The landscape in the Arctic can be evocative of the Forbidden Zone from 'Planet of the Apes.'
We each attacked the slope with varying degrees of intimidation. John went up before me, following Pascal's experience-derived course, and made it to the top handily. I went up next, able to remember the approximate line of attack. The trick for steep, rubble-strewn terrain is to keep moving in a low gear and carefully crawl to the top without stopping if possible.
Once atop the windswept bluff, Gabriel set up his drone system to scout the path ahead via air. Pascal and his team from four years before had left an ATV and Humvee in the field as they paused during a traverse from the HMP Base Camp to the coast, and one goal for this field season is to check on the Humvee and bring the ATV back to base. Today, on this drone scouting trip, Pascal was hoping to find a shortcut through a maze of canyons to gain faster access to the ATV.
For the next hour or so, Gabriel stood atop the bluff wearing his FPV goggles and capturing drone footage of a distant valley that might be the solution. The aerial video was spectacular, but when watched in real-time, was inconclusive. Once back at base, however, going carefully through the footage, Pascal was able to confirm a viable route.