Originally Posted By: KevinR


One last observation - another alternative in your situation was for your companion to stop on the trail and wait for your return, assuming she still had adequate food and water. That would have given her 2-3 hours to rest/recover, although one wonders whether she would have actually waited, given her performance to date.



When we were at 1.20 miles from the summit, 2 women hikers stopped and spoke with us. When my partner said she didn't think she could go on they told her she should wait behind and allow me to summit. Like you said, it would have given her roughly 2 hours to sit and rest, get back to her pack she dropped at the 1.9 marker. When I said it would be a 2 hour wait she chose to push on. And.... based on my post, we know how that decision ended. In addition, I absolutely do not believe she would have waited for me and that would have brought about a whole new set of problems. Again, in looking back there were so many foolish decisions I made but first one was doing this hike with the wrong person.