Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Multi-Pitch Climbing at Tahquitz Rock


Last week I went up to do multi-pitch rock climbing with friends of my buddy JJ, Tom and Kate. They were really chill and I'm happy I've gained more climbing friends. This was my first time rock climbing outdoors and it was amazing. Its a totally different beast than mountaineering. On the first day I had to bail after the first pitch of a 5.6 route called Angles Fright. Thanks to some super nice climbers on the same pitch I was able to rappell down. I was scared and not used to vertical climbing so I felt I just needed to get used to the environment. Then later I met 2 very nice women who let me climb a 5.9 top rope route with them and upon finishing the route I felt comfortable with climbing. And on day 2 I was ready to tackle my 1st multi-pitch route. We started up a 5.4 route called The Trough at 2:30 PM.... a little bit of a late start but not a huge deal we though it was only a 4 pitch climb. But it started to get dark fast after getting to the top of Tahquitz Rock it was already past dusk and we still had a sketchy friction decent. We hurried up coiled up the rope an packed the gear and quickly started the decent in the dark... with only the headlamp that I brought up. We made it down safely and were back at the car by 10:30 PM. And headed straight back to LA with a pit stop at In n' Out for a 3x3 with fries and soda.... a 1,500 calorie meal is only okay when you ate under 1,000 calories during a day of climbing and though hiking. It was a great trip super fun route and now I'm stoked to do some multi-pitch climbing again. In the mean time I am planning a Mt. Shasta climb as my plans fell though. And I will be doing lots of backpacking and climbing in August. I will be posting often and I am also start working towards getting sponsored to climb Mt. McKinley in May 2012.