Hey Bryan -- I guess you would be "Ryan" of Anchorage and I must be "Chris." Too bad that your uncommon good will can't be returned or even acknowledged. But like this guy says, he and his partner could have gotten out just fine, so really I guess you probably don't even deserve reimbursement.
Next time we find a couple wankers from Seattle and Los Angeles in trouble on rappel we should probably just leave them be instead of adding our ropes to the rescue improvised by two 40-year-old women and stuffing their gear that would otherwise be left on route into our packs before patiently standing by and helping as needed during 6 hours of rappelling 4 pitches...
Obviously now we know that they'll be just fine, though Kevin sure seemed puzzled by the use of an ATC to back up his partner and rescuer with the third rope. I guess they would have figured that out eventually on their own, too. You know, in my own hindsight I guess I would have been fine watching them from the glacier rather than helping.
Jared --if I'm going to be a character in your creative writing project, get my name right; it's Adrian not Chris. Can't say that I remember this pitch being all that "moderate," but I do remember that the gear that I pulled between the belay and the snow-ice overhang at the top was well-placed and solid.
And do you really recommend the approach to the Root Canal as a climb unto itself? Really? One shitty rock move in the middle of a heinous 800 foot avalanche couloir under a big terrain funnel after weaving through an active icefall and under a huge serac that regularly releases? Classic? I might recommend this to a death-row prisoner on suicide watch or an investment banker...
It is too bad you got hurt, but maybe you should take some responsibility for your actions in the mountains and stop spinning fairy tail yarns on the internet where you are clearly not held accountable. "De-laminating ice?" Bryan led this pitch twice, once in nightmare spindrift before you fell, and once on our successful ascent the next day, taking time to place bomber gear because there are more options there than one flaring crack at the base. Similarly, he took the time to send you your shit at your insistence and his own expense.
I may be new to this game, but I do know that honesty is a tenet of alpinism, and common decency dictates that we show gratitude to people who help us.
Adrian Bender
Anchorage, AK
