After the surfing we'd done so far, I was really looking forward to getting up and over this last little hump, bagging the route and heading back in for some chow. The party above us had taken quite some time to pull up and over and had belayed the next pitch just after clearing the section. Brian went a little right of them, placed a screw and easily pulled the moves up a short ice chimney, then exited out of sight. He set a belay and brought me up. I was climbing fairly well, I thought, and was looking forward to possibly leading the last pitch to the top.

From vague recollections, I had remembered the last pitch as being somewhat like "a football field," as I'd told Brian. Unfortunately, memory did not serve.

Brian: Clearing the bulge was definitely the most fun part of the day. Ironically, it was also one of the easier parts of the day as my limited ice experience thus far had been on vertical terrain (albeit on top-rope). While the low-angle stuff was technically easier I wasn't used to it. I couldn't have lead anything long but at least with the vertical stuff I knew how to move relatively efficiently.

Clearing the bulge was good fun and I learned that getting screws started with one hand is not easy. I doff my cap errr, helmet, to those that can and routinely do. After clearing the bulge I was really looking forward to the football field.

Yeah, sorry about that.

Brian: What I got was more easy ice and then finally a flat belay where I plunked my tired ass on my pack and got Mike on belay.