Mount Terror, North Face, Left Side. From July 14 to 17, I soloed a new route on the north face of Mount Terror. The climb follows the prominent buttress left of the original 1961 route. The approach was made in two days via Stettattle Ridge and upper McMillan Creek cirque, a beautiful and relatively brush-free route. After reaching the base of the original route, I traversed ledges several hundred feet left to gain the steeper, more compact left buttress. From here mid-fifth-class climbing followed the clean, solid rock of the crest to a notch at one-third height. Above, a sharp prow guarded by overhangs on both sides blocked the route, forcing a rappel down and right to ledges. I then found a route up the narrow face dividing the two buttresses, which led me back to the crest above the prow. Another long, spectacular section on the arête led to a false summit below the west peak, with difficulties to 5.7 on slightly looser rock. A knife-edged section in the crest now blocked the way, so I attempted to follow a prominent ledge leading left around to the notch between the west and main peaks. This faded into steep, extremely loose rock, so I climbed straight up on loose blocky rock to near the summit of the west peak (crux, 5.8 + ). The descent down the west ridge was easy and uneventful; not so the trek back to my car the next day. Descending the barrier, an obstacle I had never seen from below, proved difficult and perplexing and led me into a hideous six-hour bushwhack back to Goodell Creek Trail.

John Stoddard, Unaffiliated