Taquitz: by John Doskicz
We’ve read the stories and marveled at the accomplishments of the early climbing pioneers in the United States. Finally we get to climb at the legendary Taquitz Rock, where Royal, Yvon and then the Stonemasters pushed climbing standards to new levels. Pete and I followed our usual method of operations and left Flagstaff at 4 am on a Tuesday morning in late May to make the 7 hour approach to the base of the rock. Six hours later we were in the Idyllwild county campground. Nice campground with lots of practice climbing within it. We quickly set up camp and drove through the small mountain town up to Humber Park where the next part of the approach begins. A steep 50 minute hump up a field of granite talus led us under the North West face of Taquitz to the base of Whodunit, 5.9, 8 pitches. The base still had a small snow field but the line looked dry from the ground. I put on my wind breaker and took off up the first pitch. Marveling at the newness of the granite under my feet I focused on remembering how to climb on smooth rock with incipient cracks. We swapped leads for 6 pitches to top. We encountered fingers to chimney, fun slabs and an easy roof at the top. The Idyllwild Valley opens up to the east to a low valley. The views would have been better if not from all the smog rolling from LA. The summit is above 8,000ft. The easy approach and the alpine environment made it very special place to climb.
(Pete on Pitch 3 of Whodunit)
Day two started with the Open Book. The first climb to be rated 5.9 and the route that began the Yosemite decimal system, a more detailed system for grading the difficulty of rock climbs. The route follows three stellar pitches of 5.9 crack climbing up a giant right facing dihedral and was first climbed free by Royal Robbins in 1952 at age 17. Bring lots of big gear for this climb. From the top of the climb it was a little tricky finding the friction descent off the south side. Next we went after the Vampire which some call the best 11a in the state. Some 4th and easy 5th class scrambling lead to a point where a rope was needed. Two more moderate pitches took us to the Vampire Ledge. Wild place to be! The Vampire takes a line up a steep bald bulge high on the west face. Thin flakes and thinner friction climbing for 4 pitches gets you to the summit. Pete took off on the first pitch which required down climbing a hand crack for 15 ft. At the bottom of the crack a big stem and reach right deposits you in a beautiful steep hand crack in a corner that turns incipient and hard towards the end of the pitch. The weather was turning on us at this point. The clouds rolled in, the wind was more energetic and the temps dropped to snow cold. After shivering at the belay while Pete sent the pitch my motivation was waning. When I got to Pete we agreed to bail down. By the time we hit the ground the climb was obscured by clouds and we got some relief from our decision to come down.
(Pete following Pitch 1 of Open Book)
Our last morning we woke up to rain and decided to go to Jtree on our way home instead of checking out Taquitz’s neighbor, Suicide Rock. It was 69 and sunny in Jtree that day and empty too. I guess nobody would make plans to be there in the end of May. Only climbers that lived close enough could take advantage of the unseasonably cool temperatures. It felt great to be in Jtree, a place we have logged many pitches. We explored some walls that were new to us. 2 pitches on the Rock Hudson Wall and then the three Peyote Cracks. It only took two hours to get to Jtree from Idyllwild and then 4 more from 29 Palms to Flag. The detour through Jtree really did not add much time to our return trip.
If you have not been able to climb at Taquitz yet, move it up on your to do list. 6hr drive from flag, great multi-pitch trad climbing of all grades and a cool town to hang out in. I think Taquitz is a lot like Granite Mountain in Prescott. Both places have an ‘old school’ reputation of serious climbing. The routes are stout and you need a full quiver of climbing skills. We were super stoked to finally visit Taquitz and are already planning when we can get back there, and up on the Vampire again.
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