California— Sierra Nevada Climbs in the Sierra Nevada. The Sierra ...

C aliforn ia— Sierra N evada C lim bs in the Sierra Nevada. The Sierra high country experienced a great deal o f clim ber activity during the sum m er o f 1994, but little energy was expended on new routes. The 1993 publication o f Sierra Classics may have inspired clim bers to plan trips into the back country to bag previously uncelebrated gem s. As the w ord spreads about the quality o f new ly clim bed routes, few er clim bers m ay cue on the older classics. O f course, there is the challenge o f finding a fine new route. At least a couple o f the follow ing routes may deserve to be aw arded classic status in the years to com e. T hanks to R.J. Secor and others w ho sent m e the follow ing inform ation, som e unreported from som e years back. B lack Pyram id, East Face: first ascent in A ugust, 1979 by K evin R ivett and D avid Babich. This route (I, 5.7) clim bs the featureless wall to the left o f a prom inent, loose crack in the center o f the east face. A fter three pitches, it goes fourth-class to the top. M ount Tyndall: first ascent in 1994 by D aniel R oim an, G us B enner and Sergio A ragon. T his route (II, 5.6) ascends the face o f sound rock betw een the chute on the east face and the buttress of the northeast arête. They ascended the m iddle o f the face tow ard right-facing layback cracks to the north face and class-3 scram bling. M atterhorn Peak, The “M aze:” first ascent by R oitm an and A ragon in 1994. The route (II, 5.6) ascends the face to the right o f the east couloir. The right (northern) side o f the face is steep and sm ooth and the left is relatively broken. The M aze ascends the broken face, getting its nam e from the m any variations possible. Obelisk, “Poultry in M otion:” first ascent by Ellen H olden and R.J. Secor on S eptem ber 25, 1994. This route (II, 5.7) ascends the knobby face betw een Los Polios Locos and the

chim ney o f the south face route. It is m ostly vertical fourth-class clim bing with a few m oderate class-5 m oves. M ount Conness: In Septem ber o f 1992, David H ardy and Paul G oldham m er clim bed a fifth-class route on the w est side o f this peak. The route starts from the south side o f the huge tow er on the north ridge and traverses up and across the w est face to the sum m it, alw ays rem aining below the crest o f the north ridge. M ount D arw in: In 1982, Bruce H endricks and Bruce Watts clim bed the right rib on the north face. T hey followed the crest o f the rib for six pitches to the sum m it plateau (II, 5.8.) B art O ’B rien