Anniversary on the Moongoddess Arete

Moments of uncertainty - miles from the trailhead.  High up on a route with the mountain all to ourselves.  Casting about in loose, vertical terrain looking for the supposed 3rd-4th class ledges.  A striking alpine arete, towers of granite, wildness - the John Muir Wilderness.  What better way to celebrate our 7th Anniversary?  The Moongoddess Arete.  

Each year, by the end of the Spring, I start to daydream about long, alpine routes on granite peaks - remote objectives offering solitude, altitude, and vertical terrain.  I'll lie in bed, rifling through guidebooks looking for promising route descriptions.  Ideas get passed back and forth with friends.  Prior failures push back into my consciousness, tempting me with redemption.  Motivation.  Anticipation.