With both Tom and Dave well above me, I suddenly heard: “Rock! Gary! Rock!” The team of four well above them had knocked off a rock. There wasn't much I could do: I was tied to the rock on a tiny ledge. I leaned in as close to the rock as possible and tried to hunch my arms and shoulders under my rock helmet as I braced for whatever might be coming. A rock smashed into my helmet and grazed my shoulder as it continued its fall. Without a rock helmet, the blow would have been serious or fatal; had it missed my helmet and hit my shoulder, the bones would have been shattered.

We continued on and found the summit pyramid free of ice. After scrambling up and down the pyramid, we descended via Hell's Highway. Back at camp I finally removed my Bell TopTex helmet (actually a surfing helmet–climbing helmets were not developed yet). The helmet liner stayed on my head– it had been separated from the shell by the blow. The shell had concentric circles of broken fiberglass centered where the rock had hit, and one could push the fiberglass in with a finger. I bought a new helmet (same brand) when I got home. Apparently Bell took these helmets off the market after they learned they were being used for climbing.

This picture taken at the summit looking east shows Mount Baker in the background. Tom and Dave are both wearing TopTex helmets like mine; we added decorations so we could tell them apart and more easily identify each other. These helmets are now collector's items.