Fuller Buttes, Eagle Dihedral. In April Jerry Coe and I climbed a route on the southwest face of the eastern butte. To our knowledge, this is the first route on these surprisingly smooth domes which present 1000-foot cliffs toward the San Joaquin River, southeast of Yosemite. A gigantic dihedral, beginning above the ground but reachable by an easy ramp from the side, is the only natural weakness on the buttes. The third pitch had a ceiling that we found to be unclimbable by conventional methods. A crack, too wide to nail and too difficult for either of us to jam, led past the ceiling. Deep inside it narrowed abruptly to a two-inch width, but once a piton was placed, it was recessed so far that it became impossible to reach higher on the overhang. I free-climbed to the edge of the ceiling, placed a piton, floundered in slings, and returned. Jerry did the same. The ultimate solution was to hang on tension from the last piton while throwing a large Clog nut attached to the haul line. After innumerable attempts, the nut followed the proper arc and jammed in the crack some 15 feet higher. Climbing hand-overhand, I was soon above the difficulties. Higher, we followed cracks and chimneys past more feasible overhangs until we reached a long ledge that rounded a corner just below the summit. Walking unroped around the corner, we came almost face to face with a golden eagle coming in for a landing. At least as surprised as we, he hurried unsociably away, flapping a fast about-face and diving downward out of sight. After a moment he reappeared as he soared off into the clouds. An easy chimney put us on the summit slabs at the end of the day and the beginning of a storm. NCCS IV, F9, A3.

GALEN A. ROWELL