We ended up belaying some of the sections, which if given a second chance (not if, actually, but when), we'll simulclimb. I think we'd had a few too many mishaps and just wanted to be safe and get something under out belts without incident.

Brian: The first roughly half of Hitchcock, from the tracks up, is often referred to as more of an approach than a climb. It was a snow climb with occasional patches of ice that become less frequent the higher up we went. We decided the better part of valor was to rope up and so we did. To be honest, I had a blast on the approach. Mike and I swung "leads" all the way up. This was both good and bad.

Good:

1. Mike got to be out on the sharp end (relatively speaking) on his home turf: snow.
2. I didn't have to keep up an unrealistic breakneck pace all the way up - which I couldn't have done anyway. Remember, lung capacity of a small child.
3. As a result of 2, I get to rest for my upcoming leads.
4. My confidence went back up and I was having fun