I called him and tried to point out an easy way to no avail. So I pressed on frequently looking over my shoulder to see him growing ever smaller as he sat there watching me grow smaller. Finally just before I went up and into the final bowl below the couloir I looked back to see him turning and moving back to the campsite. Once in the couloir it was not so intimidating. I was in a hurry because as the day heated up rocks were pinging down the slopes all around me.
Speed means safety in the peaks.
From the bottom of the couloir to the summit took me only 30 minutes. Going down took 20 minutes, so you can see I wasn't wasting time. The ridge required a bit of scrambling, but I avoided most of it by moving right around the more difficult blocks through snow. This is where I saw my first cairn since the bottom of the couloir. The next cairn was going directly up the ridge on sort of steep rock.