Stuck Climber on “Open Book” route
August 2, 2025
Tahquitz Rock, CA
2025-028
Written by: Eric Holden
We received a 911 call from a pair of climbers that were on the route “Open Book” on Tahquitz Rock. This is a famous climbing route and the first established 5.9 in America. One of the climbers had gotten her knee stuck and called 911 to seek assistance from RMRU on how to get unstuck.
I gave the climbing duo a call on their cell phone and first found all the details about where they were, what gear they had, and how stuck they were. Based upon this information I let them know how to rig a Prussik hitch on the rope and to attach a sling to that hitch. Hopefully, the stuck climber could then transfer all their weight onto the sling and off their knee to get unstuck. I let them know to call me back if they get unstuck, but that the team would be on the way to assist in case they cannot get out.
Luckily about 20 minutes later I spoke with the climbers, and they had gotten unstuck and did not need our assistance anymore. We were incredibly happy they were able to self-rescue as it would have been a couple of hours till we could have gotten to them, quite a long time, to be stuck in a crack.
RMRU Members Involved: (Trygve Anderson, David Bever, Alex Cochran, Eric Holden, Dave Kosmal, Solan Watts, and Richard Yocum)