I will explain this section of the hike simply by putting in a section out of my Journal for this trip about this part of the hike. From my journal for June 11, 2011:

“At about two and a half miles up the trail, the trail disappeared, due to an earlier avalanche. We had been passed along the trail by three young women who were carrying large backpacks. We asked them where they were heading and they told us that they worked at the Tea House and they were carrying up supplies. So we knew that the trail went through since they had gone ahead of us. Andrew found a new trail (photo one) and we followed him upwards. Andrew’s new route quickly lead us to the top of a knife-edged lateral moraine ridge. The trail was two to three inches wide in many areas and perhaps as wide as ten inches in the widest areas. (photos two and three) The ridge extended for several hundred yards or more. One mis-step could have caused a tumble to possible death on one side and a tumble to an eventual snow-bank on the other side. Vicky slipped down once but hung on and Andrew and I had to pull her back up to the ridge top – while keeping our own balance. About three-fourths of the way along the knife-edged ridge, April determined that we had missed the trail. We could see the actual trail down below us on the adjoining mountain but I couldn’t see how we could get to it. April was correct about us being on the wrong trail but Andrew wanted to keep going forward and upwards. It didn’t look good but we could see that at least we were nearly out of serious danger. After a lengthy discussion (considering our position), (photo four) Andrew finally asked me what I thought. I said, “Son, this is your trip. You researched it, planned it, and put it together. Your mom and I signed on to go, so if you say ‘Onwards and Upwards’, we are right behind you. But I do want to point out one thing. If your mom and I fall off this ridge and die, you are going to have to explain it to your two sisters all by yourself – and your sister Rita gives one heck of a cross examination”. Andrew said “noted Dad, onwards and upwards”. We made it across the rest of the ridge, rock hopped up steep loose moraine which alternated with high snow drifts and avalanche fields. We made it all the way to the Six Glaciers and the Abbot Pass Viewpoint and then back down the mountain to the Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House. It was one of the most exciting hikes of our lives. In fact, it was probably number two. Some snow drifts were four to five feet high and we crossed dozens of avalanches.”

IF the trail doesn’t look very worrisome to you, take a look at the last photo. I took it from the Plain of Six Glaciers. It’s looking back at the ridge that we had just hiked (the previous photos). If you look close, you can see two hikers taking the same trail that we did. One is on the right side and the other is just to the left of the area of the ridge with snow behind it. They look very small which gives you more perspective of the size of the mountain and how far down it was if we slipped off the edge.