Comments:

This was Pouya's first trad climb, and I felt like repeating this old classic that I'd only done once. I thoroughly enjoyed it the second time around, and it was nice to get to lead the parts I hadn't led last time. Pouya seemed to enjoy it too, and he handled the climbing pretty well considering that trad and crack climbing were completely new to him. He took tension once or twice on each pitch to rest his feet or figure out the right sequence, but I don't think he took any real falls. All in all, we both had a pretty damn good day. One note about the route: we did it in five pitches instead of four this time, mostly because I didn't go far enough on the second pitch. Make sure you go past the little roof above the first ledge, to arrive at the much more comfortable ledge above it. Also, if I remember correctly from last time, linking 3 and 4 was tight, but linking 5 and 6 was very tight. For a first time trad climber like Pouya, it's probably better that I didn't try to do this route in 4 pitches. But it was quite sad when I had to go right past my favorite belay ledge at Tahquitz. I took a moment to stand there and enjoy the view, then continued climbing.