Yeah, another five minutes and I think we would have been out of the chute. Rats! But I was so shaken up mentally by the fall, there's no way I was going to continue climbing.
bobpickering, I have huge respect for anyone who goes up and down Split Mountain via Red Lake in a single day. That's a beast of a hike. One of your photos is from the area where I fell, and it really shows the steepness and poor condition of the slope there:
I've been thinking a lot about what lessons I should take away from this. I'm not sure how we would have avoided the wrong-turn to that notch. I'd studied the map, and read many other people's trip reports, and they basically all said to just follow the slope up to the ridge. I hadn't realized it would be ambiguous. Maybe I should have stopped to do a compass reading or GPS check to help decide which way to go.
Once we were in the chute, were we off route? I'm pretty certain it was the correct chute, although due to the snow we ascended about 15 feet to the right of where Bob did (to the left in his photo as viewed from above), in the section of larger rocks rather than smaller rocks and gravel. Maybe this made it more difficult than it was supposed to be?
What gets me is that none of the guide books or trip reports made a big deal out of this section, if they mentioned it at all. I found it to be very difficult. I was scared. Every step seemed precarious and wobbly. I really didn't want to be there. Maybe I should have just turned around, but I convinced myself it was all mental, since the guide books called it an easy class 2 to an easy summit.
One lesson I'll remember is to test my handholds in conditions like this. I knew everything was loose and slippery. I should have tested the big rock by tugging on it gently first, before committing and putting all my weight on it to haul myself up.
