North America, United States, California, Yosemite, Sentinel Rock, North Face

Publication Year: 1970.

Sentinel Rock, North Face. On July 5 and 6, Chuck Pratt and I established the seventh, though probably not the last, route on the narrow, vertically fractured north face of Sentinel Rock. We began in a jam-crack (about halfway between the beginnings of the Frost-Robbins and Herbert- Chouinard routes) which ended beneath some blocky overhangs. An aid pitch led around these on the right to two parallel vertical cracks. Three pitches of easy, enjoyable aid up the right-hand crack brought us to more dubious climbing. Hooks, an occasional free move, and more nailing brought us up and slightly right. Then we climbed intricate aid upward, tension-traversed left, and gained a new crack system just at nightfall. After stringing hammocks from bolts which were too close together, we both spent an uncomfortable night though we had plenty to eat and drink. The next morning we climbed two pitches up the “crack system” which was in reality a shallow groove, often dirt-filled with little or no real crack. We used rurps and bongs primarily in that section. When the grooves ended, three bolts and a liberal number of hooks, rurps, and knifeblades, interspersed with more normal pins, brought us over a blankish, overhanging section and up to cracks which led to the summit which we reached at dusk. NCCS V, F7, A4. UIAA V+, A4.

Kenneth Boche