10 miles a day

I could not walk more than 10 miles a day in the Sierra .Even after I became confident with my navigation skills. When you're hiking on top of snow pack for many miles it becomes impossible to calculate elevation gains and losses because the drifts can be 40 ft deep.

The ice axe combined with mountaineering boots are essential for me at my age .I need to be able to cut steps into the snow banks with my boots  and if it's ice-covered I need to be able to cut steps using  the adze of my axe . Twice I needed my  ice axe to arrest my fall on icy slopes. Once on a 1200 ft descent .Aside from thermal gear  my ice axe is my most important piece of mountaineering gear