Ah, salty, the great debate between the definition of "hiker", "climber", "mountaineer", "alpinist", etc. rages onward! Great explanation.
I'm curious, scheiner, as to your preparation to heading up the MR. Without being facetious, did you do any research before hitting the trail? Secor suggests, "there is some loose talus in the couloir" (pg. 71); Porcella and Burns state, "The gulley is often snow-filled and has many loose rocks that await the unaware" (pg. 70); but perhaps my favorite is Peter Croft's assessment: "...in poor conditions (no snow) it can be a slidey talus treadmill or (in soft snow) a wallowing, slippery pig crawl to the top of the main gulley." (pg. 109)
Even Steve Larson didn't have the nicest things to say about the gulley on his
summitpost page. Any way you look at it, it is indeed a loose slog, and if you're not prepared for that, it can be very intimidating. I agree wholeheartedly with Kathy that many Class 2 sections of the Sierra (and broad talus slopes/fields) can be infinitely more dangerous than clean climbing routes.
You failed to mention, scheiner, if this was any sort of warm-up for you to attempt some alpine climbing. If so, please know that many of the approaches to these climbs involve some significant slogging up said talus and scree fields.
