Sentinel Rock, North Face. In September Dennis Hennek and I prepared to attempt the sixth new route on the north face of Sentinel Rock, starting 75 feet left of the Robbins-Frost route. After carrying food, water and equipment to the base of the face, we fixed the first pitch and returned to the valley floor. On September 8 we hiked back up and began climbing. After slowly climbing free a short distance, Dennis began nailing. Rurps and knife-blades took him to a large roof, which he passed using an urp (smaller than a rurp) and a bong-bong. On the next pitch I nailed slowly up the rotten granite, driving several rurps into the crackless rock. Dennis then nailed past some huge blocks to a small ledge. It was nearly dark when I had cleaned the pitch and so, finding a small ledge, I also prepared for the night just below Dennis. On the second day we climbed only three awkward rather than difficult pitches, passing the prominent band of ceilings halfway up the face about noon. Three pitches of easy nailing on the 10th brought us just below Sentinel’s eastern summit. Dennis led up poor cracks. Rurps and knife-blades driven directly into rotten seams of granite brought him to easier climbing before he manteled onto the summit. (N.C.C.S. VI, F8, A4.)

Kenneth Boche