BethJanelle: Congratulations! You and Blake are certainly in extremely good condition. How often and how long were those "endless Stairmaster workouts"?
And you are some of the lucky ones -- Most people cannot eat a thing by the time they ascend to Trail Crest, due to the altitude. Some people have to stop even at Trail Camp and turn around. Nobody can tell how they will react until they actually do this hike.
Also lucky that you were able to glissade in soft snow, as you mentioned how it ices up later on. It is a lot safer to have an ice axe to use as a brake if the chute gets icy.
Were Davey and his friend wearing crampons or were they also wearing microspikes like you? Most people with the micros bail at the Chute.
By the way, the people who started at 3am... did you pass them or the other way around?
