Isobath is running at full load

Describe the queue as a piece of ground, briefly.

Picture the queue as a ridgeline seen from a long way off. Every request is a walker on the path, and this afternoon the path is busy from the trailhead to the cairn at the top. Nothing is lost — the ground is simply carrying more weight than it was surveyed to hold. Isobath thins out the way a hillside does once the light moves on. Until then the contour holds, the walkers keep going, and your place in the line is already marked.