Northeast Farce

Just climbed this yesterday and call it 5.7R. The first pitch is long; 180'. My guess is the FA party did it in 2 pitches (you pass 2 fp's). Save some big cams for the first belay.

Traversing from the first belay to the 5.1 crack involves a few no-hands slab moves: if you fall here you will pendo across low angle rock, off an ancient fixed pin. Did not see the bolt shown on the guide topo. Did see an old one ~10' right of the 5.1 crack; off route.

Pitches 3 & 4 have some aesthetic slab traverses with good pro. Jun 21, 2010

I mostly concur with the above comment. The no hands traverse was fun would have been more exciting if it was longer, but got your attention pretty fast. The top two pitches are great. Fairly sustained 5.6 climbing IMHO. I don't think this climb deserves an 'R' modifier. The pro is maybe non-obvious in situations but nothing too crazy. Did not see bolt either. Jul 18, 2010

The topo in the guide book doesn't quite scale as to how far you need to go in the dihedral. The traverse should start on a decent foot ledge with a piton in the middle at foot level. The traverse does go no hands for a move or two but is pretty chill.
From the top of the wide crack on P2 you should go more or less straight up passing two old bolts just right of a flake. Aug 27, 2014

I've posted a topo of this climb. I've only done it once, so there may be errors. If so, please post a comment and let me know. I enjoyed the face climbing on P3 (my P4) and P4 (my P5). Agree with Donno about the nonexistence of the bolt in Vogel's topo. Also agree with Donno that a PG or R rating is appropriate, because your safety on P2 (my P3) is completely dependent on the old fixed pin, and we have no way of knowing whether it would hold a fall. Agree with Tradiban about the seemingly incorrect scaling of Vogel's topo for P2. If Vogel has in mind the same ledge we're talking about, then it's much higher up than he shows it. It's also conceivable that his ledge is one of the little low-prominence ripples lower down on the slab. In that case, he apparently intends you to insert into the jagged system of fractures on that huge flake, and it's possible that the bolt he describes really is down there, lower than where we all were looking for it. Oct 7, 2017

I talked to Nick Rhoads about the old pin on P2 that people are depending on as if it were a bolt. Nick maintains a database of bolts at Tahquitz that need to be replaced. I asked him for his ethical and technical opinion. He went out and took a look, and he agreed that it was a problem, and it would seem reasonable to him if someone else were to put a bolt there as a safer replacement for a pin. However, he decided it wasn't part of the mission of his project to replace a fixed pin with a bolt, and he also thought that if someone did place a bolt there, there was a pretty good chance that someone else would come along and chop it. If someone were to put a bolt there, he suggests putting it farther to the right than where the piton is. Oct 24, 2017

To expand on Ben's comment, the database is atclimbidy.com, the pin looks good to me but the traverse right is sketchy for the grade. A bolt could be placed from stance further right if one was so inclined. To reiterate from elsewhere, rap bolting at Tahquitz would not be ok and adding a bolt to an existing climb, even from a stance, is a debatable ethical action based on the local traditions. Oct 24, 2017