Pingora, Southeast Face Direct, Wind River Range. In August Angus Thuermer and I roped up at the base of a very prominent left-facing dihedral on the southeast face. We followed this corner for two pitches to a large ledge on the right. From its right edge we climbed a crack system up, slightly right and then back left for three pitches to the broken low-angle area on the center of the face (F4 to F6). Ascending fourth-class, we aimed for the left of two obvious parallel cracks that split the upper face. (The right crack system was climbed in 1972 by Donaldson. A.A.J., 1973, page 429.) The first pitch in the left crack system was F7 hand-jamming up to a roof. The next pitch was the crux. We frictioned ten feet right, laybacked over a roof and climbed steepening rock to a ledge and a bulging off-width crack above (F9). From here the crack slowly narrowed to finger-size, with ledges on alternating sides every 15 feet. Two more pitches (F8 and F7) put us on a ledge one pitch from the top. We finished by moving slightly left and climbing a small corner. At the roof we traversed five feet right and then went straight up. NCCS III, F8.

Peter Metcalf