Borah Peak via chicken out

Climbed Borah on 11/14/15, and was rewarded with a totally empty mountain. I left the campground at about 2:45 am, following the depression in the snow left by the trail until I got above the tree line. There was about 1-2 feet of snow, which was extremely dry and did not compact well. In addition to this, there was a crust that was just enough to break through on almost every step. This meant lots of work going uphill. When I got to chicken out ridge, the wind started picking up and blowing the snow around, further obscuring the crossing. This made for quite the hair-raising experience while crossing the ridge and downclimbing the final technical drop. After chicken out, the route was pretty simple to follow, even in the snow. The only obstacle was large rocks near the top that were covered in snow and my crampons could not find purchase on, resulting in some frustration. After summiting, I followed the ridge a little closer on the way down, and had no major problems. Total time moving: 13 hr 45 min solo. Would've been a bit faster with two to break trail.