The Approach with Hollow Head in the Distance
I won the rosh for Lost Chord, and the ice was absolutely HERO! I love the end of the season for two reasons. First I'm finally climbing hard, feel strong and confident as opposed to a being tense and scared. Secondly, the ice always softens up at the end of the season. Instead of swinging ten times, I may swing at the most 3 times, such a huge difference when climbing steeper ice.
Me Leading Lost Chord
Photo by: Lynn Peterson
At this point in the season Ry, Lynn and I have gotten out a few times together. We have climbing as a team of 3 pretty wired. The half ropes, and auto locking belay device make such a huge difference. Having two people climb at the same time is so much faster than 1 at a time.
Ry and Lynn Almost to the Top
Ry Rapping Down Lost Chord
After Lost Chord we went over to the climb opposite, I always forget its name...Lost in space? Lost Ice? Something Lost...kinda like my memory! Super fun route, Ry won the first pitch and Lynn got the second. We had an interesting rope entanglement on the rappel. We pulled the rope, and the very end of the rope on the way down wrapped itself around an alder maybe 2 inches in diameter. Such a little wrap to cause a lot of trouble. We pulled unsuccessfully, and then climbed back up to a ledge closer to where it was stuck and pulled some more. I can't believe how strong that itty bitty alder was, it just would not break. So Ry got the honor of climbing back up to unwrap it.
After that fiasco it was nearing 6:30, but we still had to walk past Hollowhead on the way out...all of us were ambivalent about climbing or going home. So we used fate to decide, my favorite of all decision breakers, the Ro-Sham-Bo. My rock crushed Lynn's scissors, and the decision was made. So glad we stayed to do it, such FUN climbing. I got to lead the pitch, and it was awesome.
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