Well let’s just start with perhaps the most important news - we found Jason’s phone!
Somehow, we found Jason’s phone in the sandy wash on the descent. Maybe god does exist.
As you can see in the photo above, finding the phone was a nocturnal activity but that certainly wasn’t our intention. Depending on the weather source (google vs NOAA), the rain was forecast to begin sprinkling and then dumping at some point between 2pm and 4pm. Even though yesterday was an ~11 hr day, for some reason we thought that getting up at 7am would be sufficient to get up 5 pitches of trad climbing to where we climbed yesterday, and begin our slow, careful descent to look for the phone not only before darkness fell, but before the sky leaked sandstone-killing fluids. The math didn’t check out but neither of us wanted to get up much earlier than 7am. We were barely recovered from the previous days’ all day efforts.
It would have been logical to climb the same route we did yesterday (Tunnel Vision, 5 pitch [or was it 6?] 750 ft graded 5.7) to be time-efficient. However, we decided to climb the route immediately adjacent for novelty’s sake. This route was graded at 5.9, significantly harder than 5.7. In the image below, our route is labeled as “2”. Tunnel Vision is “3”. The route was not only more challenging, but the rock quality was poor and the brittle rock sounded like a drum anytime we struck it. This can be an indicator of hollow rock; instead of a solid cliff face you might be on a flake of rock that is ready to bust. Hopefully my family isn’t reading this paragraph. In the worst moment of the day, a hold broke under Jason’s weight and he fell about 25 feet. His gear held, however, and the only thing that was seriously damaged was our nervous system for the rest of the day. His ankle hit the rock, HARD, and so did my forearm as the force of him falling pulled me up the rock and smashed my arm into a varnish plate on the rock. We are okay, but after the tumble we took about 20 minutes to calm our nerves, take deep belly breaths, and then get back at it.
Eigerwand, 5.9, labeled #2 on this image. Tunnel Vision, the route we did yesterday is #3 and you can actually see the tunnel pitch if you follow the line and see where it disappears and then resumes!
View from some pitch on Eigerwand.
Thankfully, the rain didn’t strike at 2pm as google predicted. It didn’t strike at 4pm as NOAA predicted, either. Around 6pm, we were mid-descent and realized that if we didn’t pick up the pace we would be hunting for the phone in the dark. But rushing while descending can be dangerous - a careless footstep on the rocky scramble could mean an injury or worse. We cautiously but with purpose made our way down the descent, constantly looking back up the “trail” (more of a pile of boulders) to try to spot Jason’s lost phone. Eventually, we made it down to the sandy wash (creek bed) where Jason remembered taking off his jacket, which might have sent his phone tumbling since he discovered later that the pocket was unzipped. After a long while spent retracing our steps and shining our headlamps under bushes, we were about to give up. Then, Jason decided to explore a different trail “just in case”. An important detail is that there is no designated trail in this area, but rather a dense network of social trails that all look the same and are not signed. Lo and behold - Jason’s phone was lying in the middle of the sandy trail on the path that both of us had been sure was not the path we had taken yesterday. Relieved, ecstatic, and exhausted - we finished the last mile of the hike back to the van, phone in hand and all limbs intact.
7am, the skies were looking foreboding but thankfully the sky held back its tears until late evening
Back at the van, exhausted and exuberant!
Edit: Adding some final notes here because as I reflect on this day, I realize I neglected to emphasize how big of a deal it was that we swapped leads on trad.
Jason and I swapped leads again today, and although we did that yesterday (Tunnel Vision, 5.7), getting a second day of repetition made the practice cement into something real. You know when you do something once, and almost feel like you got away with something, you were so lucky? I’m not talking about breaking the law, but rather performing a new skill or a daring new feat and sometimes success can feel like a fleeting moment you got away with, rather than the product of your actual skill and hard work. Well, today, as I got on the sharp end yet again, and placed gear, it felt like I was becoming a trad leader! WOOHOO!
And a final note - our fingers seem to be just fine! What a Great Salt Lake of relief. Actually, apparently that lake is drying up and wreaking havoc on the ecosystem so nevermind let’s just stick with the typical metaphor of an ocean of relief (there’s a time and a place for creativity, and it’s not here). Our finger injuries are completely abated (for now….. ;), and my thumbs seem to alternate between which one is more cracked but for the most part there seems to be zero infection and they are not painful at all. We are both feeling very grateful.