Hatcher Pass 8/16/07-8/18/07
Being home is surreal, everything seems larger then before. Yet it is still home and nothing seems to have changed. I stood ontop of a rock and opened my arms, the mountains spread out before me and the wind tickled my face. It was my home wind, this is the wind of Alaska. I never realized I could know the wind. We sat and watched the sunset it is magnificent when it sets here.
Then we come to the real pain. John gets up to a real nice ledge and spots a beautiful crack going right up to the next section. He can't resist and starts off, he puts in one peice of protection and climbs well above it before looking down and tell Shasta "I can't protect this." He said it very calmy knowing full well he was about to just go for it and try climbing the rest of this 30ft crack
without safety. A fall would land him right on the ledge Shasta was belaying from and broken bones would most likely ensue. The concentration was evident in Johns face as he climbed this crack with style. It looked miserable and we were all a bit nervous as he iched his way by jamming and part of his body into the crack that he could. He finally pulled himself over the lip and the sigh of relief was evident. He told me "Ya Kelsey don't come this way." But how could I not? We all decided to struggle our way up it. Richard was the last to come up and he was grunting yelling and not giving up. He gave more then his share of skin back to the rock.
Hatcher PassToto ButtressThe DiamondTotoRock ClimbingAlaskaRichard Harropoffwidth5.10
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