Midsummer approach to the Tower Route on Big 4. I felt like I was caught in a big maw that was gumming me to death. Temps in the upper 80's, humidity in the upper 80's, hideous amounts of foliage. We bumped into a house-sized boulder that we climbed on top of to get our bearings and looked out over a sea of nastiness. By the time we got to the start of the route (?), we were so spent we turned around and schwacked our way back to the Ice Caves and trail.
Nasty descents tend to fade from my memory, but the old school descent off of GG Buttress earned a permanant spot in long term storage. We dropped into the gully, waiting for the "few" raps to cease. Too many raps later, we bailed out of the gully and began a contour around toward the base. At one point we entered a weird space of bleached gray cedar limbs from a downed old growth. It was like picking through the rib cage of a giant. At one point I impaled my shin on an unseen branch and to this day have a hole in the front of my shin I can stick half the tip of my index finger into. If I flex my foot just right, a big lump of tissue pushes out through the gap. We continued contouring around to the south, alternating between slide alder holding us 6 feet off the ground and apalear de diablo. I have no memory of how long it took, but by the time we hit the creek we had crossed that morning I was soaking wet and covered head to foot with flora detritus.
