First things first. The mighty Lepton showed up for Fathers Day. (Yaaay me!)





He was helping out with a massive landscaping project, wherein I finally got a couple giant rocks I'd been jonesing for.






Careful placement is crucial, because once it's down, THAT'S WHERE IT LIVES!






Here's the other one.






The new puppy watches with a lack of enthusiasm.






Then we get the call of desperation from Jeremy. "If you want to climb something in the Sandias, you better get up there in the next couple days. They're closing everything because of FIRE DANGER!!"







Lepton had already expressed a great interest in the long NW ridge of The Thumb, so I asked Jeremy if he'd join us, guide us, thrash us, get us off route...you know, the standard stuff. First he was in, then he was out, then in, then out......finally we hooked him.
Here is the ridge from below. The route is on the left skyline.







Here's another from below. It is easy (5.6), but it's a thousand feet tall and very exposed on both sides in many places.






Here's Survival nearing the base.






Jeremy wanted to solo and run around up there, so we gave him the camera so he could get some killer pictures of us on the first couple pitches.......HA!





First pic of the seniors on the route.






Here's Jeremy, the Stalwart Youth, at the first ledge. We were waiting for the GLACIAL team that beat us to the route, to do the "crux".
Some of you know that Jeremy is one of my current heroes. He's filled with energy and tons of good vibes. I'd rather climb with guys like J than meet all the famous magazine sport gods in the world.





A little higher on the route. Like I said, easy, but Lepton and I stayed roped for the first 3-4 pitches.





Lepton coming up the last of the roped climbing we did. The GLACIER team stayed roped up the whole way I think. They were nice guys though and were polite about us passing safely. That's the La Luz trail below in the distance.






You know I'll be back with some more in a bit!!