Wings of Steel

The first pitch.  I (Richard) am leading.  The route, Cosmos, is clearly visible in this shot (for those who know what to look for), and the team of Mike Corbett, Mike Paul, and Scott Cole were doing the fifth ascent of Cosmos as we worked on the first two pitches of our route.  Because Cosmos looks right down onto the slab, the Cosmos team took every opportunity to regale us with their opinions of what we were doing.  I well remember one exchange between Mike Corbett and I:

Mike: Try standing on a hook!

Me: (Looking at a potential fifty foot ground fall) I'm standing on one now!

Shortly after this picture was taken, I took (yet another) fall.  My left foot caught on a small ledge, which instantly dislocated my ankle.  Fortunately a week of rain followed, and during that time as I squatted to get into our tent my ankle gave a massive "crack" and then began to heal up.  Within a couple of more weeks I was about 70% back to normal (with a brace).  After my fall, Mark had to finish the top 50 feet of the first pitch and then lead the second pitch.  I was at least useful as a belay slave during that time.