The weather at Tahquitz was looking unseasonably warm and nice, so Luke and I planned a midweek trip to get in some climbing before it got snowed out. When Luke mentioned attempting Open Book a second time, I was fully onboard. My finger was still out of commission from tearing it open in Joshua Tree, so something wide sounded perfect to me.
We opted to repeat exactly as before. I had hoped to swap pitches, but Luke felt that he had unresolved business on both his previous pitches, so I was fully on board. I do love that second pitch, leading again would be a treat.
The climb went completely smooth, no hanging on the rope at all. Luke placed a little less gear on the first pitch on focused on climbing. I racked up all wrong with everything on my right side, which caused me to skate and slide a few times while trying to chimney up the corner. And I arrived at the belay with the wrong sized pieces, but some down climbing and back cleaning resolved that quickly enough. Slight hiccups, but nothing out of the ordinary when taking on an awkward pitch. Luke made quick work of the third pitch, utilizing his brand new Big Bros (2 of them!) to protect the slab traverse. I think the hardest part was climbing with Big Bros racked on my harness. Definitely deployed one while squeezing through the final notch section. Hilarity ensued.
After a quick scramble back to our packs we had plenty of daylight remaining, so we proceeded to jump on Left Ski Track. We figured it would be a nice cool down for the day. But it did prove to be a real-deal route, fun and cruiser, but also thoughtful and tricky. I got the first pitch and marveled at the easy buckets and plentiful pro. But I couldn’t help but notice that a fall anywhere would probably leave you with two to three broken bones. The ridiculously easy climbing made for tons of stuff to hit on the way down.
Towards the top I became fixated on the anchors for The Heathen and wandered way off route. I knew I needed to trend left, and once I saw two bolts and an awkward balancey traverse, I was completely sold. Sometimes a feature calls your name so loudly, you just have to answer the call. The final moves to the ledge finally clued me in to my mistake, as it was delicate 5.9 moves to gain the ledge. No way this way on route. I looked back the way I came and spotted the proper bolts. Backtracking the traverse was just as exciting. But all in all, no regrets, it was a fun little diversion.
Luke took the next pitch, which was an intriguing diagonal traverse to the right. As I followed I kept questioning the grade, but it always went at 5.6, it just required really unusual moves and creative solutions. The famous bulgy step around was more secure and easy than advertised.
The third pitch had a fun notch and then arete. The slab move was truly void of features. Pure delicate friction on glassy features to a mantel finish. Definitely old-school 5.6 a la Double Dip. I headed directly up the 5.8 variation for the end, but found it to feel somewhat soft and secure. Compared to Breakfast of Champions it felt like a ladder.
We scrambled down as quick as we could as the sun set, and then descended in the dark. We’d cleaned up our act on Open Book, and slipped in a bonus climb as well. A great warm day towards the end of the season and a really good time.
Open Book
5.9 – Three pitches – 490′
with Luke
P1 tricky pro at start.
P2 rack gear on left side, save #1 and #2 for anchor.
P3 Big Bros work for slab runout.
I would take: 4×2,3×1,2×3,1×3,0.75×2,0.5×2,0.4×1,0.3×1,stoppers (+large stoppers/small hexes).
Direct start up corner crack feels 5.9+ (didn’t pull free) but takes gear…
Left Ski Track
5.6 – Three pitches – 300′
with Luke
First pitch anchors are hard to see, veer left around a bulge then back right to two bolts.
This is a really fun climb. Would be great intro to Tahquitz (but too easy for Emma to enjoy).
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