Out on a Lark

Well, yesterday I was able to get outside for some good wholesome exercise - rockclimbing. With the rapid approach of summer and the heat already here, we went to Idyllwild. We left Palm Springs a little after 7 am and stopped in Banning for breakfast at Gramma's Country Kitchen, what they may lack in haute cuisine they make up for in volume. We were fortified for a full day of climbing, without lunch, when we hit the road again. The drive up Highway 243 from Banning to Idyllwild  had promised to be uneventful, as the hills were already brown. But to my surprise there were quite a few flowers, especially in the burned areas. After we reached the timber, we saw that efforts are continuing to thin out the forest from the devastating effects of Pine Bark Beatles and incorporating fire protection. Soon we were stopping at the Ranger station.

Since the elevation of Idyllwild is approximately 5,300 feet in town, and climbing elevations are closer to 7,000 feet, it should be about 20 degrees cooler than the low desert. Even with the coolness from the elevation, we knew that conditions would be warm and so decided to look for the coolest location possible. There are two main rock formations that people climb, Tahquitz or Lily Rock and Suicide Rock. Suicide is the more popular formation, the climbs are shorter, the approach easier and the overall rock quality is just slightly better. Most of Suicide Rock faces east and south, but there is a small area to the northeast that has plenty of shade, even on the hottest days. This is of course no secret to regulars and is very crowded in warmer weather. Tahquitz, almost a 1,000 feet tall, has major faces on both the north and northeast, with climbs that are in the shade during all but the longest days of the year. 

We opted for climbing on one of the northern faces of Tahquitz Rock, but didn't commit to a particular route until we had a chance to look over conditions. While hiking up to the rock, we spotted another pair of climbers about 100 yards ahead of us. Once we reached the base of the rock, we found them looking over the possible climbs. I asked them what climb they planned on doing and they answered that they were undecided. I asked them what type of climb they wanted to do and they said they were not very familiar with the area and wanted to do something long, fun and easy. I told them that since they were going to get acquainted with the rock, they should climb the White Maiden's Walkaway. This is a fantastic route, one of the longest on the rock and it has some of best rock you could ask for. While it's easy and often done by beginners (it was my first real climb), it has plenty of variations to keep it interesting for more experienced climbers. They decided to take our advice and we pointed them toward the start of the climb. The north face had several parties climbing on it, so we went back to the northeast face for some more solitude.

Roy on the approach

Looking up at the northeast face from the bottom of the talus slope

We didn't have much deciding to do once we were back at the northeast face. There is still a large snow patch along the base, so the only climb that met our criteria was the East Lark. We were looking for a climb that was sort of long, fun and easy. East Lark was the best option in the immediate area. As we started to get ready, two more climbers showed up and asked what we were planning to climb. I replied the East Lark and asked what they planned on climbing. They said whatever we weren't, so with us planning to climb East Lark, they would be climbing Hard Lark. I was pleased since it would give us the chance to take some good pictures of them climbing next to us. Most climbing pictures are either looking up or down at the climbers, but seldom to the side. We made some small talk and found out that they were up in Idyllwild climbing for the weekend and hailed from San Diego. Since they were waiting for us, we started up the route and I tried to quickly climb up out of their way. I climbed a half pitch or rope length and set up the belay anchors to bring up Roy. We then continued up a series of vertical cracks and soon we had climbed several pitches.

We were pleased that the sun, which we didn't escape, didn't prove too hostile and with the breezes, the weather was almost perfect. The biggest problem was the altitude. Since we live at just about sea level, me slightly above and Roy slightly below, climbing at about 7,000 feet left us gasping, of course so did the hike to the rock from the parking lot. It seemed we never did recover. This obvious lack of physical conditioning, we'll just pass off on how fast we were climbing. We were moving so fast we never caught our breath? Thought I'd try... .

We noticed that our friends from San Diego traversed off the Larks on their second pitch and ended up on a climb called the Uneventful. I think it may have been misnamed for them, since they had planned on a short day and the last time we saw them, while hiking back to the car, they were about 3/4 of the way to the top. That meant they had several more hours till they would be back at the car. Oh, sorry to ruin the ending, but yes we survived.

The climbing was fun and towards the top we decided to take a variation to the normal finish and do a direct route over the summit overhangs. The overhangs were exciting but very solid and really enjoyable. We found ourselves on top of the climb around 2pm. We had climbed 6 pitches or about 700 vertical feet. Of course, once you reach the top, you have to return to the bottom. This can be done very quickly once, or the slow way, which can be done over and over again. So far I've been sticking with the slow way.

I'm at the belay just below the overhangs

We decided to go down the northeast gully for our descent, even though we had been told at the Ranger station that there was quite a bit of snow. We found very little snow in the gully, but we did see signs of considerable snow earlier in the winter. We noticed a number of trees that had been broken by a major avalanche. Other signs were all the brush filled with debris and bent downhill, major logs moved downhill from where they had been for years, and debris all over from broken branches, brush, dirt and rocks. It must have been very impressive to watch the slide. We made it back to the car by 2:30, a round trip of about 5 hours for the hike in, climb and hike out. That is pretty good for our first climb at altitude of the season.

A last look at Tahquitz Rock on the way home

On the drive back home we stopped at Bay Tree Spring to see why it appeared to be closed. The springs have been a popular stopping point for Southern Californians for many years and many swear that the water is the best anywhere. We normally see the parking area full with people filling up all the 5 gallon water bottles that their vehicles will hold. The spring has been blocked off with barricades and flagging tape and a sign in 3 languages gave some explanation. We didn't try the water and we made our way back home to the heat, only 109 according to the car thermometer. And so ended another adventure. At the bottom of the page I have posted some video from the climb. I'm experimenting with different software for post production and due to the inordinate amount of time trying to figure out the editing software and waiting on my not so new computer to process the video, there wasn't much editing done. 

Bay Tree Spring

Closure notice

The beginning of the video mentions a solo climber. This is a reference to free soloing, or climbing without a rope. Other commentary in the video mistakes which pitch we are climbing. There are also some comments that sound rather confused, trying to pick up from a conversation we had while hiking up to the rock. It was based on the famous line, "Do you feel lucky" from Dirty Harry. It entertained us while hiking but fell apart on the rock. The video is shown in chronological sequence.