Pingora, South Face Direct, Cirque of the Towers. On August 7 Rich Mathies and I began on the grassy ledges running across the south face below the rope-up point of the standard route. (We could have started at the bottom of the wall as the crack system continues to the base; this would have made the entire climb a long III.) About 300 feet across the face, one can make out two parallel cracks running up to and crossing the normal route, proceeding straight above it. Our first lead meandered up a slabby wall to the base of the right crack. Jamming this led to a ledge under an ominous overhang, which we turned to the left. After gaining a ledge shared with the normal route, we completed the climb with one more lead in the system. Nuts were sufficient for protection. NCCS II, F7.

Greg Donaldson