Wyoming Pingora, Northeast Face, Wind River Range. On August 28 ...

Wyoming Pingora, N ortheast F ace, Wind R iver Range. On A ugust 28, Fred Beckey, Franziska S chaw alder G arrett and I clim bed three long new pitches on the northeast face o f Pingora about 150 feet to the right (w est) o f the classic D aley-Y ensan route. A fter much route direction discussion, a late start and tenuous w eather, we rappelled, leaving tw o fixed ropes. The next day, Dave M adera and I returned under even m ore om inous skies. We passed the low er roofs on the left and clim bed on to som e zigzagging cracks in the middle o f the route. We then angled left to an obvious right-facing dihedral w hich led to a pedestal. The “ Pedestal Pitch” proved to be a cruxy A2 seam instead o f the handcrack we had expected. As we tensioned left to an alcove and an A1 finger crack, w hich will certainly go free w hen cleaner, the w eather cleared and three m ore easier pitches took us to the sunny north sum m it. Four bolts were drilled and seven pitons were left in place. C uriously, a fixed nut was found in the upper alcove, presum ably by som eone off route from the D aley route. Seven parties w ere seen on the D aley route the next day! (“Stealing T hunder;” IV, 5.10, A2; 11 pitches.) J a m es G

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