North Chasm View Wall, the Black Sheep. On April 22 Mike Pennings and I finished our longterm project on the western edge of the North Chasm View Wall. The route tackles an obvious dihedral system located 200 yards up the narrow, choss-capped gully between the Plunge Pillar formation and the “Pig Routes” buttress. Mike dubbed the route the Black Sheep in keeping with the farm theme for route names in the area. Although it felt good to have finally completed the route, 30' of pesky aid remained. Over the next five weeks I invested many days on this difficult section and finally succeeded in redpointing the line (IV 5.13b) on May 30. The climb tackles seven excellent pitches, and can be climbed at a high-quality and reasonable 5.12-A0. A good topo and further details can be found at the North Rim Ranger Station and in Rock and Ice# 166.

Josh Wharton, AAC