July 15, 2023, I return to Mt. Triumph in the North Cascades for a redo of the NE Ridge, 22 years later. My goal was to do the entire climb day in daylight, unlike last time when we got back about 3AM. Three strong partners to help: Suresh Singh, Roger Wong, and Steve Marston. We came close: Steve and Roger got back just 15 minutes after dark, at 10PM, Suresh and I fell behind, at midnight, because, well, we are older and slower on the sketch 3rd and 4th class descents. And because of a dead headlamp (his) and a broken crampon (mine). Besides the broken crampon, I killed my air mattress, and my rope! Rope had to be cut after getting stuck in an awkward to reach place. Wise decision, Steve, I didn't want a repeat of the hour-long epic retrieval effort of last time!
But really it was a great weekend, we were all off the hard sketchy stuff well before dark, down to the glacier, and worked together efficiently and congenially. Thanks to all three of you for a great outing for this old climber!