Castle Mountains. On June 7, Keith Brunckhorst and I climbed the west hanging buttress on the Stone Pillar behind the Stone Pillar Ranch. The first pitch was up a 5.10a slab now protected by two bolts to gain a 70-foot finger to hand crack. The second pitch went up a short vertical comer, then left onto a ledge, around a hanging corner to gain a class-4 ramp. The final pitch is easy fifth class. (I or II, 5.10a.) On September 11, Tom Bozeman and I climbed the largest formation in the Castle Mountains, a six-pitch route on the southwest wall. We followed the line of least resistance up the blank-looking wall. To gain the summit block, we scrambled 150 feet northwest to an easy 5th-class chimney. (II, 5.9.)

Ron Brunckhorst, Unaffiliated