What a great sounding trip. I live in SE Michigan and have only done a little mountaineering (Olympus, Rainier), but the route you took sounds really appealing to me. (challenging, glaciers, views, snow covered passes to ascend). If I lived out west, I'd probably be begging someone to organize a trip like this one that I could sign onto. :-) I'm impressed with the physical & technical training everyone did. That 5.5 dyneema definitely sounds well outside the traditional wisdom of alpine safety, even to a noob like me! Thanks for writing this up and sharing. It's good to live vicariously through others sometimes.
