Mount Tyndall, East Face. In early August Bill Sumner and I walked in over Shepherd Pass to the rocky basin at the foot of the esthetic 1500-foot triangular wall, a dry tiring trek made somewhat easier by carrying just skeletal bivouac gear, chocks and a short climbing rope. Smooth steep rock cut only by thin vertical cracks made a direct line up the face center seem questionable; instead we entered the southernmost of two parallel chimneys that descend one on either side of the plentiful cracks and angular blocks common to most high Sierra climbs. During the 16 leads and 9 hours to the summit we had the security of just a few good chocks and runners; happily we had left our boots behind and climbed with PAs and a light pack. Tyndall has fine rock, several other promising lines, and imparts a feeling of primitive grandeur and isolation that is harder to find each season in the summer Sierra. NCCS IV, F8.

Michael Heath