The climb up was HARD. While the overall climb and trail is shorter in miles than the other peaks, this was quite challenging to climb. There's a lot of elevation gain in a short period of time (as opposed to other hikes which are longer distance in total but the climbing feels more gradual).

Once we got to the top it was C-O-L-D. If you are going to attempt this hike at the end of May (as we did) anticipate for there to be some visible snow (none on the trail but there was quite a bit visible at the top) and bring LAYERS to wear.

Hiking down from the top there were HEAVY winds. The winds almost knocked me down until I got more towards the Devil's Backbone portion of the trail. The Ski Hut was open and had COVID operations in place and it was nice to grab an ice cold can of coke.

You can take the ski lifts down or walk the last couple of miles down a wide fire road (the option that my group took). This easy fire road down was a nice relief after the intense climb at the start of the hike. Some of our group experienced altitude sickness, so I recommend having Advil on hand and salt tablets to take while on the trail.