An alpine Saturday

On Saturday we decided to head up to Potrero John and see what we could climb there. A bunch of new routes have been put up on the Fortress, and Ben had climbed a couple of those with someone else in the past. We got on an arete called Permanent Income Hypothesis, which is long and cool, but with a lot of loose rock. The start was already in the shade by the time we started and it was windy and cold. Ben did a great job leading, but when it was time for me to start up I was frozen. I couldn't feel my fingers and my shoes were slipping as if they had ice on the bottom. The first move off the ledge is the hardest of the route, and it took me a while to get the confidence to pull it on hands and feet I could barely feel. The rest of the route is easier climbing, but you're often on top of blocks of sandstone which to me look like they will come off eventually, probably soon. So during the upper section I was having visions of taking falls with a giant block of sandstone in my hands. When I got up top I found Ben shivering, so we prepped our two rope rap and headed down asap. The rope wasn't coming down after the rap, so I put a Klemheist on it and climbed up the chimney/off-width on the right up past the intermediate rap rings until I got to a point where I could pull the ropes. I still haven't figured out precisely why it was stuck. By the end of all this I was nicely warmed up, but not having the greatest climbing day.