Right Twin Brother, Los Banditos. In May, Luke Miller and I climbed a new aid line on the Right Twin, 100 feet to the right of Peyote Dreams. The independent line, Los Banditos (VI A4 5.8R), climbs three 60-meter free pitches of varying quality to six 60-meter pitches of mostly steep and clean aid. Highlighting the route is a 400-foot long beak and blade seam splitting an overhanging, clean headwall that our photographer Jerry Dodrill christened “The Dreamcatcher.” The crux came on the first pitch of this feature and required 20-plus beaks and as many blades above a large ledge. Luke led some sketchy free-to-aid-to-free moves on the second to last pitch. Lots of rope drag and poor gear made this pretty exciting. We finished the route on the most spectacular top-out to a climb I have ever seen. Dubbed the “Tsunami,” the last 40 feet ascend a perfect cresting-wavelike formation. Top-stepping the last bolt, I cut my feet from my aiders until they were dangling three feet from the wall, then threw a leg over the top and pressed a 5.9 mantle. The route was named after some bandits who stole camping gear from our photographer and his assistant before the climb. We placed 17 stout bolts at belays, 34 on lead and enhanced no placements.

Chris McNamara