Once the slope got steeper than we were comfortable with, we took our skis off and just hiked the rest of the way with crampons and our ice axes.
We carved out a small sheltered area to put our bivy sacks down.
Looking north, you can see Lake Tahoe in the distance.
The weather definitely started to cool off later in the afternoon.
The weather definitely wasn't as nice on Sunday. Our bivy area was just beyond those trees.
Up over the ridge to the south side on our way to the rocky part of the East Ridge - the weather isn't getting any better.
Rime ice. This happens when you have super-cooled water in the air and as the wind blows it against rocks and such, the ice actually grows into the wind.
We're now off the snow and onto the rocks. Lots of loose stuff and scree.
The clouds parted briefly and gave us a glimpse of Hope Valley.
We decided to turn around not much past this point. The ridge went up quite a bit and we were worried about getting back to camp, and the car before nightfall.
Another shot of Lake Tahoe.
Looking back at the start of the rocky section of the East Ridge, on our way back down.
The clouds came and went.
A different view of Elephant's Back.
Looking back over the valley that we need to descend into and cross to get back to the car.
