After breaking out of the drainage above the pond we met our first real obstacle: 1000+ feet of broken, wet rock slab intertwined with dense alpine brush. It was brutal. Whenever we thought we found a weakness in the wall above us some new patch of slimy wet rock with no chance of protection had us traverse through the bushes. But we moved upwards. We had plenty of daylight and the thought of rappelling through that mess to bail was even less appealing than continuing up through it.