Tranquility Dome, Visions. In May Mark Blanchard, Conrad Van Bruggen and I visited this attractive 700-foot face which rises above the west side of the San Joaquin River, below Mammoth Pool Reservoir. Our route started near the left side, below a right-leaning arch with an obvious square roof at its top. The first pitch involved climbing over this arch to the left (at an obvious chicken head) and up a face past a bolt to a two-bolt belay below a low-angle shelf. The next pitch is the crux: after a short traverse right, the headwall above was climbed directly with the security of two bolts and a nut behind a large flake. An easier pitch followed with a bolt to protect an F8 traverse to a tree- filled groove. From the top of this groove a finger-sized crack led up to a huge pine on a blocky ledge. A class-four traverse right, followed by two easy pitches, led to the unroping spot. Continue on class-two scrambling to the forest. The name “Tranquility Dome” is our own as it is unnamed on the map. NCCS III, F9.

Simon King