Having done the route before, I knew that it was key to be able to see your leader on the exit of the first pitch. Brian set up an intermediate belay and brought me up so we could have a look at the crux of the first pitch. He even got to whack in a pin on the way up, which I know made him very happy.

Brian: I could see some relatively steep snow, some ice, and what appeared to be a flat area where I would set the belay for the real technical sections above. I led out side-stepping through increasingly steep snow. Seeing a technical section coming up I moved left towards rock. Mike and I both knew what I wanted to do. I didn't go looking for this placement but in truth it was all there was. I went to the rack and pulled out the iron.

I called down to Mike, "I'm going to drive a pin."

Mike just smiled and said, "Go ahead, I know you've been wanting to." He then paused and called up, "Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Why?" I asked.

"Because then it will be fixed."

"No it won't," I answered back laughing. "You can bang them back out."

"Oh."

I thought this was very funny until I realized that all Mike's experience was with fixed pins. He didn't know they were removable. He thought all pins were fixed.

Not exactly true. I knew that you could remove pins. It's just that when you're moving "fast and light" I didn't figure you'd take the time.

Brian: Re: "fast and light." I didn't know we were doing either.

Precisely.

Brian: I drove a #1 baby angle home to a delightful rising tone. What a simple joy.

Came out like a loose tooth.