Bulldog:
Thanks for the kinds words and it was my pleasure! It was quite the epic climb.......we all geared up at the trail head for the harrowing approach. We were fully rigged for travel on the treacherous North Atlanta Glacier, with crampons, axes, avi transceivers, shovels, probes, wands, and pickets. We had proper spacing on our rope team and all had prussiks, Tiblocs, and pulleys at the ready in case of a crevasse fall. Errrr...actually we only had to walk 200 yards from the car, but we did have to swat a couple of skeeters on the way in so it was at least kind of gnarly.
We had a great time and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Barb, Bri, and illegitimate cousin John. Everyone climbed well and we enjoyed a fun afternoon diversion from life in the big city. I am not quite sure it is possible to wear Bri down, but she was a delight and please tell her I think she "rocks" too.
Bob Pickering: Gary is not quite Peter Croft yet, but good progress was made. We will try to do a follow up session and cover belaying a leader before Gary arrives in CA ready to cast off as your second on a multi-pitch route in Tuolumne Meadows.
The only bummer of the outing was that I left Orlando with just a t-shirt packed for our afternoon and was surprised to find it was a little chilly in Atlanta. I asked Gary to bring a sweat shirt for me and of course he shows up with the awful red fleece thing adorned with a big University of Georgia emblem. Since I am an Auburn grad I was faced with a choice...hypothermia or wear enemy colors. Tough call, but I put the fleece on much to the delight of the entire Bulldog family. Had it been a Bama fleece, I guess I would have chosen to freeze to death with pride intact. (I realize people from California don't have a clue what we are talking about with respect to the intensity of our football rivalries).
One note of correction though. Gary you mentioned under one of your photos that our short little route was 5.10c. Well.....actually the route we were playing on was 5.6, (the 5.10's to 5.12's were the overhanging routes around the corner). Don't worry though...the late, great Alex Lowe once said "the best climber is the one having the most fun". Based on that line of thinking Bri was sending 5.15 on Tuesday.
It really is neat how I met these great folks through a message board devoted to a remote mountain 2,000+ miles away on the other side of the country. Thanks again to Barb for the delicious crag side gourmet dinner/brownies and to John for the micro brews. We will do it again sometime!
Kent
