Excellent memoir excerpt jrc!
You had me guessing what route at first but the circumstances description soon sorted it for me, and for those that haven’t been there it’s Cornerstone Rib, the mid grade classic of the cliff.
Ahh, if gear could talk!
An 8 1/2 stopper eh, circa mid-late 70’s and likely Chouinard manufactured, is my guess. It’s done well to have survived the significant bushfires that location has experienced during its holiday away from the rack, as excessive heat and aluminium don’t make for comfortable bedfellows.
If your canyoner mates took bivy gear, then it sounds like they inveigled you nicely!
It would also seem that the experience of other members of your party on that trip at that ’retreat’ location, possibly set the scene for your trip there with Mikl quite some time later, though not as a gear finding expedition on that occasion!
Given that the stopper was presumed lost for all time originally, did the dropper of it make good with a replacement soon after?
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