Small Dogs, Big Faces

Jonas arrived to the Valley psyched. “I’ve been training,” he said enthusiastically.

Then next morning we headed up to Leaning Tower, climbing to the roof before the sun hit us. We used this day as a warm-up, pulling the occasional French Free move. I suggested rapping from where we were.
“We can’t do that can we?” Jonas said shocked.
“Sure we can,” I replied confidently. I didn’t care if I had to leave gear (anything was better than what happened last time). We were back to the ground by 3PM. It was a smooth descent. During the hike back to the car we passed two aid climbers who asked what were up to.

“We just rapped from the roof,” I told them matter-of-factly.
They were unfazed by my response as if I told them that we had climbed halfway up the first pitch and then bailed.

We took two days off before returning to the Tower. This time we reached the top, but again we resorted in French Freeing a few sections. After one day of rest we went for it again. Again we failed. On the whole however, we were making progress.
There was one move that I had never been able to do, the crux 13a move at the end of the first free pitch. I doubted I would ever free the move, and thus the route. That day I had done the move with ease. Jonas was regressing. “I’m so nervous” he said “I want to do it so bad that I am over gripping.”