Disappointment Peak, West Face. In September, Dan Frankl and I lugged hardware over Southfork Pass and around the “back side” of the Palisades to a camp on a terrace below Middle Palisade. Our goal was to find a large rock climb on one of these unclimbed west faces, and Disappointment Peak had more to offer than the loftier Middle Palisade that had first drawn our attention. Our route began on the southwest arête, then traversed left into a crack on the main face where fear and cold fingers forced me into about 20 feet of aid after completing a 5.10 section below. Dan and I alternated easier leads for another thousand feet until reaching a knife-edge ridge leading to the summit. In the morning, a snowstorm prevented us from returning over Southfork Pass, and we were forced to walk all day through the blizzard to the easier Bishop Pass trail, completing yet another summer climb in the “Gentle Wilderness” that seems to catch me unprepared far more often than the Himalaya or Alaska. (IV, 5.10, A2.)

Galen Rowell