it turned out to be little more than a loose drift of snow shaped into a near-perfect arête by the wind, with anything remotely solid hidden deep beneath it. I’d dropped down from the apex, plunging fists and axe into the powder as I crabbed sideways. Then, with the security of the snow decreasing as the steepness and height increased, I wondered if maybe the other side might be better. It wasn’t. The optimum method for traversing the ridge was, in fact, to shuffle along it like a dog with worms, until the firmer snow towards the far end made it possible to resume a more typical stance. Elegant? No. Effective? Yes. And sometimes in winter, that’s the best you can ask for.