[sblock=OOC and Assumption]Sorry, of course. I apparently had my mind on something else when I posted that.

The choice is burn or avoid, essentially. That said, I'm moving things along with the
assumption being that the lichen is not burnt, and the caribou is pulled out.[/sblock]Your group carefully pulls the caribou out from the snow banks near the lichens and sets about cleaning and heating it. It takes a good while, but, when all is said and done, the party has a good food source for a little while.
The remainder of the night is uneventful, and the party continues travelling in the morning, through the next day, and on again, reaching the base of the tallest mountain within a day and a half from camping near the lichens. Carved into the side of the needle-like mountain is a vicious set of stairs, steep and treacherous, but navigable for the party, although it stands to be a rough trip for the animals. The biggest problem will be, of course, the fact that the stairs will need to be taken in one trip as far as you can see -- there's just not anywhere obviously visible that would provide a safe, comfortable, or manageable camp site.[sblock=OOC]Naturally, I'm assuming at some point you'll be climbing, but what I need to know is what precautions you might take, how you'll tend to your animals, and so on. The stairs are no more than ten-feet wide and frequently far thinner.[/sblock]