The first words out of Brian's mouth when he saw the pitch were, "This doesn't look that bad." He would later be very glad he'd told himself this. A good psychological defense.

What can I say? This pitch is pretty stout. Very committing. Brian did a wonderful job. The crux move is out and around the flake inside the lower corner. After several failed attempts to place an intermediate piece of protection between a screw in an awkward spot on the ice below the flake and the void between the flake and the slab, Brian finally committed to the moves, backstepped on a small knob, and hoisted himself up. I seriously doubt that I could have kept it together on lead. It's worse than it looks. But still kinda fun in a very sick way.

Brian: I'm still happy here because I don't yet realize what's ahead.