is automatically belayed by the others. Moving together on a rope is a safe but slower process. Going unroped, which is faster and more efficient for movement, is a common practice when snowfall is thick enough to make for strong snow bridges across cracks, or when particular routes up glaciers are well-known to be safe. Both M. Y. and Arlene had climbed the Whitney Glacier before and gone unroped on those ascents. As the team navigated a section of jumbled ice down low, the crevasses were narrow and exposed—the crevasse that can be seen is far friendlier than the one that’s hidden—and
