Vertical Challenge
In all the years i have been observing mountain goats I have never seen a goat make a mistake and have to u-turn. They will stand there cautiously taking their time to plan their route assessing the pitch and width of the path. This was a first. Having descended half way down the narrow path, the goat realized the pitch suddenly changed into something close to vertical. He sat at the precipice and rather than risk a vertical tumble hundreds of feet he carefully turned around and scaled the 30-40 feet he had previously covered while his concerned friend at the top watched his maneuver. This was no small feat even for a mountain goat.
The slope looks to be 60 degrees at this point (picture the steep pitch of the roof of a house) - enough of a slope that would send a human careening downward with nothing to hold on to.
Vertical Challenge
In all the years i have been observing mountain goats I have never seen a goat make a mistake and have to u-turn. They will stand there cautiously taking their time to plan their route assessing the pitch and width of the path. This was a first. Having descended half way down the narrow path, the goat realized the pitch suddenly changed into something close to vertical. He sat at the precipice and rather than risk a vertical tumble hundreds of feet he carefully turned around and scaled the 30-40 feet he had previously covered while his concerned friend at the top watched his maneuver. This was no small feat even for a mountain goat.
The slope looks to be 60 degrees at this point (picture the steep pitch of the roof of a house) - enough of a slope that would send a human careening downward with nothing to hold on to.