We were up the next morning at 4:00 and out of camp around 5:00. We first crossed about 200 yards of talus, then we started up a gradual snow slope. The night time temps didn't drop low enough to freeze the snow. It was soft, but not so soft to go without crampons so we geared up. When we got to the couloir, the pitch changed considerably. The snow was soft enough for kicking steps, which Michael did, followed by Matt, then me. By my turn, it was a veritable staircase, comfortable and secure, except for the rare step that occasionally broke out. Remember to kick in with the toe down so the step slopes inward, I think. About half way up, we ran out of snow and started climbing on rock, keeping an adequate distance between each of us in case someone clumsily pulls or kicks rock down on those below. The rock climbing was very comfortable with good hand and foot holds, and little exposure. Or maybe I just didn't notice the exposure because I'm more comfortable on rock. I certainly noticed it on the snow. Some of the hardest moves for me were stepping back onto the snow slope from the rocks. The snow was severely undercut and I suffer from short leg syndrome. Anyway, from the rock we went back onto steep snow, then once more on to rock near the top when the snow ran out for good. A last section of rock climbing, and the couloir spits you out onto the hiking trail. It's right there! Up one last ledge and your nose is practically on it. Turn left and a few hundred yards has you at the top. We were probably 3.5 hours from the time we left our camp until we reached the summit. At last, sit down, eat a snack and enjoy the top. The views were great and there is a stone wall that someone erected for protection, I guess. We hung out about half an hour then started down the southeast ridge. The existing trail is well marked and essentially, it's a stroll in the park. We ventured over to the cliff face a few times just to snoop around and view the route we climbed. Finally, we cut north for good and dropped down a grass, then talus slope back towards our camp. Hiking down the grass was nice, but the talus was a pain. We finally reached our initial snow slope, which was soft enough now for plunge stepping and the trip back to camp was quickly concluded. At camp I lounged around while Michael and Matt considered our options for climbing out of the cirque. We could retrace our path from the day before, or cut south, up a reasonably steep grass slope that looked quite inviting. Dead reckoning estimated we would save about 1.5 miles off our trip, so this was our plan. We ate lunch, packed up and headed out, returning by yesterday's route until we passed the long abandoned cabin. After that we headed south up the steep grass slope we had been eyeballing for the past day. The hike up the slope was slow but steady with each of us finding our own personal switchbacks. It was probably a 30 minute hike up. At the top it was clear sailing, with all of us legging it towards the drainage that dumps into St. Mary's glacier. We practically ran across the meadow and hit the glacier flying. Matt was in the lead and pulled away from both Michael and me as he skated down the glacier. The snout, or bottom of St. Mary's glacier is a little steeper than the rest above, so I was a little more cautious at this point. Matt was already long gone and Michael headed over to the rocks. I made it without any embarrassing mishaps - no unplanned butt slides in front of the snow boarders who were up there. As we headed down the trail back to the car, the storm clouds gathered. I was amazed at the number of people heading up to cavort on the glacier in the threatening weather. Our day was done. We were heading on down to the Sawatch Range for a shot at the north side of LaPlata Peak.