Climbing South Hayden

My wife and I decided to try something new over the weekend. We attempted to summit the relatively remote Hayden Mountain. It was quite an experience and our first true backcountry summit attempt. We ended up having to turn back about 200 vertical feet from the summit due to loose shale and snow in the chute we were trying to summit from. We did however top out at 13,027 feet, meeting out goal of reaching at least 13k. Here are a few things I learned or were solidified in my brain:

The mountain tells you where and when you can go on it.
Backcountry bush-whacking below the tree line is no joke.
Always be aware of your surroundings, the sketchiest moment of the trip was when we were moving to fast and not thinking and observing enough.
My wife is a badass and the best teammate I could have.
The scale of mountains is extremely hard to capture in photos