Have always wanted to climb Mills particularly after seeing it from the summit ridge of Abbot in 2012. Like others I would prefer to do the North Couloir but the approach is long. In this case I got my wish but having climbed the left hand East Face gully, I was not at all interested in descending the same way. That left few choices. Since I'd always wanted to see the Fourth Recess and it was only 9am when I summited, I decided to down climb the North Couloir and wrap around back to Mono Pass the long and scenic way. That it was. Left the truck at 3:30am and got back at 7:30pm. Sixteen miles / 16 hours. What a day.

View Trip Map for loop details and campsite locations