Rescue on NE Face of Tahquitz

If you're 40 feet above your last pro, at the base of an insurmountable slab, and you don't think you can downclimb -- then having 40 more feet of rope, or waiting through a cold night, is not going to solve your problem.  It doesn't seem like a case of "should have self-rescued," but rather a case of "should have avoided getting into this bad situation in the first place."  

Guy Keeseewrote:

I believe that the greatest risk to our continued ability to climb without government interference is to not involve the government in our climbing.

Wow! Guy Keesee!  Amazing quote!

 absolutely fucking genius. 

Fern Valley residents got a nice show, but it got old by 2AM. 

This is the new normal. Don’t read the beta, don’t use common sense, attempt your half-baked objective, get a little spooked, and call rescue. Easy peasy.

Remember those kooks on Epinephrine last year? They were *stoked* about their “epic” and even shared about it on social media until folks on here started to chime in.

Those dudes as well - a taxpayer funded heli ride and no charge to the individuals. I agree that this could begin to appear unsustainable for local authorities.

J Vergwrote:

Fern Valley residents got a nice show, but it got old by 2AM. 

I am sooooooo glad my folks finally sold the family cabin on Forest Drive and the home on Cougar... Every freaking time the chopper flew would put my mom into crisis mode... 

It would be nice to hear from the rescued party.  Why did the leader continue knowing he was running out of pro, rather than set up an intermediate belay while he still had enough gear?  Were they swapping leads of did one guy do all the leading? Did they do another route before starting up El Whampo? What time did they start from Humber Park?  What was on their rack?

John Pencawrote:

It would be nice to hear from the rescued party.  Why did the leader continue knowing he was running out of pro, rather than set up an intermediate belay while he still had enough gear?  Were they swapping leads of did one guy do all the leading? Did they do another route before starting up El Whampo? What time did they start from Humber Park?  What was on their rack?

James Robertsonwrote:

Idyllwild Branch Library still has that on the self!?

John Pencawrote:

It would be nice to hear from the rescued party.  Why did the leader continue knowing he was running out of pro, rather than set up an intermediate belay while he still had enough gear?  Were they swapping leads of did one guy do all the leading? Did they do another route before starting up El Whampo? What time did they start from Humber Park?  What was on their rack?

You know you're not going to get satisfactory answers to any of these questions.  Just a couple of inexperienced, non-resourceful climbers who got in over their heads and appeared to lack the will to get themselves out of it.  Glad it turned out well and no one got hurt (rescue included obviously) but geez...

Fat Dadwrote:

You know you're not going to get satisfactory answers to any of these questions.  Just a couple of inexperienced, non-resourceful climbers who got in over their heads and appeared to lack the will to get themselves out of it.  Glad it turned out well and no one got hurt (rescue included obviously) but geez...

Agreed.

I like the ambition and positive energy of the next generation of climbers... and I want to say to them to ask more experienced climbers for guidance.

But honesty I don’t think that some of them know that it’s it’s worth doing or maybe they just want to figure it out themselves. (We all have some of that) And has far as danger, they don’t know what they don’t know.

I got some great perspective from my Russian climbing partners who are surprised by the American climbing culture that is “do as you wish.” In Russia, there is an unwritten alpine climbing code of having to learn to climb successively harder grades with the guidance of someone who has done that grade before. If not followed, no one will rescue you and no one will climb with you. The government is not involved, is all climber code. Brilliant. 

That's a good report from RMRU. Like they say, training really pays off. But no matter how you cut it, that's some serious and hazardous work. Especially so for a team already tired from a full day of you guessed it, training.

IMO those two clowns got a lot more help than they deserved, and put a lot of good people at risk to get it. At the very least they should have to pay the Riverside County Sheriff Dept. for the cost of the helo operation. That would set them back a couple bucks.

Does anyone here know how that works? Do they get the bill, or do they get off scot-free?

Joshua Tree Runnerwrote:

Agreed.

I like the ambition and positive energy of the next generation of climbers... and I want to say to them to ask more experienced climbers for guidance.

But honesty I don’t think that some of them know that it’s it’s worth doing or maybe they just want to figure it out themselves. (We all have some of that) And has far as danger, they don’t know what they don’t know.

I got some great perspective from my Russian climbing partners who are surprised by the American climbing culture that is “do as you wish.” In Russia, there is an unwritten alpine climbing code of having to learn to climb successively harder grades with the guidance of someone who has done that grade before. If not followed, no one will rescue you and no one will climb with you. The government is not involved, is all climber code. Brilliant. 

Bingo.

In the US, there seems to be a lack of mentors for the number of overly motivated climbers (speaking from experience). How can this be overcome? More importantly, I think there are many people willing to teach others but often they are not qualified. How does one filter through this?

The Russian Alpine Climbing Code...  interesting... do the Russians use and glorify "Flash" and "Onsight"?  I argue those pitifully prestigious accolades does get new motivated climbers in trouble.

I'm trying to reserve judgement, but I honestly can't think of a single reason other than rockfall, injury, or dropping the entire rack that someone could require rescue off El Whampo. After the crux pitch, its choose your own adventure of 4th and easy 5th with the frequent option to bail left into even easier terrain. 

Dave K wrote:

I'm reserving judgement until I learn the race, gender, and sexual preference of the rescued climber.

That's IT!  The climb was not inclusive.  It should have been bolted every four feet.

Those Russians would have shit-canned me by the end of my first week.   

Hah - doubtful many gumbies would try to answer here the questions upstream.  I wonder why.

Likewise taking up any offers of mentoring from many posting. How much can one learn from a mentor who thinks it is all about them? Eh. 

A rescue like this one has to do with common sense. El Whompo had to have been freezing ass yesterday, and they ran out of daylight. Picking climbs appropriately and optimizing sunlight are the easiest choices to make. All technical ability aside. I was on the West Bulge a week ago and it was fantastic. There are plenty of climbs on that side are 5.7 and below and some are classics.

I’ve been very lucky to have been mentored. If you’re generally nice person, show the ability to exercise common sense, and ask around (in person) mentors can be found. 

In other news Idy has been out of power since 9AM with intense winds. 

This is why I've wanted to set up shop before the climbers trail and ask for peoples' Tahquitz belay cards. 

Please do. Last time I walked right past the trail to Lunch Rock. Didn't there used to be a sign?

PSA to the climbers who needed this rescue:  Either there was some VERY BASIC climbing practice you needed to know, that you did not know, or or you knew it and still made some VERY BASIC mistake(s) and errors in judgement.  This kind of shit makes me angry because it has potential repercussions for access for ALL climbers over time.

Mt Baldy is in my backyard and during the winter months I like to walk up the 12 foot wide fireroad to the Notch. My husband likes the snow climbing in the Baldy Bowl.   Over the past couple of years the access to the entire mountain, including this benign walking trail,  and the nice hiking trail in Ice House Canyon, has been closed because people with inadequate skills and equipment have needed rescues.  Mostly it was their dead bodies that needed rescuing.  The closure is specifically because the authorities do not want to put rescuers in danger in the winter months.  And rather than institute a "no rescue" policy, they just close the mountain to everybody.

How many more of these rescues at Tahquitz will it take before some government agency puts up a sign - "no rock climbing between Nov and March"?