Trip Report: Celestial 7 Link Up in Tahquitz Backcountry 7 May 2022 | 27 Jul 2024

A friend sent me this a semi-serious but semi-joking option for our climbing day a little over a week ago. Needless to say, we opted for something else but the hook was set. 

I convinced another friend to go for it on May 1st, but his start time meant a 7am launch and we doubted we'd get them all but we'd get some beta and have a good time. We got 4 of the 7 (we did #1, 2, 3, and 5), finishing on Alter Buttress and took the PCT and Devil's Slide back to Humber, great day out. We were 14.5 hrs C2C, leaving out the two harder routes and another obscure route for the future onsite and full link up. 

I then posted this and got Conor to bite on the whole thing. I cached 9 liters of water and some snacks at the base of routes 2,3,4, and 5 on Friday May 6th and scouted the approach to the Beta, which was the only route location I was unsure of. A quick run back down the PCT and Devil's Slide brought be back to Humber where Conor was waiting. We chatted briefly about strategy and gear and then went to sleep with alarms set for 240am. We left Humber at 3am, and with a little confusion in the dark getting to the start, we launched up WMW around 4am - we were off!

#1 went fast and smooth, with only a couple of off-route mistakes in the dark. Summit selfie around 525am. A quick reset and down the N Gulley brought us to #2.

#2 also went fast and smooth. A week earlier we pitched out all four of pitches, but with the prior knowledge we simuled everything in two blocks, topping out around 650am. Back down N Gulley en route to #3.

#3 also went fast and smooth (a trend that is needed for this to work ...). A week earlier to started further climbers right, in what I think is the "proper" Hinterland Arete Left Side, however it wasn't that great and a different line a little more climbers left (maybe the Toe Dihedral?) was calling, so opted for that. It was a full 50m through some fun, but very dirty climbing to the belay on top of the ridge. A quick one of two block of simul led to the summit (selfie around 910am). Descent was east of the Hinterland Buttress and takes you right down to the Indian Buttress.

#4 was probably the best climbing of the day on Indian Buttress. A short 1st pitch and an epic 55m 2nd pitch were the highlights. I had to move the belay up to make our 50m work and then 50m just barely made it on the rappels (it may be closer to 52m or 53m). Climbing and rappelling was fast with no hiccups - the day was starting to take shape like we might be able to pull it off. 

#5 was where we probably made the most $$$. A week before during the onsite it took us 3.5 hrs to summit, however with the prior knowledge we knocked it down to exactly 2 hrs with no real belayed climbing, just all simul with thoughtfully placed microtraxions - we summited at 3pm, exactly 12 hrs after leaving Humber. We however did have to onsight the descent, which was not bad (LOTS of short tree surfing on the way down), just a little time consuming. Our reset from summit to base was about 60 min (including 15 min of faffing around on the summit). It had been windy all day, but nothing too bad, but high on the Alter Buttress we could sense that the wind had picked up and was going to influence our day. At the base of Alter at 4pm it was pretty much in the bag, we figured to knock out #6 and get started on #7 before sunset. 

#6 was fast and smooth. The first part of the 1st pitch needed some serious gardening, but then it cleaned up and the upper portion on the headwall had some SERIOUS wind, thought it was going to blow me off. After the 1st pitch it was one easy, long simul block to the summit with vicious wind; we topped out and started booking it to #7 around 6pm. The transition from #6 to #7 had some SERIOUS bushwhacking and tree surfing, but was fast and direct.

#7 kicked off around 7pm and we knocked out 2.5 pitches before headlamps were required. After the sun set and with the wind it got DAMN! cold up there. We decided to skip the final headwall pitch and opted for an "easier" final pitch. I went up and got into the 5.4 chimney and quickly decided that it was too shitty and came back down and opted to find ANYTHING other than that. Opted for something just climbers left of the chimney that was thuggish but short. We topped out around 930pm and were back at Humber at 11pm for a 20 hr C2C. 

Bottom Line: this is a sick link up in SoCal right behind the uber-popular Lily Rock that should get some more attention!

Great day climbing with you Dave. Thanks for all the work planning. Let do another big day sometime!

this is wild, bump

Bump.  

Did this again on Sat (7/27/24) and cached water on Fri afternoon (1x gal at #2 and 3x gallons at #4 - its HOT!).  We opted for the Long Climb as 1st route and started climbing at 315am.  This time we managed to essentially simul climb everything until DAB (including one block up Indian Buttress, which was SICK!).  It was pretty windy again in the afternoon, an obvious trend now.  We topped out DAB at 745pm and back to Humber at 9pm.  18:20 C2C with a few lengthy cool down sessions in the shade.   

Still a sick, long, and fun linkup just behind the uber popular Lilly Rock.  

Cheers,
Dave