ivan

9/20 - day 16 - lap 15 -nearly 10 days scorched by smoke, every soul snugged down indoors and refusing the outdoors if they were sensible - a week of school from home, haunted by children and chickens, with nowhere to go when the working day was done - a species of hell surely, though not so hot i suspect - broke a bit by friday, then a good swim saturday, sunday w/ adam not so early, back-achy n' belly-bad - the corner n' some young warriors, elk at high speed fleeing the island under the cloud of a pair of apache attack helicopters

9/10 - day 15 - lap 14 - the world on fire, literally and metaphorically - raging smoke and a bloody orange sun at work days end, i headed east and had beat the smoke by cape horn, but by my eponymous ledge 30 minutes from the parking lot it was seething in from the west, evoking awful everywhere - the fixed line down to the ledge stripped to the core, i made some adjustments and continued on in safety, suffering a beer in bergen-belsen conditions and not enjoying it a bit - we live a world of woe, and who's to say if this age is any worse than another, but i'll belt the man who says so at the moment on general principle or plain-old-orneriness if nothing else

9/2 - days 11-14 - laps 11-13 (one an all-day gypsy-carnival w/ a former student, her 2 friends and an all-star line-up of my 5 favorite beatards to make it work), plus a jaunt up jill's w/ geoff n' another on right gull w/ him n' new-guy ty

8/24 - day 9 - lap 10 - the terrible tension of a tormented fall-start up tamped down after a day actually at work, we ramble east for a shady lap - helped shepard some way-laid pilgrims down the fixed line n' spared them a proper working-over by the Tool after encountering them on the trail - steve n' adam on the ground - tasty steak n' salad for dinner - head down, power through the pandemic or get pissed i guess?

8/11 - day 8 - lap 9 - back still broken from the lake ozette swim, took a leisurely drive into the gorge to take a look see about in the fading dog days of summer - steve n' kyle crawling about the base, climbing the hard things - i have a lap in the shade and breeze, then back down again for a burn on blade runner before settling for bullshitting with the boys and returning home to cavort with the kittens

ah, but maybe you skipped the first anchor below grassy ledge (the yosemite ledge anchor) and tried to go to the one below that? i can't recall trying that, and if it did come up short, that would be a shitty place to downclimb - i recall seeing a guy try that the other day actually and climbing his rap line back to yosemite

i've done it many times - perhaps your rope is not truly a 70? or has little stretch? the normal way is a short rap from grassy to the yosemite ledge, then a rap from there passing a rap station down to the snag ledge (this rap doesn't quite get to the snag anchor but on to mellow enough ground to downclimb to the anchor - not mountie approved probably, but good enough) - one more rap to the ground from there for a total of 3

can't be a cascade climber and not do j'berg at least once...

8/5 - day 7 - lap 8 - days of muggy swimming and sultry, windy deck-reading as the cofvefe-plague persists in cruising through the population and summer limps along despite it - personally lackluster interest compared to yesteryear in the beacon-wand, bailed out on the drive just a little way through yesterday afternoon and settled for a completely luscious swim instead alongside the degens from up-country in the evening hours - mike's at 4, the sun not so hot - jim n' sal on the trail by young warriors and a little yack-yack ensued, so touching to see them cranky old-fucks persisting in their eternal pursuits - a ramble-on up the rare-auold way, then a fixed rap back down, then home to a couple brand-new kitty-kats

no more iconic pnw mountain route, there's few memories i cherish more

good to see "fear fucked orangutan" is becoming proper parlance, shoulda trade-marked that shit i wanna climb w/ you people, you gotta it sorted out right tower rock is child's play compared to this ornery of an objective, but check it out, might even count as a rest day by your standards

amazeballs

8/1 - day 6 - young warriors n' cruising w/ the lawyer - cool skies n' breezy in the morning - shenanigans in depositing a beast of a vehicle loaded w/ water craft n' bbq supplies at adams - embarrassed meself on pitch 2 of the warrior but whatcanya do, i guess i never could do it well? redemption on cruising at least, then a fine fricassee down by the river with adam, geoff n' kim and even dave for a bit - cherries n' blackberries off the bush, tofu dogs n' burgers, spargel n' onions, fine looking rock n' rollers lounging out of the river

7/31 - day 5, laps 6-7 - 8 cbi's - awoke at dawn unwillingly, damn the light and the unrestrained rooster voice - kombucha and fancy book reading and a bit of a nap come 8, but then up minutes later to make precious-talk with lawyers about preparations against the too-common lamentations of life - beacon then after noon, the sun cooking hot - wicked lit at the ledge, i left my pack and arrived on the ground confused by my lightness so proceeded back up again to recover it - traffic jam on the fixed lines forked my ambulatory ambitions n' dave had nothing to contribute in that department so i settled for two n' lazed back for pizza and risk w/ the family on a friday night

7/29 - day 4, lap 5 - 2 cbi's - paradoxically more perplexing to do multi-lap days w/ the need to rap back down the south face, somehow it kills the joy to the quick- no leisurely walk down the trail with glimpses of pretty girls and rare minorities, no pause at the trailhead for beers, clean shirts and bullshitting with fellow climbers, the ugly burden of walking back to the parking lot uphill at the end of the day, a feeling ever reminiscent of failure (i believe i did it just once last year over the course of 161 ascents?) - los tres amigos, 2 with ropes, 1 without - first real comprehension of a retro-bolted smooth dancer...