Tahquitz and Black Mountain, July 12-14, 2002

This weekend I made a deal with my friend Chris (a boulderer): in return for a day of trad at Tahquitz, we'd do some bouldering the next day at Black Mountain. On Saturday we climbed "Whodunit," a fun 7-pitch route (he got the two cruxes and I got some mild indigestion from eating a funky, thoroughly moldy bagel with Nutella, yummm). On Sunday, Rick joined us, and we wandered around Black Mountain looking for fun problems.

Tahquitz, otherwise known as Lily Rock; "Whodunit" goes up a corner crack system to the left of the highest point. I don't have many pictures from this day - in fact, none of us on the rock. The day started off sunny and beautiful, but puffy clouds here and there forewarned of inclement weather to come. By the time we reached the last 2 pitches, it started to rain lightly, and thunder could be heard in the distance. We finished quickly, as I was getting very, very nervous. As we arrived at the top of the formation, howeer, we were surprised to see a gaggle of people, some wearing dresses, who had hiked to the top with all the supplies for a dinner party: a large tent, balloons, radio, etc. It was a little surreal to be feeling worried and anxious about the possibility of getting caught in a thunderstorm and yet to see a group of totally carefree merrymakers. I guess they knew something about the weather patterns, because the sky cleared up and the threat of thunderstorm dissipated.