Aid Climb - Index Town Wall/Town Crier

Original plan for Liberty Crack, but forecast of thunder at Washington Pass forced change of destination. Turned out to be just the right conditions with no competition for the route. We saw a pair of climbers on Davis-Holland and others walking past the base, but no one else.

Arrived in the parking lot well before 6AM, hiked up and was on the route soon thereafter. Kelsey easily free climbed the first two pitches and Dmitry took over the lead on the iconic roof & pendulum pitch.

We alternated lead as we made steady progress up through the triple roof, the awkward flare pitches, and lichen covered final pitch to reach the top shortly after 5pm. Final bushwacking was a reminder for why many consider this climb "done" without doing the final pitch, but it was nice to be back on horizontal ground and walking down instead of doing multiple rappels.

We had to deal with the usual aid climbing issues, practicing our rope management and dealing with long hanging belays. But a strong team was able to get through them and top out in good time. Chips and salsa at the restaurant as we toasted a successful climb.

Hike down from top of the cliff is about 30 minutes back to the branch in the trail with a sign. It's about 10 minutes from there back up to the base of the cliff to retrieve backpacks.