a friend of a friend, Mike Hopp and i climbed "the grand wall" today. it was my second time up the route and his first. we did the climb quickly and were back in camp by 2 pm before an afternoon shower started. i told mike to lead the first pitch and started him off on the wrong climb, a 5.11d slab instead of the correct 5.9 first pitch of the grand wall. i was scared that we would never complete the eight pitches when Mike struggled to get to the second bolt. only after trying the pitch myself did it click that we were not on the first pitch of the grand and i had sandbagged mike by putting him on an impossible squamish slab. he forgave me and now i owe him a beer.


the second picture is mike on the split pillar. the third picture is looking down at mike on "the sword" pitch. the last picture is me walking off on the thin and exposed "belly good ledge".