Friendship Fallouts·
THE BREWERY AFTERMATH
A man recalls a rescue gone wrong when a hiking accident haunts him, then a brewery joke sparks a feud that leaves a friend stranded and several fragile friendships.
Was leaving the friend there fair, or too much?
Be one of the first to vote.
On a hike years ago, his wife slipped, fell, and ended up stranded on a cliff while he couldn't get her back up by himself.
That moment never really left him.
The poster said the fall happened during a 14er trip out of Chicago Basin. His wife went down, and he says he was unable to help her alone. Another man eventually came along and helped get her out hours later, after she had been perched under the drop site. His wife has never blamed him for what happened, but the look on her face that day is burned into his memory.
Then, later, came the brewery.
He and his wife were out with friends when the conversation turned to a route up Como and the Blanca/Little Bear traverse, a climb the group had done before. The poster started offering advice, trying to help with the route.
That's when a friend cut in with a jab aimed straight at the old hiking accident.
"Okay, bro, I'm not taking advice from a man who left his wife to rot on Sunlight."
His wife immediately corrected him. The friend laughed it off.
The poster didn't. He said he felt stunned. He got another drink, stepped outside, and then told his wife he wanted to go home. She drove them back.
The problem was that they had been supposed to drive the friend home too, and the poster left without telling him.
Back at the brewery, the friend started texting. Then the messages got sharper.
"Where the fuck did you go bro"
"Bro why are you ignoring me"
The poster later said the friend had to take an Uber home because of the abrupt exit, and that the friend was furious about it. When he finally confronted the poster over text, he accused him of being too sensitive. The poster said the friend wrote that "my hypersensitivity cost him money," and added, "And that I need to nut up and learn to laugh at myself."
The poster asked if he was the asshole for leaving him stranded after the comment.
What started as a casual brewery hangout ended with one man reliving a rescue that still haunts him, and another stuck paying for a ride home after a joke landed too close to the bone.