Walter is in the front area when I arrive, staring sadly at one of our favorite boulders. Someone has made a super-hot fire at the base of it, and the rock has crumbled away. The thin foothold that starts the best problem there is gone, and the face is black with soot. Inside the rock is flaky and light, with bits of shiny mica peeling away.

I work a bunch of my other favorites there for a while. They don’t feel the same any more. Each time I work one, I wonder if it could be the last.