Since our experience on the North Ridge of the Grand showed us that the North Face was out of condition for the remainder of our trip, Steph and I had headed out of the Cathedrals area early to do one last climb before parting ways.
As a bonus climb, we had talked about climbing the classic Southwest Ridge of Symmetry Spire. Steph’s parents had climbed it 30 years ago, and she wanted to climb the route as a bit of a homage to her parents. She had brought along some photographs from the climb in hopes of recreating some of the photographs with her climbing in them. She had even acquired her mother’s pants, pack, and ice axe that were used in the 1982 climb to bring as props!