As I found sure-footing, a cookie-sized rock whizzed by my right ear. It was so close that I felt the displacement of air on my right cheek, which was like a kiss from a disliked relative.

I repositioned myself and kept moving. Having only a pair of r ubber slip-on booties used to walk on ice-covered sidewalks, I was left f lat-footed on the vertical ice. I struggled to keep my head up to avoid falling rocks and from pulling both Joshua and I off the mountain.

Fal ling rocks are a hazard we were both sad ly familiar with. Neither of us expected the large amount of rockfal l. In fact, our plan was to have climbed that section of the mountain before the sun hit it. Our late star t meant we were at the base of the east buttress and on the ice t wo hours after the sun had already been on it, and three hours of f our or ig ina l plan. As I found sure-foot ing, a cook ie-sized rock whizzed by my r ight ear. It was so close that I felt the displacement of a ir on my r ight cheek, which was l ike a k iss f rom a disl iked relat ive. I kept my head up and stayed in step with Joshua. He moved lef t towards a 300 - metre wal l of wet, broken rock. He stopped with his toes pointed into the ice and f ist s in the snow. His head moved from side to side as if st udying the rock, the ice, the sk y, the mountain above and the snow below.

I yel led, “Joshua, get out of there ! ” He cont inued to examine, as i f gett i ng t he la st words of a n i mportant, but di f f icu lt to understand message. He committed, which meant we committed. Within 10 minutes we were cl imbing across the f irst of what would be an unexpected four pitches of 5.6 to 5.8 ter ra i n. Joshua del icately moved his way up wet and broken cor ners. From the belay, my eyes traced the hor izon, fol low ing the jagged l i ne of rarely seen summits and uncl imbed wal ls. I looked nor th to Mount Thor, the Penny Ice Cap and the remnants of the la st ice age. Then I looked east to the end of the Tur nweather Glacier and a l ikely unexplored cirque of g ranite towers before the Davis St ra it, and west towards our camp and the dist a nt g reen va l ley f loor of Auyuitt uq Nationa l Park. Last ly, I looked south toward t he 900 - metre nor theast butt ress of Tur nweather. I l istened to the sounds of Baf f in dur ing it s f leet ing summer, the echoes of landsl ides, water fal ls and the thunder from shifting ice.