El Gran Trono Blanco, north face, Deep Throat Route. A Thanksgiving Day snowstorm in Baja? Iced-over granite and quagmire roads make this an undesirable situation, but we found the line of our choice— a seven-pitch continuous crack system beginning from the talus gully on the north side. John Long led the first pitch (F9) but could not come back for the complete episode, done in two days (completed April 6). Allen Bartlett, Eric Bjørnstad, Terry McKenna, and I continued on via chimneys, a difficult dihedral crack, and the overhanging throat cave which Bartlett managed to squeeze and stem. Higher, a long slab provided face climbing and a few pins for aid before we reached the jumbled summit area. NCCS IV, F9, A2.

Fred Beckey