The worst part was, the top and 19th pitch was about a 25m pitch with only a tiny crack running to the top, where we could just do an easy hike out. We didn’t have nuts small enough to protect it, so we ended up doing about 16 long double rope rappels to get out, sacrificing anchor hardware and slings on the way down. About halfway down, my partner dropped his descendeur and we thankfully had a spare. But before we found the spare we were considering how to haul up the one we had after the first man’s rappel, then drop the rope down again so the second man could descend using it. It would have been sketchy. Plus every time we pulled the ropes out of the anchors, we were praying they wouldn’t get hopelessly snagged and be unretrievable. What was supposed to be a 5 hour outing ended up seeing us back to our vehicle after dark, walking on ankle breaking boulders and talus in our rock shoes for the last 300m. Thankfully a so we met at the base had headlamps. We didn’t have cell phones either.

Being 6 hours overdue, my girlfriend wasn’t too happy. She barely spoke to me that night. She and my climbing partner’s wife had been checking in with each other all afternoon, thinking the worst. Good times. Lessons learned.