I'm with Vera, walking on a dusty trail up a hill. The dust is about a foot deep on the narrow rut of a trail, and when we kick it up, almost too thick to see through. We seem to be going the opposite way as everybody else, as if we'd chosen the different way around, and the other people are annoyed that they have to squeeze around us through the thick dusty air.

I get a way ahead of Vera, and come to a tricky spot, very exposed, with a thousand feet or so of air below, where you have to step out into the exposure, reach up, and pull yourself up this small cliff. I watch one guy pass over it, his hands scrambling for purchase over the ledge, and it looks very scary. They call this "the slux", which is the word "crux" combined with some other word which isn't clear.

I'm not sure I want to tackle this dangerous part, and I'm pretty sure Vera won't either, so I stop and wait for her to catch up, and probably to turn back.