Found: car keys near the top of Town Crier - Index

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Yep, found a car key at the dirty crack/gully at the top of Town Crier (green dragon comes up there too). Topped out on 7/27. PM me with a description if you think they're yours and I'll get em back to you.

- OMB

[chelle]

Maybe someone threw them off the top.

[tomtom]

Yes! I get my keys back. Thanks OMB!

 

About a month ago, our Baker trip was cancelled because of a forecast for rain, so a friend and I headed up to Index to do a few aid pitches. We hiked up to the Upper Town Wall at a casual 8 am and looked up into the cloud. The rock was damp but it wasn't really raining. Hey, while we're here we can get in some climbing and bail at a reasonable hour. My friend was getting slammed at work and wasn't in the mood to epic so that sounded good to him.

 

My partner heads up the aid start of Green Drag-On, then I do the crux pitch 2. We're socked in a cloud all day, so it's hard to tell what time it is. We're not moving very fast, but we're steadily moving upward.

 

I hit the anchors of p4 and am pretty psyched. I got rained off this a few weeks before and I get summit fever, so I get my partner to agree to continue and set up a solo system to do p5 while he is cleaning p4. One C1 pitch and a scramble to the top, right?

 

By now everything is really damp, and aiding up the last bits takes longer than it should. My partner comes up and he is pissed. It's getting late and he really wanted to rap from p4. Hey, lets scramble to the top and walk off, I say.

 

Well there is no friction on the last pitch slabby bits, so he has to aid them, which takes forever. But we final top out at dusk. I quickly coil the rope and head for the trail. It's headlamp time when we hit the steep parts of that trail. Then I head back up at the junction to retreave my haul bag while my partner sorts gear. We hit the parking lot well after dark (and this is at the time of year when the days are the longest).

 

And it starts raining.

 

I check my pockets. Shit no keys.

 

I check the haul bag. Nope, not there either.

 

Luckily, my partner has AAA and a cell phone. There's no signal in the parking lot so we go stand on the tracks. AAA claims to have no wrecker coverage for Index, but they give us an unaffiliated company to try.

 

We call. Answering machine.

 

My partner has gone from being really pissed to what-the-fuck. At this point both of us are trying to figure out what friend of ours to call who will come haul our sorry asses out from Index late on a rainy Sunday night when the wrecker guy calls us back. He can come out. Cool.

 

45 minutes later he's in the parking lot and pops open my car in about 45 seconds. I search for the keys. Shit.

 

Luckily we notice he has an AAA emblem plastered on the side of the truck. We're within the mileage limits, so he can tow us back to Seattle for free. At 2:30 am, our non-epic day ends back home.

 

And the tow truck driver dings me for an extra $60, which I pay since I'm so happy to be home.

 

And now my keys will be home too.

 

[tomtom]

My keys are home!

 

Thanks, OlympicMtnBoy.

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Hehehe, yeah, no prob. I'm just glad I wasn't your partner when you lost em. At least you made the top though. They were right below the last move in that dirty crack to get to the top. Glad I could help. :-)

- OMB