Photos:
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1079691007/a=38054161_38054161/
Wednesday 5/6:
My friend Paul was doing another Full Moon hike. This one was the annual First Flatiron hike; which I organize an alternative - a climb up and over the Flatiron to then rappel down and join Paul's group for the potluck. This year, we would have three teams of two. Chris was climbing with Bill; Brian with Stephanie, and I was climbing with Vlado. I was climbing with almost five pounds of Beef Stroganoff noodles in tupperware, in a cooler, for the potluck.
Last year, we arrived at the top a little late - missing some of the full moon potluck, so I wanted to bump up the timing this year. (We were around a half hour late last year - but last year had some other circumstances with one person rapping off early to not climb in the dark and me continuing with leading and belaying two others.) I'd rather have extra time; enjoying the views, sunset, chatting, etc; so we left an hour earlier than last year. It took 45 minutes to do the hike and be on top of the first rappel, and around 4 hours to be at the summit. Much better timing than last year. This also meant that we now had over three hours until Paul's group was going to be up top.
We didn't really have time to do another lap of the whole route again. We debated doing a different climb, or I thought about doing another lap free solo (aka no rope - it's a pretty easy climb); which I've done car to car in two hours before. I'd definitely be stashing my pack (or at least the noodles in the cooler) somewhere if I did that. In the end, we decided to just relax, enjoy the views and chat for a little. Brian, Chris, Bill and Vlado all decided not to wait for the potluck and headed down early; especially because it was pretty windy up top - as you can see from the rope whipping around in the 20090506D1-76 photo. Stephanie and I just continued relaxing, chatting, and got to see a great sunset. We both took lots of photos while we were up at the summit.
When Paul's group was almost to the top of the hike, we rappelled down to meet them. Had a wonderful potluck with a lot of good company, as well as a variety of tasty food and drink; and then hiked down by moonlight. A wonderful evening!
Hope you enjoy the pics!
A.J.
Photos: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1079691007/a=38054161_38054161/
Group Room (multiple albums): http://ajoutdoors.snapfish.com/snapfish