When I came down from Trail Crest in January 2011, Bulldog34 saw my Spot track and thought I must have done a sitting glissade. Nope! My pants were dry and my ass was warm when I got back to camp that night.
I remember that, Bob. The super-heavy snow year when some on the board insisted the switchbacks couldn't be negotiated with just crampons and axe, but required full-on technical ice skills and equipment.
You went up with crampons, ice axe, and maybe snowshoes, which as I recall you didn't really need. And you covered the round trip from Bighorn Park in those extreme conditions faster than a lot of folks could in a dry summer. Up the switchbacks and down the chute and, yes, I assumed you did a butt-glissade. I had seen your SPOT track somewhere around the JMT junction on the descent and the next time I looked, not very long after, you were below Trail Camp. Still hard to believe that was done standing.
