Picture Peak, Bishop Area. Rick Wheeler and I made a new route on Picture Peak above the Hungry Packer Lake basin, seven miles from Lake Sabrina. We decided to head for a hand-and-fist crack near the right center of the face. This runs parallel to a chimney for 200 feet. We hiked around the southeastern shore of the lake and third-classed several hundred feet of shattered rock to the first obstacle, a small F9 roof, which we passed on the left. This led to a short section of face climbing. From there we followed the line of least resistance upward for several pitches until we reached the top of the first ridge. The rock rib we were climbing was divided into three sections. The finest climbing was in the bottom section, which contained the hand-and fist crack. From the top of the first rib we dropped into a small notch and continued to climb two additional sections, one pitch of which was an awkward corner requiring some very wide stemming (F10).

Tony Jennings