Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Farewell Tahquitz and Thank You

Yesterday Meredith and I did our final climb on Tahquitz Rock and it was a good one. We did a 3 star route called Fingertrip.  Lots of liebacking, some stemming and face climbing with a small roof to boot!  To avoid the dreaded Friction Descent walk-off, we creatively made our way to a rap tree below lunch ledge and rapped the route Angel's Fright to the ground. Phew!

Today we headed up to Suicide Rocks again and took a look at the slab routes on the Weeping Wall. These routes are run out friction slab climbing with a few bolts here and there - spicy stuff!  I studied the start to Serpentine and compared it to the start of Revelation and chose the latter.  This 5.8 slabfest really keeps your attention. 5.9 and 5.10 slab will have to wait until another day, when I have a LOT more courage.

I couldn't get any photos of Fingertrip and only had my iPhone to snap one last view of Tahquitz on the hike out today, so it is posted separately below.  While this place really kicked our butts, I am grateful for the experience here. It is good to work so hard on something and find that persistence pays off, even if it is at a humbling level.  We must admit, however, we will NOT miss those strenuous hikes up to Tahquitz with heavy packs!  Now open that bottle of vino, Meredith!

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