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Was up climbing on Suicide today with Deb and Jack......and again, the sound of rock fall coming from Tahquitz!! Couldn't see where it was coming from exactly but things are sure cutting loose over there. Oh, yeah.....Serpentine is a sweet slab route, although a bit slick! Didn't have time to do 'Revelation' though.

On a side note, we met up with Clark Jacobs and found out that some low life punks stole his wallet, car keys and a few other articles out of his pack, which was at the base of the climb they were on. This happened on Sunday. Seems there were these two fellows walking around the base (no climbing gear, just light day packs) with no real purpose for being there. Not pointing fingers directly at anyone person but that seems like there are people roaming the bases of climbs while climbers are up on routes, waiting to snatch up what is not rightfully theirs!!

Low Life F*ck Sticks!!

If anyone was climbing out at the Weeping Wall this last Sunday and knows of any information on the theft of Clark's belongings, speak up![/b]

How's the snow up there? Is there still snow around the base or is it all pretty much melted. Was thinking about getting up that way in the next few weeks.

There is almost no snow and whatever there is is easy to go around.

Actually, there is a bit of snow still left on top of Tahquitz (primarily the north facing sections) and a few spots on the ledge systems (mainly on the NE face....like The Larks). This is based on views from Suicide as of Thursday (17th). However, by the time you (atthecrux) visit Tahquitz, it'll be gone. BTW, there was a good chunk of snow at the base of The Weeping Wall (Suicide) on Thursday. But it's melting fast...

ksolem wrote:

forjan wrote:I was gonna take a newbie up Fingertrip (FT) this weekend. This is the 2nd time I heard about rock fall near FT. Not sure if I should get on FT or not. What do you guys think? --Miguel

I think it is a miracle that one or both of a beautiful young married couple did not get killed last Sunday afternoon. As I said it was a very near thing. If this is, as you say, a recurring problem then someone with time on a weekday should get up there and find the source - perhaps the ledges at the top of Jensen's Jaunt - and clean things up. I'll ping Alois and see if he's around, I can get up there and help out.

I'll answer my own question. We climbed Fingertrip yesterday April 20th. I now tend to think that the rock fall on April 13th could have been human-triggered. All west facing routes are free of snow from lunch rock all the way around to the friction descent.

Thanks for the heads up Dave! Kind of off topic but did you and Deb make it up snow creek a couple of weeks ago? She sent me a PM (i was looking for info on SC) but I ended up being out of town. Hope you guys had fun. Maybe next year...

atthecrux wrote:Thanks for the heads up Dave! Kind of off topic but did you and Deb make it up snow creek a couple of weeks ago? She sent me a PM (i was looking for info on SC) but I ended up being out of town. Hope you guys had fun. Maybe next year...

Nope. Deb got a case of food poisoning the day prior. Yep, no Snow Creek this year. Oh well. But Suicide has renewed my interest after doing 'Serpentine' last Thursday. Next up: 'Revelation', 'Hesitation', 'Mickey Mantle', and 'Sundance'!

Funny to find this post about the rockfall that day. My friend Eddie
and I were the two climbers on fingertrip as the rock passed. We were
at the arch (semi hanging belay) switching gear and setting up
for the next pitch. I heard this strange rumbling noise and felt
a slight vibration on the wall. Trying to guess what it was
the only thing that came to mind was a full nalgene bottle
sliding down the wall. I looked up just in time to see a four foot
wide boulder pitch off the top about three hundred fifty feet above us.
At that moment I thought we had about four more seconds to live. As this registered I
heard what seemed to be a delayed, but frantic scream "ROOOOOOCCKKKK!!!!!"
Turning to my partner who was still fiddling with gear or food and
was somewhat oblivious to the situation I spastically said "GET IN GET IN!"
and we tried to get under the slight bulging "overhang" of about 8" where our anchor was placed. Then came the crash of the boulder which felt like it detonated over our heads...just a thunderous, deep shake and explosion which rained rock debris onto us.
The boulder skipped over us breaking into two and we saw it hit the wall
again below us missing another climbing party by a short distance.
Then the rockfall hit the base of the wall taking down a few significant tree branches
and again raining a fairly destructive force over an area of about 75sq. ft.

It was surreal. The party below us was yelling wildly in terror...commands
to retreat, rap down in fear of more rockfall coming. Eddie looked at me
with this weird smile like "whoa, but no big deal". Although I knew we were
exposed and that the bulge offered no real protection I wasn't convinced that
retreating was a good call. We hung there, shaking off the shock and laughing
a bit. I started off on the next pitch and we finished the climb feeling very lucky.

About a year later I was driving into the Sierra's with my friends and the
conversation turned to Tahquitz. I was convinced the boulder came loose
because of the warming weather and rock expansion. What my friends then
told me put an end to my wondering. It turns out that they too had been
climbing that day. They had just pulled the crux of Traitor
horn and were starting the final pitch when they witnessed someone about
to anchor to a sketchy looking boulder. They warned this person not to use the
boulder as a belay. He started to test the stability of the boulder, pushing it
back and forth which set it off sliding. Apparently he was the one who
screamed "ROCK" after he set it off. They said he was deeply, deeply
traumatized by what he had done and they had to help him get through the
rest of his climb, because he was in shock...believing that he had possibly killed
climbers below. It's inconceivable that not a single person was severely injured
that day. I remember seeing the rock hit the base near the wall and thinking
there had to be people there as it's such a high traffic area.

One more irony. Last September I was on an annual mountain bike ride
and was introduced to the guy who pushed the boulder off. I wanted to
crack a joke like "yeah, you're the guy who almost killed me", but refrained.
He's actually an incredibly nice guy, father of two. Climbing is very scary
sometimes when small mistakes can turn into the biggest mistakes.

Funny to find this post about the rockfall that day. My friend Eddie
and I were the two climbers on fingertrip as the rock passed. We were
at the arch (semi hanging belay) switching gear and setting up
for the next pitch. I heard this strange rumbling noise and felt
a slight vibration on the wall. Trying to guess what it was
the only thing that came to mind was a full nalgene bottle
sliding down the wall. I looked up just in time to see a four foot
wide boulder pitch off the top about three hundred fifty feet above us.
At that moment I thought we had about four more seconds to live. As this registered I
heard what seemed to be a delayed, but frantic scream "ROOOOOOCCKKKK!!!!!"
Turning to my partner who was still fiddling with gear or food and
was somewhat oblivious to the situation I spastically said "GET IN GET IN!"
and we tried to get under the slight bulging "overhang" of about 8" where our anchor was placed. Then came the crash of the boulder which felt like it detonated over our heads...just a thunderous, deep shake and explosion which rained rock debris onto us.
The boulder skipped over us breaking into two and we saw it hit the wall
again below us missing another climbing party by a short distance.
Then the rockfall hit the base of the wall taking down a few significant tree branches
and again raining a fairly destructive force over an area of about 75sq. ft.

It was surreal. The party below us was yelling wildly in terror...commands
to retreat, rap down in fear of more rockfall coming. Eddie looked at me
with this weird smile like "whoa, but no big deal". Although I knew we were
exposed and that the bulge offered no real protection I wasn't convinced that
retreating was a good call. We hung there, shaking off the shock and laughing
a bit. I started off on the next pitch and we finished the climb feeling very lucky.

About a year later I was driving into the Sierra's with my friends and the
conversation turned to Tahquitz. I was convinced the boulder came loose
because of the warming weather and rock expansion. What my friends then
told me put an end to my wondering. It turns out that they too had been
climbing that day. They had just pulled the crux of Traitor
horn and were starting the final pitch when they witnessed someone about
to anchor to a sketchy looking boulder. They warned this person not to use the
boulder as a belay. He started to test the stability of the boulder, pushing it
back and forth which set it off sliding. Apparently he was the one who
screamed "ROCK" after he set it off. They said he was deeply, deeply
traumatized by what he had done and they had to help him get through the
rest of his climb, because he was in shock...believing that he had possibly killed
climbers below. It's inconceivable that not a single person was severely injured
that day. I remember seeing the rock hit the base near the wall and thinking
there had to be people there as it's such a high traffic area.

One more irony. Last September I was on an annual mountain bike ride
and was introduced to the guy who pushed the boulder off. I wanted to
crack a joke like "yeah, you're the guy who almost killed me", but refrained.
He's actually an incredibly nice guy, father of two. Climbing is very scary
sometimes when small mistakes can turn into the biggest mistakes.