As the sun dropped we moved as fast as we could. I think we each went through small spells of low energy but generally we moved quickly and felt strong. There was no complaining of because that is inexcusable. The only way it's appropriate to voice an opinion about an effort like this is to wish aloud that it was longer/steeper/wetter.

All of us had been a bit hard on our feet in the previous few weeks. Tony had smashed the North Canol Heritage Trail and Dylan and I had taken two sheep for a very long walk in the mountains. As a result we were pretty diligent about foot care on this hike. On most peaks we'd change socks or at least check and/or change our foot tape. None us of had any real foot issues as a result.

We topped out on Needle at 10pm in the dark and didn't linger long before starting down by headlamp. The good news is that there's a great and straight forward way off of Needle. The bad news is that I didn't take us there due to the dark.

I took us to schwack town. It seemed pretty bad to me but I didn't care to faff around anymore and just wanted to get down. Judging by the noises Tony was making, well behind me, he was in an active fight with the mountain and was losing. Dylan just got it done as always.

18 hours after setting out from Tony's we reached my car stashed at the bottom of Needle. Chips and ice cold drinks (we ARE getting smarter with age) were waiting for us there.

Although we were tired, there really wasn't any Type 2 fun on this one. The weather helped with that a lot. We may have picked the best day of the year to be up there. It was just a great and long day in the mountains. Type 1 fun isn't so bad as it turns out. With that said I won't be rushing back to do this route anytime soon.

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December 1st, 2019

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