It was late, so we rappeled off, but I left the ropes in place for an eventual push to the top. Calvin, who was supposed to be back in Boulder the next day, immediately stated that, if need be, he would quit his job to join me for the ascent. Later that night, while drinking potations and enjoying a fine Dutch-oven dinner at our friend Brad's house in Springdale, we invited Brad to join us for a team of three. No sooner did we get started that the spring rains started to fall. Zion weather is extremely temporal, and the climbable conditions there are rare.
Winter is too cold to climb, while summer is too hot.
In the spring, it rains often. Zion routes require persistence, and after a series of false starts and a few days of organization, we had climbed to the midway ledges 1000 feet up, and bivouaced there. The next morning, we were caught in a huge rainstorm. A week had passed, and the realities of Calvin's employment had gained in relative importance, and he left Zion. We invited Bill Hatcher along, world famous photographer, to take his place.