Lessons for the New Year #1

Ask the huge favor/pay-raise when you know you've got them by the...

[any resemblance to actual persons are purely coincidental]
To celebrate a new year/decade The Benders, Doug and Wendy, set out at dawn to attempt a run for the summit up the notorious south face of K9. At 1027mm, it is the highest peak in the back yard mountain range.

After safely crossing numerous crevasses along the crest line and avoiding enormous ice overhangs, the veteran climbing pair successfully circumvented the deadly 'sinkhole' (seen here on the left) Shortly before noon, they started their final assault on the steep 'icefall', a slippery ice sheet that overhangs a monstrous chasm...the last vertical climb before reaching the summit.

It was then that Doug Bender's crampons failed, sending him plummeting and leaving him dangling from the anchor rope. Had it not been for Wendy Bender's superior arm strength, they would both be goners.
[/any resemblance to actual persons are coincidental]

the bigger picture

May this be your best year ever, all of you.