When Your Foot Slips

This year, it seems like we have found ourselves in slippery situations more often than we’d like. The reason for this boils down to a word that causes the heart of every hiker or mountain climber to recoil in disgust: scree. It’s not that we choose these situations for ourselves. It’s just that, when you are learning about route-finding off-trail, you sometimes get stuck on slopes that looked easy from below.

“Scree” is a type of talus. "Talus" is chunks of rock ranging from pebble-size (scree) to massive boulders. Often, talus will cover an entire mountainside, creating loose, treacherous terrain that is difficult both to ascend and to traverse. And when that talus is small chunks of scree on top of solid rock, a hike becomes a grueling climb. It is like traveling up an escalator that is moving downhill—minus the steps.

A talus/scree field

“Scree” is the terrain on which we found ourselves one fateful day in the San Juan mountains of Colorado. We were on a mountain that we had climbed several years ago (read that story here.) This time, though, as we hiked up into the breathtaking basin below the peak, we decided to take a different route to the summit.

“If travel up that slope and turn left, we can crest the ridge and follow it to the top.”

Risky—but since we had already ascended this peak, we felt it would be fun to go a different way. So we set out on a grassy, very steep slope that at first was strenuous but not particularly dangerous.

Yet the higher we went, the more the grass gave way to the dreaded substrate—scree on top of solid rock. And the slope only got steeper. Steeper and steeper it became until it was almost vertical. We found out later that this slope angle (which we measured to be about 50 degrees) usually would require the use of ropes and specialized gear. Looking back, I believe it.

With each step, I found myself losing traction as my shoes slid downwards on the loose rock. My hands were of little use as I clawed to keep my balance. Our progress was painstakingly slow. Looking below me, I knew it was too steep to turn around now. We were at what Kelly has previously termed “the point of no return.” (Click here to learn the origin of that phrase.)

But eventually, we made it to the base of a small cliff at the top of the slope. Traversing along the bottom of this cliff, we were able to skirt it and scramble on top of a ridge that thankfully levelled out to a wide, grassy point.

Climbing up the cliff wasn't going to work.

So we decided to skirt it.

Coming to the ridge crest.

That's better!

You may think that, after such a circumstance, we have never found ourselves on that type of terrain ever again. But you would be wrong—unless you have been keeping up with our other posts and have learned how—silly? crazy?—we are. Only a few weeks later, we were toiling up another scree slope towards a small rise above a pass so that we could get a better view. This time, though, we were able to turn around before it got too bad. On multiple mountains we have over and over again encountered this frustrating but common aspect of mountain climbing.

Scree and talus cause us so much angst because of the way they make our feet slip. On a more personal level, David also found himself in situations, spiritually, where he felt that his foot was slipping. In Psalms 94:18, he cried out “My foot slips!” Wicked, proud people had surrounded him and were cruelly oppressing people all around him. In moments of terror and anxiety, he found his foundation slipping away. If all this evil continues unchecked, where is my hope? In what can I base my trust? What if injustice triumphs after all?

“But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge” (Psalms 94:22). When hiking, there is no greater relief than stepping off a treacherous scree slope onto solid rock. And when injustice seems to prevail in your life, there is no greater consolation than the reality that God’s character is more solid than rock. He is just. He is faithful. And His steadfast love will uphold you.

When your foot slips, when your hope wanes, when your faith shakes, step onto the Rock, lift your head, and wait to see His glory and might prevail.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV^® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

© 2025 by Anchor & Fish Ministries. All rights reserved.

Photos by Jenny and Joe Venturo