Me leading pitch 2

After Aaron finished the first pitch, I jumared up and began leading the second. The plan was for me to try to link pitches 2 and 3, provided that I had enough gear and the rope drag wasn't bad. This would dispense with the hardest aid climbing on the route, and would leave us with only one short pitch to go before reaching Sickle Ledge. I free climbed the first part of the pitch (as can be seen in the photo), but I soon had to start aiding. Most of pitch 2 was pretty easy, and it ended with a short pendulum to the right. It was really more of a tension-traverse, but it was the first time I had actually done such a maneuver.

Pitch 3 involved some trickier aid, as most of the placements were in nasty old piton scars. At one point, while standing on a very solid nut, I placed a sketchy red alien in a flaring pin scar, and as I was shifting my weight onto it, it blew out. I managed to catch myself on the one leg that was still weighting the nut (God bless Russian aiders), avoiding a short fall, but this later turned out to have thoroughly welded the nut in place. I placed a red-yellow hybrid alien in the same pin scar, and moved up easily on it. The rest of the pitch was pretty straightforward, although I did have to make a couple moves of 5.10 friction at the very end. That got my heart pumping pretty good, since I was wearing my Guide Tennies instead of rock shoes.