Winds of Change

Walkie died.
He died a horrible death when he plumetted 60 feet onto a ledge from the second pitch of Skyline Traverse at Seneca Rocks. We searched for his shattered remains but never found them. I really missed him the next day.
We managed without him allright but he was a comfort when he was around.
Al still had his twin but Talkie just isn't much good without Walkie.
I was leading up the chimney when the rack or something bumped my pocket and he took the big plunge to a dirt nap. He should know to be hooked in at all times. Al found his battery cover and batteries but the rest of him is a goner.
We had a great time at Seneca. The weather was windy the first day so we froze at shady belays but Monday and Tuesday where perfect. We did 6 or 7 pitches a day and as many rappels to get back down. All classic lines. My favorite is likely to be Candy Corner. Really long and several cruxes. Skyline,
Old Ladies, Exstasy Jr., Banana and Gunsight to South Peak were all great routes, done in the sun and we had good times. Al got in some lead time and did just fine. His first experience with multipitch climbing and being several hundred feet off the ground must have rattled his cage a bit but he never wussed out on me. We even simul-climbed a couple pitches to get to Broadway Ledge. We finished off the vacation by having some beers and a nice campfire under a full moon.
It wasn't the same as my last trip to Seneca with Dwayne but it was still good climbing. Al took some great pictures so I'll post those up with some more thoughts when they show up here.
D, I miss you man but I guess things change. It's in the wind.