Haystack Mountain. Haystack mountain is a long north-south ridge with a buttress at the north end where the valley floor drops away. There were two grade-IV routes on the north end and several easier 5th-class routes further south but nothing in between, either in ratings or on the ridge. To resolve this problem Chris O’Brien, a fellow NOLS student, and I decided to climb a very obvious flake-chimney system to a mass of red rock at the juncture of the buttress and the ridge, about a quarter mile north of Deep Lake and a few hundred feet south of Fowler’s Route. Scramble up low-angle flakes and grassy ledges to an upward-left-curving flake with a chimney behind it. Climb inside the chimney to a broad ledge on top of the flake. The second pitch leads left across the ledge and up another flake-chimney system. The third pitch continues to the top of the chimney with several difficult moves. The next lead goes left under an overhang and up a large block on the main face. Here the angle lessens and the climbing is easier for the next three pitches, NCCS II, F7. 4 hours.

RICHARD Compton, National Outdoor Leadership School