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Hiker stranded on rock face
By Jim Fairchild
Our first
information about this mission was that a hiker
was stranded near Idyllwild. As Pete Carlson and
I drove van number two up the mountain we
overheard messages to the effect that a man was
stranded high on Tahquitz Rock. Upon arrival at
Humber Park we found Walt Walker, Kevin Walker,
Larry Roland (of RMRU) and five men from the
Hemet team ready to begin the climb up to the
base and around the backside of the rock. They
departed, and as Pete and I readied ourselves,
Jack Schnurr drove up, and the three of us were
soon lumbering up the trail with appropriately
heavy loads of ropes, radios, and hardware. Lunch
Rock, the climbers' meeting place at the base of
Tahquitz, was visible through the trickling
sweat. Our ascent was halfway done, and now we
went behind the rock to continue to the top. At a
really flat, sheltered spot just below the summit
we rested because we overheard our teammates'
radio message that they were still trying to make
voice contact with Charlie Felbraum, the stranded
"hiker."
Soon they had him, and we clambered
up to the top, then down nearly a hundred feet on
the west ridge of the rock to encounter their
beehive of activity in setting up anchors and
rigging. Larry Roland was to go over the edge to
retrieve Charlie. Really, that's the fun part
because he was lowered on a twisted-type goldline
rope while I belayed on a kern-mantle Perion
rope. About 150 feet down Larry reached Charlie,
tied him on below with his goldline, then the men
above raised the pair using a 4 to 1 mechanical
advantage with pulleys, clamps, and other
hardware. As they came over the edge I was able
to take a picture, then the cliff-side adventure
was over.
Now all we had
to do was descend, very carefully, the 1600 feet
elevation loss to Humber Park. This was a smooth,
"textbook" operation, but we still
marvel that Charlie's partner was able to finish
the climb un-roped and report the stranding.
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