Castle Crags, North Face of Castle Dome, Northern California. On June 22, Clay Cox, Mike Seeley and I climbed this route located in Castle Crags State Park. The climb began with a descent of a gully west of the Dome, to a large fir tree, just before a drop-off. From this tree, easy fifth-class face climbing led around a corner and ended on a huge ledge below the north face. An F8-pitch on the short wall above led to a second, smaller ledge. On the right side of this ledge, an F8, Al corner was followed upward for 60 feet. Above, a 150-foot lead, involving moderate jamming and face climbing, ended 40 feet right of a conspicuous brushy terrace. A difficult traverse was required to reach it. From the left end of this terrace a small F8-dihedral was followed upwards until it merged with a smooth wall. We placed a bolt in order to complete an exposed pendulum to a second, easier open-book on the left. This dihedral led to another ledge. An easy ramp ended at a large pine tree 100 feet higher. The final long lead involved delicate and mostly unprotected face climbing (F8) and ended on the summit. On July 10 Clay Cox and I returned and descended the west gully further, via two rappels. From this point we climbed three pitches of moderate but tricky face climbing to the previously-mentioned huge ledge. Done in its entirety, the climb is 10 pitches. Except for the bolt, we climbed clean. NCCS IV, F8, Al

Lincoln Freese, Unaffiliated