The Minarets, at the southern end of the Ritter Range, offer a classic High Sierra landscape. Dirty secret about a lot of ultra-light camping gear: it ain't very durable... The wind coming off the peaks and across the lake kicked my ass that afternoon. I piled about 30 lbs. of rocks on each corner of my tent. It stayed in place, but six hours of getting sand-blasted with grit jammed the tent zippers and I had to cut my way in at sundown. Then my sleeping pad developed a slow, un-patchable leak, and I broke a hiking pole descending from Cecile Lake. That was the end of the trip, as I was out of DEET. Good times! Steve