Desert Views: A Terrorfull Day

Sahara Terror 5.7

September 27, 2009

Once again, in order to beat the heat, Roy and I headed up for Idyllwild and some fun filled climbing adventures. When we arrived at Humber Park we were pleasantly surprised to see the parking lot wasn't very crowded.

Empty spaces in the parking lot, right next to the trail head

We pulled into our favorite parking spot, right at the trail head and got ready to go. We did notice that we were running a bit later than we expected. This was mainly due to two factors. First, uncharacteristically Roy was late. The second had to do with breakfast. We have started frequenting a new restaurant in Palm Springs and it seems that we eat at a more leisurely pace, so we started our approach a little before 10 am. Don't worry, we made it to the climb before dark.

Roy at the base of the climb

I'm not sure why, maybe because the easy climbs of the past few weeks have been so much fun and well, easy, that I decided to up the grade a notch and decided to climb Sahara Terror, 5.7. This climb is on the north recess area, next to the Error which we had climbed a few weeks earlier. The name for this climb comes from the first ascent party climbing the route on the 4th of July on a day when it was 100 degrees F in Idyllwild, an extremely hot day by Idyllwild standards.

The route follows the two cracks, most of the time, all the way to the top

We roped up and I started up the first pitch, it's easy and I soon found myself out of breath. I decided to stop and take a few pictures while I caught my breath.

A climber starting up the White Maiden

Looking up at the roof shared with the Error

Looking down at the base of the rock, the trees look pretty big from this height

Well, I finally caught my breath, after checking out the climbers on the Hoodunnit, Long Climb and White Maiden. Although the parking lot wasn't very full, we still had a good number of climbers on the rock. I ran out the rest of the pitch (using the term loosely) and set up the belay. Soon Roy was up on the belay ledges with me.

Roy almost at the belay

The second pitch is one of the historically more infamous pitches at Tahquitz. One climbs up to the large roof that is shared with the Error and turns it without much difficulty. Then you climb up increasingly steep rock over a second smaller roof and arrive at a horizontal ledge. The crack up to this point turns into a seam, which continues up as a more difficult climb. For us mere mortals, the climb traverses off to the right, along a very wide crack that turns vertical and then breaks right again in a dogleg. Unless you have some custom large protection, this section is unprotected. Of course the fact that you are just over a roof only adds to the fun. I decided to put in some special protection to protect the start of the traverse since I knew my next protection wouldn't be for at least 20 feet. Then I started and stopped and started and stopped and finally headed on out. Needless to say I took my time on this section of the pitch, just to savor the moment of course. After the dogleg crack the climb continues up a chimney with some easier climbing. I again ran out the rope for a full length pitch. I set up the belay and brought up Roy. He had some rather colorful comments regarding this pitch.

It is getting steeper all of a sudden

Special protection to protect the long run out on the dogleg

Roy getting psyched up for the dogleg

Roy at the end of the dogleg crack

I started up the third pitch, which was more of the easy chimney, but it didn't last for long. Once again the crack narrowed down and became steeper. There was some mixed face and crack with a very high quality bolt protecting the move over a very delicate flake/block wedged in between two mini dihedrals. The amount of contact between the main wall and the block defies the imagination when it comes to trusting the block for your holds. Of course your belayer is going to get the worst part of it, so it's an exciting move for everyone. Soon I reached a short dihedral with very smooth walls. I placed a small cam in a horizontal crack at the base of the dihedral and then started looking at required moves in earnest. The climbing looked to be at the extreme of my limits. Above the corner I could see a fixed piton, but it was going to require a very strenuous and demanding move to get to. As I was checking out the holds I heard a strange sound. It almost sounded like a rattlesnake buzz. Of course it wasn't a snake and I knew it, but it sure didn't do much for my confidence. I suddenly decided that I would try and see if I was missing something. As I came back down I heard the sound again and realized it was coming from the horizontal crack where I had placed the small cam. I realized that a bird or bat was in the crack and making the noises I was hearing. I looked around and saw easier climbing off to my left and almost leapt at the crack. I soon was up under a roof with a couple of pitons above it. With some creative moves I was able to get into position to clip into the pitons and then made the move up and over. I didn't get far and I was out of rope once again. As Roy came up, he again had some colorful comments regarding the difficulty of the climb. While 5.7 may not be all that difficult, the climbing is often quite continuous and challenging for the grade, at least for us.

Looking down the third pitch

Roy above the roof on the third pitch

The fourth pitch became interesting very quickly, with two possible ways to go. To the left was a unprotected friction face and to the right was a very off balance system of ledges and seams. I eventually decided on the later. To put it bluntly, the climbing was airy. Soon the angle eased off and easy climbing brought me to the end of the rope once again. I set up the belay and brought up Roy. I think this climb made a lasting impression on him. His comments, well, they were interesting!

Looking up the fourth pitch, it's still steep

Taking a break on the fourth pitch, looking down at Roy

It's still steep

The angle finally eases off at the top of the fourth pitch

The fifth pitch really was easier going and soon (relative to our gasping crawling state of climbing by this time) I was at the top and setting up the belay. Roy came up and the climb was over. This seemed like the longest climb we had done all summer. Our rope is 200 feet long and we ran it out on almost every one of our five pitches. This climb has minimal traverses except for the dogleg, so we figure we climbed almost a thousand vertical feet. We got our money's worth.