Sean Courage on Givler's Crack, Icicle Creek Canyon, 1997.

Later that cold, blustery March day, I asked Sean to do one more climb before we headed home. Since we were already at Givler's Dome, I picked Givler's Crack, a classic 5.8 crack, one of the best routes of its grade in the state. If you haven't climbed it yet, put it on your must-do list. Anyway, there were logistical challenges to getting the best photo angle. Frankly, I didn't want to rappel all the way down from the top, and Sean didn't really want to climb the whole route. The only part of the route I really cared about was the initial pitch, as I thought a shot looking down at Sean jamming up the last few moves to the flake would be the kind of photo Rock and Ice would publish. So we compromised. I won't say how I got into position, other than to say that Sean led up behind me only to where he could sink this fat hand jam, let me take a few photos, then downclimbed back to the base, taking the rope with him. As predicted, the photo made the cut, although the article was a piece of crap thanks to a total re-write by one of their brilliant editors. At least the photos were halfway decent.