Buck Mountain, the Wedge. On August 1 Peter Lev, Herb Swedlund and I walked into the south fork of Avalanche Canyon to try the "Wedge," a vertical facet on the north face of Buck Mountain, west of Emerson’s route on the north-northwest ridge. That same day we managed to fix ropes for three leads up the face. The first lead was moderate fifth class. The second had a spectacular free-swinging pendulum to get onto the only ledge of the face proper. The final lead of the day was direct aid, using small cracks on the very steep face. The next day the difficulty increased. At the end of the fourth and fifth leads bolts were placed for belaying; the climbing was entirely direct aid. The final lead, the most difficult, ended with a traverse off the face to the left and required a "rurp" piton. From the summit of the Wedge, we followed Emerson’s route off the mountain. About 50 pitons were used, mostly for direct aid. Knife-blades were particularly useful.

David B. Dornan, Yosemite Climbing Club