Imager...

One thing to bear in mind here is that this board is populated with people who can give objective advice about the difficulty of the trail in question. The people who have been giving you advice have been hiking for decades and have lots of trails under their belt to which they can compare the relative difficulty of this trail. Your friends, while perhaps having been down the trail a couple of times, are still basically young bucks who probably haven't had any close calls that they've recognized. It takes experience, not just on the trail in question, but on difficult terrain in a variety of different places, to recognize the significance that one misstep could truly lead to death.

Overdramatic? Perhaps, but this is a public forum read by people from all over the world, and any downplaying of the dangers of a difficult trail on such a forum would be seriously irresponsible. I also feel it is seriously irresponsible of your team leader to put you or anyone else on that trail without first doing several shake-down trips on difficult, but LESS DEADLY terrain. Would you go rock climbing for the first time with someone who insists you can do a 5.10 climb? Or skiing for the first time with someone who says you can do a black diamond trail? And they know you can do this, how? Because they hang out with you and BS with you over beers?

Only you can know what you are capable of, what you're comfortable with, and only YOU can say no to doing something you're not comfortable doing. Save the trail for another time. Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD. People who can't respect you for standing up for what you feel is right aren't real friends. Period.

MNS