I've found myself procrastinating on producing this TR for the last day or so. Partly this is because I haven't produced a TR yet. But I do want to give back to the group of people who post up on this site and have insired me to get out there and just get on it. So here goes.....First, some background.

I've been hoping to get Patty out to the Idyllwild area since I first started going up there to climb a year ago. See, we haven't been climbing too long, and I've not been leading too long either. So Patty's been a little hesitant to go out with me. But as neither of us died in Vedauwoo last August, nor in New Hampshire in October, I was hopefull for getting her out on a real multipitch. In fact, we ended up our stay in NH hitting Clippity-do-da (5.4) in Rumney and runnng laps on it just to get her comfortable with the mechanics of doing multipitch with me. I felt lucky to have accomplished that much. Boarding the plane she told me emphatically, "no multipitch". That ment NO Whithorse Ledges slab; I was kinda bummed with that and had even purchased pink and black tricams for the place. Anyway, as was noted on the "Will my wife kill me?" thread, climbing with chicks can be fun except when they get mad at you, and that happens a lot. Patty got pissed at me finding Clippity, and got pissed at me finding the way back down. But then!! She actually said thanks for getting her to do it. Made my day and gave me hope. Hopefully not false hope.

Again, in March of this year, I finally got her on 2 J-tree multipitch routes. Patty cruised Walk on the Wild Side and had a blast as we did it in 2 pitches. Next day we got on Dappled Mare with some friends, and viola, she had enjoyed her first gear multipitch. The stage was set to get her out to Tahquitz, if only the family and weather would cooperate.

Now I realize climbing with your woman can be trouble. Warbler said on the "Will my wife kill me?" thread


One reason I did not respond to this post was because portions struck too close to home. And there is the one Warbler forgot; "You are trying to kill me so you can replace me with a younger woman!!" Yikes! And we weren't even climbing yet.

But there are benifits too. With Patty, I am the rope gun (not a very confident one I'll grant you). And one of W.L.'s key points to climbing stronger is to BE the rope gun. But at the same time, nothing really wrong can happen. So I picked Fingertrip. A climb I can do massively hung over.


The Day of Days; June 7, 2015

I made sure we were all packed up the night before. We got on the road at 5:30am, and arrived at 7:30am so's we could beat the crowds to the base of the climb. Now the previous weekend, both of us had already been up there. I had a full weekend planned; Fingertrip with the wife on Saturday, and Whodunit on Sunday with the boys. Didn't work out quite like I planned. I got smart on Saturday and Patty and I just hiked up to the base of a number of the Tahquitz climbs to see how she would do and then got something to eat in town. "Wasn't as bad as I thought", was the verdict. See, we had to leave by 1pm, so.....anyway, everything worked out well. Then Sunday, well it dragged on into Monday and watching the copter flying over us as we hiked out. That's another story though, and I was worried that she would not want to go do Fingertrip. But thankfully I was wrong.


We get to the base of Fingertrip and I start to get organized while Patty increases her strength to weight ratio. I've been lucky enough to watch a few good climbers go at it in person. But when I watched Donini climb some crack at the Creek, it finally clicked. These people look smooth because they are not rushing it. They are smooth and deliberate in their movements. This, along with keeping the gear to a minimum, not placing gear that is hard to retreive, and protecting the traverse's were all on my mind as I roped in and took off. Really, these thoughts were a landmark moment for me. So I get up about 30 feet where the climb really starts and Patty says, "I have to go to the bathroom again. Can you wait there?"


Well, I'm good so I hang out for a minute or 2 and take a couple pictures.


Took my time up the first pitch to warm up. Always slow to get moving in the morning and the first pitch is my constutional so to speak. Got up the the handcrack/lieback crack split, put in a couple cams, then slid over to work my way up to the tree belay. Patty did well on the first pitch, with the exception of a stuck cam (my fault) that she had to work on for 5 min. I told her to leave it and one of the following parties recovered it and gave it back to us at the Tree belay.


Second pitch went easier for everyone; No stuck gear.


Third pitch; No photos. Ended up doing a short pitch and belaying Patty from the first tree after the crux. From a semi hanging belay, you follow an arch left till it runs out into a weakness, then go straight up and over. There are lots of good feet here, and I actually used them this time putting very little stress on my fingers on the undercling. I also made a point of spreading gear out to protect Patty on her follow. Once I got Patty up to my belay, I 3rd classed it up to Lunch Ledge and belayed Patty up. From here it is one more pitch and we decide to go the friction route up as it has this cool seam you walk up to a stunted tree, hang a right and friction your way to the top.


I really do love this place, and this day Patty loved it too. Fingertrip, 5.7, Tahquitz


Thinking about am I better off hanging out at ST? Well, Patty and I both are. The people we've met, the help we've gotten, and the friends we've made and reconnected with.... can't thing of a reason why we are not better off. I just hope I can keep this stoke going with her, and get her on the Chauvinist over the next month!!

Sorry about the babbling....I'll get more pics and less babble in next time.