I processed the loss of Andrew and Nate differently than many people. I surrounded myself with a safety net and kept my feet moving. During the days after the accident it was amazing to watch the climbing community surround Andrew and Nate’s partners with love and care. $58,932 was donated to help their loved ones move through the grieving process and get on their feet.
After wrapping up the work on Happy People Crag, Liz and I decided it was time to get back on Unfinished Business. I was feeling strong, and I had found an opportunity to make a few minor changes to Unfinished Business on a recent cleaning pass.
I am always on the lookout for crags where everything comes together. A short approach, good sun exposure, protection from the wind, and a flat base need to be paired with good rock quality for this to occur.
All of the routes on Tan’si tower have somewhat ridiculous names, but to each name is attached a story. The story of Filthy With Minerals involves a bit of context.
Ethan Woodside had been eyeing up a line on Mount Abraham, and I needed a break from hanging in my harness. So we loaded up our packs with bolts and a trad rack and headed up to the base of a wonderful ramp. This was the beginning of No Lights On Fridays
The saga continued during the late October days. I caught myself finding any and every excuse to head up and work on Unfinished Business. As winter came I was getting closer, but needed to hit the gym and do one more bolting pass before the route would be completed.
Some days in the mountains are just really fun. There are other days that you only remember as fun, after the fact. When I climb with Phil, it’s almost always a combination of the two.
Liz Taylor and I had some time in the West Country with no work and no younglings. It was summer, the days were long, and we had a vision. For twelve years I had hoped to climb a route on the completely untouched southwest shields of Mount Abraham.
Early in the Spring of 2023, I was teaching a private rock rescue day with Paul Woloschuk and Tanner Chell when a scrappy looking solo climber rolled up to the crag. At this point, I didn’t really know Per Vermoland all that well.
In the Spring of 2021, Liz Taylor and I enjoyed a number of days bolting a route which became my nemesis (Unfinished Business). We bolted anchors, cleaned, scrubbed and rappelled the ten pitches of fun, but challenging climbing.
As the spring of 2023 arrives, I can’t help but reminisce. Three years ago this spring, the world felt like a very different place. It was the beginning of ‘the pandemic’ and we were all unsure about…everything. After two weeks of lockdown, all the climbers in the world began to lose their sanity a bit. That is when Andrew Abel reached out to me and asked if I was interested in sneaking out to Nordegg for a bit of development and top rope ice and mixed climbing.
Spring of 2022 brought new energy and I was excited to develop. Unfinished Business was definitely on my mind. I convinced Phil Bietz to head west and give it a cleaning pass with me. Unfortunately, the weather was much poorer than forecast at Freyja Wall, so we had to revert to our plan B.
Starstruck was the last route I developed with Andrew in the spring of 2020. He continued to add ‘Wet Like Willy’ and ‘Dumbo’ later that season. During the winter of 2021 Andrew spent a lot of time developing Mythos Crag. As the Spring of 2021 arrived it had been a while since we had been bolting together. We had a vision to add a new route on Freyja Wall and timing finally lined up for us to get after it.
The next week, Andrew and I were guiding a trip up the Via Ferrata in the morning and we happened to finish up around 1pm. We looked at each other as our guests departed. No words were spoken, bolts were loaded, and we were off. An hour later we were at our high point on Starstruck and establishing the finish to pitch 6.
While helping Mike Adolph with his enormous project of building ‘From Nordegg With Love’ I had gotten a good look at the Massif adjacent to it. I was constantly drawn to this wall, and now conditions for an attempt were just right.
