King Tut’s Tomb. In May, Mike Covington and I climbed a new five- pitch route one-half mile west of Sentinel Rock on the south side of Yosemite Valley. The route ascends a 400-foot buttress which is capped by a spectacular roof. It is within 100 yards of the "Pharoah’s Beard” and the “Mummy’s Revenge.” The first two pitches follow an open book which steepens and leads onto an open face cut by a single crack. Difficult free climbing follows the crack 100 feet to a stance where direct aid is needed to reach a ledge under the roof. Fifteen feet of face climbing on small holds brings one to a 15-inch-wide crack which splits the 10-foot roof and leads to the top of the buttress. Good holds inside the crack enable one to enter it and chimney to the summit with a bomb-bay view of the entire route below. Although not especially difficult, the summit pitch is spectacular, pleasurable, and very photogenic. Grade III, 5.9, A1.

Galen Rowell