In the near death zone
Chad apparently developed a severe leg cramp and turned around to get off the mountain. We had no radio communications so he assumed after a while I would head back down too. I waited for Chad for about an hour before I resumed to push on for the summit. With the snow falling fast, the trail was obscured and my vision was greatly diminished. With "summit fever" I wanted to go on, but my instincts told me to turn around and get off the mountain. I did so but not before getting disoriented. I took this photo with the anticipation I was going to spend a cold night on the mountain.