asmrz: Thank you for your comments, they mean a lot coming from you. as i told wallspeck, asmrz is the REAL DEAL! i have been hearing about some of your exploits for 20 or so years. these stories being told to me by my roommate in college who worked at sport chalet, and through wallspeck, who I met through my roommate. Did Miguel also work at Sport Chalet?

we kinda met once, back in the early 90's when you and miguel stumbled upon wallspeck, who was sleeping in the middle of the trail after our 30plus hours, lucky-to-be-alive experience on mt thompson. nothing like having your rope chopped in 5 different pieces… you and miguel were coming off of gilbert if i remember correctly. do you remember that? I still get a kick when I think about it.

Deb: wallspeck don’t like the adze…

Sheesh. There's a bit of history. I had met Miguel in the late 80's through my climbing buddy Chuck. Then in October, 1996, x15x15 and I went in to do the Moynier coluoir on Mt. Thompson, car to car. We took no down jackets, only a small bag of biscuits, and went for it. Below the chockstone we encountered Black Ice hard as asphalt. Desperate. After turning the chockstone (maybe 300 feet up), I belayed on a ledge with two TCUs in a flaring crack for a make-believe anchor. x15x15 led off above and about 15 feet above me pulled off a block the size of a large suitcase. I jumped right and it landed on our rope cutting it in pieces. He climbed down, we tied our rope back together and then he launched out for an 80 foot, Black Ice runout lead with no pro (the knots in the rope would not go through the biners.) I will never forget him scratching little 1/2 inch deep notches in the ice for pick placements and his frontpoints skidding around like they were on a chalkboard. Finally, he made a belay of sorts and it was my turn to levitate. Scratching it out for my own 80 feet of terror on the worst ice imaginable (x15x15 was getting sick watching) I finally found a bit of real ice below the final roof and got in two screws half way and tied them off. Then x15x15, in a state of fear and resignation led the roof and up for 150 feet with not a single piece while I hung on my two "half" screws wondering if I would die.
We found ourselves on the summit just at sunset and made our way down the ridge in the dark reaching the talus around 1 am. The temps were 16 degrees F and we were freezing. Tried to sleep but could only get 5 or 6 minutes before shivering and having to move on.
By sunrise, we had crossed over the ridge and were heading down toward the trail.
Once on the trail, x15x15 took off and I couldn't keep up I was so tired. So finding a sunny spot with a bit of warmth, I laid down to nap a bit.
Sometime later I hear this... "Do you think he is alive?"... pause... "Yes"... "Just go around him".
I open my eyes and sit up and there are two ice climbers. We start talking and the one guy asks where I am from and I say Hemet. He looks at me oddly and says "Jack?"
I am surprised of course and then he says, "I'm Miguel!"
Well what an odd meeting! Alois was his partner and that's how we first met.

....and since I wasn't up there, the wonderful pursuit of armchair specualtion will always be my job to keep you on your toes x15x15. A real man would have stayed in town and drank at Jo'An's!

Good job guys!!

Dave Daly wrote:....and since I wasn't up there, the wonderful pursuit of armchair specualtion will always be my job to keep you on your toes x15x15. A real man would have stayed in town and drank at Jo'An's!

Good job guys!!

Can't argue with that, Dave. That's undoubtedly because "a real man" has more wisdom than an idiot ice climber.

No doubt there are "real idiots" out there that assume they are real men.

It's no wonder women associate men as idiots.

great job dave and jack, i just laughed a cup of coffee through my nose and now i have to brew another one...

real men would have just stayed in my garage pulling down on plastic drinking homebrew, eh wallspeck?

Jeez guys, this old man's heart might swell too much and burst with all these accolades.. Very nice of you X15x15, by the time one gets to this point, old lies, stories and half truths just pile up...

Do I remember the Thompson/Gilbert encounter? You bet I do, will never forget, when we have a group of outdoor oriented people over and have a few, that is one of the great stories to spring on them. Jack (lying there across the trail) looked to me like he was a goner, that's why I said it. Afterward Miguel said, I know Jack from Yosemite, "this guy can cook like only a few can" (his words). So I always had admiration for that man and "HIS" partner because I trust Miguel' sparse words. He means what he says.

Miguel and I frequented Sports Chalet's (La Canada) climbing department, Miguel more often then I, Miguel and I actually climbed with some of the guys working there, I remember Aaron (?), who later worked as a Columbia (?) West Coast rep.

Anyway, great story, but even better, great climbing in that Tahquitz dihedral. Thanks for the entertainment.

PS Miguel and I were returning from (a bit less of an epic) trip to Gilbert Couloir in one day RT. I was after 7 nights of shift work, had almost no sleep and Miguel was beating me to death with "keep going" commnads...I was about to keel over and that was where we ran into Jack!

wallspeck was kind enough to leave out one tiny piece of information that i thought i would just throw out there. once i completed my last pitch on mt thompson and sat down for my belay, i completely lost my cookies. although there was not much to lose, i sat at my belay and just puked. hahahahahaha... i was obviously at the end of my rope and knew that i was skating on thin ice. i learned a lot about myself on that climb and began to understand what i was capable of, yet realizing that backing off and rappelling is sometimes the best way to go...

again, thanks for the comments asmrz... and i am beginning to think you have an assortment of pictures of MANY ice climbs on tahquitz...

How's tahquitz now? Did it all melt? Is it getting better or worse? Is it still worth going up for a scary mixed climbing experience?

The temps have been in the 60s last couple of days after several days of 70+ temps. Low temps here in the Banana Belt (lower section of Idyllwild) have been in the low 40s. Penelope and I went up the North Gully last week in a soft snow that would break under foot all the way to the talus. We observed water streaks running down the North Face, no ice. I'm sure if you really search for it, you'll find a spot or two, but from ice climbing point of view, Tahquitz is in a spring mode. Things would need to change drasticaly, both temp wise and precip. Nothing is in sight for a while. But cold weather rock climbing works...

thanks alois

Hey guys, how much snow fell up at the rock last weekend?

Dave Daly wrote:No doubt there are "real idiots" out there that assume they are real men.

It's no wonder women associate men as idiots.

I LOVE REAL MEN!

Any word?

im interested too. temps are dropping and it looks like snow