El Gran Trono Blanco, Baja California. On March 25 Brian Cox, Werner Landry and I completed a new route on the south face of El Gran Trono Blanco, possibly one of the finest lines of its length in the Cañón Tajo. Henri Agresti, his wife Isabelle and Tom Gordon have subsequently repeated the route. The south face is flanked by a gully which provides the usual access route to the cliff. In the center of the face is a 200-foot right-facing chimney high above the gully. A vegetated shelf begins directly below the chimney and continues to a small tree-choked gully at its right end. From the top of the gully, four pitches lead to the base of the chimney. A large ledge above the chimney furnishes a comfortable bivouac spot. A black-stained crack (A2) leads 200 feet higher to the skyline. This is almost all of the aid; the rest is clean and moderate free climbing. Above the aid section, a large ledge system was followed to a low-angle ramp which afforded an exit to easy climbing two pitches below the summit. Skyhooks and small wired nuts were very useful. NCCS IV, F9, A2; 13 pitches.

Thomas Birtley, Unaffiliated