Insecure mixed climbing, a dropped crampon and route-finding challenges turned Steve House and Marko Prezelj?s new, north-face variation (House-Prezelj Variation: 5.9 A2) to the Lowe-Jones Route (VI 5.10 A3, 4,500′, 1974) on North Twin (12,200′), April 5?7, 2004, into a psychological struggle and a transformative experience?demonstrating that alpinism is most alive within the mind of the observer. A full account of their expedition appears in Issue 8.
