Captain Hook

Monday, October 25 and Roy and I are off on another adventure. The weather is holding a little warmer than I'd like, so I decide to climb in Idyllwild. Of course that's not a bad choice, it's just a little longer day than climbing in Joshua Tree and I was wanting a short day. We had to do our good samaritan work for the week, so we took a young man to Beaumont to his car, not much out of our way. I gave half a thought to go to Big Rock at lake Perris, but decided against it due to the temperature. Not that hot, but warmer than I wanted.

We arrived in Humber Park and checked out the parking lot. It appeared that we could have Suicide Rock all to ourselves, plus the shorter climbs fit in good with my plan for a short day. We started hiking just before 10 and made our way up to the crag. I decided to stay in the sun, since the temperature was about 60 degrees and we went over to the Buttress of Cracks. Roy had heard a lot about this area, but hasn't climbed here much, so we had a little tour, with me pointing out routes and telling stories of my early days on the rock.

After looking around, I decided to climb Captain Hook, 5.7 and one of my first leads. Well, I looked at the start and decided to do the direct start, although over the years I've mostly started with the layback to the far left. The layback is straight forward but strenuous, like most laybacks. The direct start took a false start to work out the footwork and then I was on the climb. After the first few moves I was hoping the climbing would get easy, but it didn't. My memory about this start told me that once in the main chimney that it would still be an awkward move to easy ground and it was. Sloping slick chimney without any positive holds. This wasn't a good sign. I managed to squirm my way up to a good rest and protection. I was out of breath, my mouth dry and I hadn't even climbed 20 feet.

The climbing is not too difficult for the next section, until the chimney becomes vertical and narrower. At this point, technique becomes important. Well, I don't climb chimneys all that often, so I made it up, but it was a work out. I finally reached the bottom of the large chalkstone that gave the climb its name. When I first climbed this route, the bottom of the chockstone had a horn of rock called the Crocodile Snout, that was shaped, like a Crocodile snout. It had a nice lip on the end where the nostrils would be which made for a great handhold and those with confidence would hang on it with their feet dangling free to thrill onlookers below. Well, this feature is gone now and one has to climb a little further to get to the next horn, which isn't as positive, for me anyway. It must have been quite a surprise for the climber that broke off that horn. Thank goodness there is really bomber protection at the base of the chockstone.

Well, after taking another lengthy time I was able to work my way over the chockstone and onto the alcove above. This is the traditional belay and since my mouth was so dry by this time that I was "spitting cotton", I set the belay anchors to bring Roy on up. It had taken a long time and I was tired, Roy made some "encouraging" comments to bolster my confidence and I decided to change my plan. I had decided to walk off a ledge that is just right and above the belay, but with Roy's attitude, I decided he wanted to climb the notorious "Throat" on the second pitch. Of course I should have known it would have a bigger impact on me than Roy.

I started up the pitch, it has an awkward move over a bush onto the ledge I mentioned earlier. Then the climbing goes up a steep crack into the "throat" chimney. Getting up the first few moves involves imaginary footholds, the protection is excellent for an overhanging crack and there are good finger holds, but needless to say, it's strenuous. I got up to the bottom of the chimney and then had to take a rest. Once I had recovered enough to continue, I worked my way on up through the "throat". By the time I got to the top I was exhausted, I was too tired to rest. I felt very similar to how I felt climbing the "mummy crack" on the Long Climb at the beginning of the summer, whipped. I set up the belay and collapsed. I rested in order to generate enough energy to bring up Roy, who just walked up it, of course. Once at the top, Roy was enjoying the views and asking questions about the routes that can be seen from the top of the Buttress of Cracks and then he looked over at me. He quickly got very quiet and said something like "I guess we have to go now."

Soon we were back at the car, had a snack and then it was back home after a very long day for a short climb. Below is the video of the climb.

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.

The last chimney near the top and start of the 5th pitch

View from the last belay, the trees look pretty small from here

Roy commenting about how we made it by that much

We changed shoes and picked up our gear and stumbled back down to the car. We arrived at close to six pm, a very terror full day indeed.

Say, if you look carefully you'll notice that the slab is more horizontal than it was last time, I'm sure it moved!

Video of the climb

Getting Away for Little Murders

August 29, 2009

I had big plans for the day, my old friend from high school and college days contacted me and asked if I was available to take him and his boys on a climb of Tahquitz Rock. I was thrilled and said yes right away. As the time got closer, things began to change. Southern California is having a heat wave, hottest of the summer. With the heat, we started seeing major wildfires breaking out around the state, but mostly here in the southland. My regular climbing partner, Roy is getting ready to retire and playing it to the hilt. He has decided that he's getting old and cranky. Of course I don't have the nerve to tell him he's always been old and cranky, so I just kind of play along. He decided about mid week that with the size of the party and hot weather, he didn't want to go. He likes to remind me of trips we've taken where we hike back in the dark, with inadequate lighting, like Middle Cathedral Spire in Yosemite, Monument Peak near Lake Havasu and perhaps one or two others. My retort is, we made it back didn't we. To which Roy gives a sad knowing smile as he nods his head. Of course I don't know what it is he is knowingly smiling about, nor do I think I want to, best to leave it alone I figure. Anyway, I digress, by the end of the week my old school buddy decided that heat and air quality were getting too poor to be able to enjoy climbing, so they bailed as well.

Now, I treasure my opportunities to get out and enjoy nature, so I was at a loss. I started thinking about going to the beach, with about everyone else in California, I figured about with luck I might be able to park with-in a quarter of a mile of the water and then have a space of two and a half feet by six feet all to myself. Needless to say, my attitude could have been better. Then, to my surprise, my youngest daughter came up to me and asked if I could take her and her boyfriend on a little climb. I said of course and we started planning. By 10:30 pm on Friday we still hadn't completed the details and I went to bed.

At 6 am my daughter woke me and said let's get ready and go. I like her spirit. She then told me that the boyfriend bailed and it would be just the two of us. We packed up and off we went. We arrived in Idyllwild and sure enough, it was already getting warm. I decided to climb at Suicide Rock since with the shorter routes, we would be able to easily call it quits if conditions were unbearable. I was pleasantly surprised that the closest fire, the Cottonwood fire near Hemet, only about 12 miles away wasn't a factor.

Part of the approach hike

The permit process

Due to the warm temperatures, we hike slowly with plenty of rests up to the base of the rock. It was unusual not to see anyone at the Weeping Wall, but no one in their right mind would be climbing that wall in the direct sun with these temperatures.

Weeping Wall

We continued around the rock to the north and arrived at the north face area. There was a group on the Flower of High Rank and another party getting ready to climb the Guillotine. We only saw one other party all day, and they were hiking up as we were hiking down.

A climber on Flower of High Rank

I decided to climb in the shade so we positioned ourselves at the base of Little Murders, a climb that I always enjoy. My daughter Charlene hasn't climbed much, mostly friction face routes so I knew this was going to be a challenge for her. She was going to get to do some laybacking, chimney and undercling moves, in addition to cleaning traditional protection. I headed up the climb after a quick refresher on how to belay. As I climbed I was careful to make sure I placed the protection where there were good rest stances. Little Murders is a short climb, about half a pitch long so I was able to make good time, or so it seemed to me, Charlene may have another version. I set up the belay and told her to come on up.

At the base of the climb

She started climbing, a little tentatively at first but without any real problems. When she arrived at the first piece of protection, it seemed like my little impromptu cleaning lesson was all for naught. But with a couple of tips yelled down, she soon figured out how the stopper was placed and removed it from the crack. She then hesitated on the crack while I explained the layback technique and then she walked right up it. As she continued she tended to climb just past the rest stances and cleaned the pro in the middle of the moves.

At a rest stance

I wish I could do that. Each new technique seemed easier for her to master than the last and soon she was sitting on a ledge below the main feature of the climb, the undercling out and around a good size flake. She hesitated for a moment and I explained that the further she went, the easier it would get and then she launched out and did it. A great job.

In the chimney nearing the final undercling

We worked our way back along the descent ledges to the tree at the head of the crux section and I belayed her down to the base. We were quickly back at our gear and packed up.

Packing up to go

We watched some climbers next to us for a few minutes and then headed back to the Weeping Wall where we had our snacks. Since Charlene had only signed up for one climb, we made our way back down to the car and made an early return home. Thanks Charlene for a good day!

Here's a video of our trip.

Fingertip Traverse

Today Roy and I decided to do something a little different. We decided to climb over on the west end of Tahquitz Rock. This means a different approach. We were running out of easy climbs on the east face and felt forced to make a change.

We started out with our normal routine, meet at 7 am, go out to breakfast and then drive up to the rock. Today we noticed a lot of smoke off to the west. There have been some big fires in California and the smoke was certainly affecting the air quality. Along the drive up Highway 243 from Banning to Idyllwild we stopped to take a picture of the smoke. We happened to stop at a turn-out along the Penny Pines Plantation. As I understand it, there was a big fire on the mountain in the early 1970s and the reforestation project along the highway was part of the penny pines program. With the drought going on for a number of years, the pine bark beetles have been killing a large number of trees. This has become a major fire hazard and the areas in the town of Idyllwild were cleared of dead trees in past few years, now the roadways are being cleared of not only the dead trees, but also the under story brush and lower limbs are being removed.

Looking at the smoke to the west off Hwy 243

Brush clearing along the highway

Penny Pines

We continued on to Idyllwild and stopped at Nomad Ventures, the only climbing shop in town. We replaced a couple of SLCDs (spring loaded caming devices) and then drove up to Humber Park. Soon we had on our hiking shoes, sunscreen and insect repellent and were ready to hike.

Sign at the beginning of the trail

Since we were climbing on the west end of the rock, our approach took us up the Ernie Maxwell trail for about a quarter mile and then up the climber trail to the rock.

Where the climber's trail takes off the Ernie Maxwell Trail

I noticed that over the years this climber trail has moved slightly to the west. When I first was hiking it, it went up to the talus slopes and ran along the west edge of the talus. Since this trail was not engineered, over time the erosion became very bad and going up along the talus was like climbing a sand dune, inside a steep chute. Now the trail has more switch backs and offers the benefit of being in the shade more of the time. I think it's a real improvement.

Video of approach

The base of Tahquitz Rock

Soon we were at the base of lunch rock and heading toward our destination for the day, the Fingertip Traverse route. This route is well known for being very interesting in places, especially for an easy climb. The rating is only 5.3. Since we hadn't climbed on this side of the rock in several years, we were a little uncertain about where the route started. We went to where we thought it should start, a large ledge we at first thought was the "Jungle" we had seen in the guide book, but being uncertain we then started scrambling up the rock to try and confirm the start. We did, by scrambling up to the end of the first pitch. At this point there is a fairly good size oak tree and a ledge. We put on our climbing gear so the games could begin.

Looking up at what should be the first pitch

Roy at our first belay

Looking down what should be the first pitch

This climb has some interesting aspects to it and the start of our first roped pitch has one of them. The route has the climber climb the oak tree to it's top and then step across onto the rock ridge. I must say, this just doesn't seem right, but it certainly is the way to go. After going up some face climbing and easy cracks I arrived at the real "Jungle" ledge. I made my way through the trees and set up the belay a few feet farther up. Soon Roy had joined me and it was time to start up our 2nd (should be 3rd) pitch.

Roy in the "Jungle"

Looking up the second pitch, the classic lieback

The start of this pitch has the famous lieback section that was featured in a photo in the old Chuck Wilts guidebooks. Of course, laybacks are strenuous and so I opted for face climbing out to the left of the crack. The next section is a traverse to the traverse, hey I just tell it like it is, I don't make this stuff up. This first traverse is a face traverse that takes one out to the top of the overhang of the Fingertrip arch. From this point one follows a small crack, that takes mostly just fingertips, that runs parallel to the top of the arch. The exposure here is quite dramatic, especially for an easy climb. After about thirty feet, the climbing gets easier and one goes up large blocks and past trees to a place where you can belay. Roy then came up and seemed to be enjoying himself and the climb, the climb must have been too easy.

The traverse pitch

Roy at the end of the traverse pitch

For the next pitch, instead of climbing up and left a few feet to lunch ledge in order to do the normal finish, I traversed off to the right. This route doesn't seem to be climbed as often, so there was some loose crystals on the rock. This gives the climber a particularly unpleasant sensation we refer to as "ball bearing" effect. As the grains of rock roll under the shoe, you get a distinct sensation of falling, something most climbers prefer not to experience. As I continued up over a little roof I found easier climbing and worked my way up to a corner with a thin crack. The rock was not too steep, but the crack was like a vertical fingertip traverse crack and it proved to be an interesting bit of climbing. Then, I was on the top of the climb, three whole pitches that normally would be done as four or five.

Me starting up the last pitch

Roy finishing the last pitch

Roy on top, changing his shoes

Me on top of the climb

We then took the friction route down and hiked back to the lowest part of the west end of the rock. There we found three different parties all lounging in the shade. The sun was warm and rock had started getting hot to the touch. Everyone was waiting to see if it would cool off, so it was a good time to visit. The breeze started picking up and the other parties decided to start climbing, so we called it a day and headed home. A short but enjoyable day!

Video of the Friction Route descent

WHITE MAIDEN'S WALKAWAY

PART TWO

Well, we had the opportunity to try our plan from our last trip up the Maiden. A friend of mine said she wanted to go climbing. She has climbed with me a few times over the years, I think she averages once every four years or so. Well, with the very hot weather that we've been having in southern California, it wasn't too difficult to decide that we wanted to climb up by Idyllwild. I also suspected that we would be hard pressed to find climbs on Suicide Rock, so I decided to climb at Tahquitz Rock. Even at 7,000 feet in elevation the forecast was for 92 degrees F.

We met at a breakfast/lunch place not too far from home and had breakfast. The cuban coffee was maybe a little stronger than I had counted on. We then parked Nancy's car at my work and took off up the hill. We made a quick pit stop at the ranger station in town. I had hoped that their little book store would have a climber's guide for sale, but it was not to be. I wanted to check out one of the easy routes we haven't done this season. But without the "beta", I decided to stick to something that we were familiar with. Exactly the sort of thing we had planned on when we last climbed the White Maiden. Nancy made sure that we understood that she hasn't been climbing much, since most of her climbing has been with me. She also pointed out that she considers herself height challenged and out of shape. I thought to myself, she's using all of my excuses and then some. I was impressed.

So far so good, we're about to leave the car

We parked at the trailhead for the Devil's Slide trail, I don't know why they always save us that spot, but we're not complaining. We put on sunscreen, insect repellent and loaded our gear. Then off we went up to the base of the rock. As we hiked along I noticed parties climbing WHODUNNIT, SAHARA TERROR, THE LONG CLIMB and last but not least, a group on THE ILLEGITIMATE. At the base of our climb we noticed a party on the very difficult route called THE FLAKES, which is on the other side of the buttress that the WHITE MAIDEN is on. This was the most crowded we have seen Tahquitz this season, but we still were able to climb our route of choice.

Looking up the White Maiden's Walkaway

Climbers on the Flakes route

As we positioned ourselves at the start of the climb, Roy turned to me and asked me if I had brought a second rope. I looked him directly in the eye and said, "No, I thought you brought it". Then he asked me what are we going to do? When you rock climb, it is normal practice to bring a rope for each climber, minus one. So for the three of us, we should have had two ropes. If there were five of us, we would need four ropes and so on. I told him, not to worry, since our rope is almost 200 feet long, and our route was so old, we would just have Nancy tie into the middle. My reasoning here was that when the route was first climbed, the original party would have used ropes about 120 feet long, so each pitch would have been close to 100 feet long when you subtract out the knots and leave a little extra for good measure. I have done this climb enough times to know that the good belay ledges are about 100 feet apart. Of course my calculations didn't give us any rope to tie in with, but I figured we'd make it work.

Nancy at the start of the climb

The first pitch went without a hitch. The climbing presented no difficulties, the angle of the rock is low to moderate and the exposure is minimal. Soon I was at the belay and bringing up Nancy and Roy.

Looking down the first pitch

We started up the second pitch, the climbing was easy, the views beautiful and aircraft low. Yes, I said the aircraft low. I think that maybe our friend in the glider upgraded his license to twin engine and he was buzzing the rock. He made about three passes that I thought looked fun, but questionable from the FAA's height regulations. Of course, I don't know what those regulations might be, so he could have been just fine. Another factor I took into consideration was the fact that the aircraft looked like it may have been military. I've seen some similar to it at the airport. Well,  I tried to get a picture and then went on up to the second belay. Here was the first challenge of short roping. I just got up onto a steep section and ran out of rope. I set up a semi hanging belay. When Nancy arrived, I stuck her in a chimney crack on a small ledge. She was a good sport about it, or so it seemed. Then Roy came up and I was off on the third pitch.

I'm at the second belay

Roy on the second pitch

The third pitch for us was the "walkaway" section of the climb. I'm wasn't sure what a "walkaway" is, so I looked it up. The definition is "easy victory" or "runaway". Sounds like a horse racing term to me. There is some justification to the name, this pitch is easy climbing with good positive holds, something I'd say that you could "run" up. Too bad it's just over 100 feet long, the good news was that I was able to find a fair ledge to stop on, just below the big ledge where everyone normally belays. As Nancy came up this pitch, she somehow managed to unclip the video camera from her harness and it fell into a large crack. The bottom of the crack was full of dirt and level, so Roy was able to retrieve it without any difficulty. Of course that also meant that we didn't get any climbing pictures on that pitch, since Roy's still camera battery had died on the second pitch. He won't let that happen again when he sees how many fewer photos he's featured in. Oh, wait, he uses that camera to take pictures of me, maybe he let the batteries die on purpose, I wonder... .

Sorting out the rope

By this time Nancy was doing a pretty good job of convincing me that her first multi pitch climb was making her nervous. I thought about it for a minute and then reconsidered. Most people that I take climbing start laughing and joking when they get nervous, Roy in particular. Nancy is that way all the time, even when she's not climbing, she always is smiling and has a joke. I decided to ignore her comments about being nervous.

Roy on the fourth pitch

The fifth pitch was a challenge for Nancy. There is one move where you have to reach far out to the right and grab a hold that you then use to pull yourself up onto a block and easier climbing. Height, or lack of it came to the forefront on this move and Nancy took a little slip. Nothing serious, but it did put some reality into the situation. It meant that I had to pay attention to my belaying, no free ride. She was able to make the rest of the way to the belay without incident, but I noticed that she was a little quieter and not so out going. I didn't think too much of it. I was more enthralled with the overall experience. The predicted 92 degrees didn't materialize, we had scattered clouds giving us shade from time to time and a nice breeze. You couldn't ask for much nicer weather. At this belay I spoke to one of the party that climbed the Illegitimate. He thought the climb was the most difficult 5.9 at Tahquitz. I was glad to hear that, since I had refused to climb it and did a more difficult variation years before. Soon Roy was up and we moved the belay. Our belay had ended on a large ledge, so in order to be able to utilize as much rope as possible, we moved over about thirty feet. Nancy had some comments about the trees we moved the belay into, but I'm polite and won't repeat them.

Roy on the fifth pitch

The next pitch goes up to the infamous "doubtful corner". We had just enough rope to make the belay ledge/tree. When Nancy came up to the corner, I told her to stop, catch her breath, take in the view and relax. Of course the ledge she stopped on is above a large overhanging section of rock. When it seemed that she wasn't moving (I won't say frozen with fear because that wouldn't be polite), I suggested that she step down around the corner, reach low for a small crack and pull the rest of her body around the corner. As she was gingerly making the move, I exclaimed how pleased I was to see that the move was doable, that I had never done it before and was wondering if it was possible to do. Nancy looked at me like I was crazy, there was a certain wild animal look deep down in her eyes. I felt like I was looking into her soul and I didn't like what I was seeing. At this point I noticed that she was not uttering a single word. I've never known Nancy to be quiet for more than about ten seconds. I began to panic. I quickly explained to Nancy that I had to make the move, since there was no other way for me to have gotten to the belay and that I had been joking. The primeval look started to go away and I was able to breathe again. I had Roy climb as quickly as possible, he didn't even have to stop and pose for the video, since the batteries died. Once he was at the belay, we quickly changed the batteries and off I went.

Roy just below doubtful corner

I like the next pitch because it is steep, of course I seem to like all of the pitches, it also has big holds. That makes for very fun climbing in my opinion. We then climbed another easy pitch and I was able to stretch out the rope to the traditional ledge where we belayed on our last climb of the Maiden. I don't know what Roy and Nancy talked about while I was climbing, but Nancy seemed to be getting back to her normal self. 

Roy smiling, don't believe it

The belay ledge is behind a large flake, so it is very secure mentally and physically. I let her know that we had one, or one and a half pitches to go to reach the top. I almost thought I detected a look or relief. 

Looking down the White Maiden

The last pitch, our ninth with our rope constraints, went just fine, except for the large step across a large crack, Nancy said something about being short. Then she also said something about the small roof we had to go over, she told me that she had to go all the way to the right end before she could step up high enough to go over, I told her that's the way I always do it. As soon as Roy arrived at the belay he took off towards the top. He kept Nancy on the rope just to be safe, it's a long first step over the edge. 

I'm leading the final pitch

Roy finishing the last pitch

In a few minutes we were on the true summit. There was a hiker enjoying the view, the wind started to come up and Nancy got to sign her first summit register. I thought it odd that she signed it, then closed the lid and then asked if Roy or I were planning on signing in. We both said "no" and she opened it us and started writing what a appeared to be a novella, all the while muttering our names and other things we didn't quite understand. Now that I think back about it, I think perhaps we should have checked to see what she wrote about us.

Nancy writing her novella

After signing the register we finished our water, packed up our gear and headed down from the summit. When we reached the saddle at the top of the east gully, we changed our shoes and then hiked down. While changing shoes we found out that Nancy is really Smurfette, she has blue feet, just like the color of her climbing shoes.

Nancy's/Smurfette's blue foot

Near the base of the gully we noticed the flake that had fallen against the tree, I asked Roy if he thought it had moved since the last time we saw it and he said he was fairly certain that it had. Compare the picture to photos in my previous Tahquitz blog entries and decide for yourself.

Has it moved?

We stumbled back to the car and decided that we needed to have a celebratory meal, by now it was 4:30 in the afternoon and 7:30 breakfast was a long time ago. Before we had a chance to leave, we ran into an old climbing buddy, Craig. Roy and I seem to run into him every few years at one climbing location or another. I think one of the last times we saw him was in Yosemite. We then also spotted Nancy's former boss, Gary Jeandron. He was up riding around with his wife and some friends and they just happened to recognize Nancy as they were driving by. We had a nice little visit with them. They were very impressed that Nancy had climbed the giant rock and wanted to know all about it. I suggested that they go out to Joshua Tree when the weather cools down and watch up close and personal. Gary asked me to send him some video instead. I don't think he wants to get too close to the rocks.

Stumbling back to the car

After all the visiting we went to what many consider the finest restaurant in Idyllwild, The Gastrognome. We were surprised they let us in the door, since we hadn't been able to do much in the way of cleaning up from the climb. We had a superb meal, Roy and I almost went into shock, it was much nicer than we are used to, they didn't even have paper plates. Nancy was in a celebratory mood, after completing her first multi pitch climb and treated herself to the Filet and Half Lobster Tail. She deserved a special treat after her first multi pitch climb. Roy had the Grilled Pork and I had Asparagus & Portabella Mushroom Pasta. The food was wonderful and we had a happy smile on our faces as we left the mountain and headed down to the desert below.

The Gastrognome

Filet & Lobster Tail

Grilled Pork

Asparagus & Portabella Mushroom Pasta