No, not a fun route, all in all. But a fun experience; one that is already getting better as it recedes in time.
Perhaps the best part was getting to know Kevin better. I still recall the first time I met him (in the West Side parking area; when he told me he intended to do Premeditated "clean," I thought he was either a lunatic or totally inexperienced. I learned on Icarus that he's definitely not inexperienced).
The more I think about it, the more my admiration for those two (Denny and Colliver) grows. Although part of me questions their state of mind: on several of their Pinns routes they belayed on single, 3/8 inch Star Dryven bolts. Yes, they were newly placed when they did this. Yes, they modified the bolts and yes they placed them well. But one bolt? In Pinns rock? I was kinda bent jugging on a single (modern but rusty) 3/8 inch bolt that was backed up by a rivet and cams up higher. And their run-outs? Bold is a good start for describing their Pinns climbing. And with so little noise too - more than half of their Pinns routes went unreported until 2006.
I think that, if I was to do Icarus again, I'd first replace the bolt at the end of the A3 section, the bolt where Icarus and Sons of the West join, and the rivet ten feet above that (I'd replace all three with 3/8 inch stainless). I'd then definitely belay where we did, where Sons rejoins Icarus (BTW, we belayed as indicated but then used the Sons of the West belay anchors to back up our fixed ropes as we descended - yet another way that we weren't as bold as Glen and Gary - but it would have been dumb to not use these as backups since we were rapping right over them).
Now, I'm off to get a tetanus shot; it turns out that the booster isn't good for 15 years, but only 5 to 10.
