The North Sentinel is a tooth-shaped granite face on the north side of Kings Canyon, across from North Dome and below Grand Sentinel. With a straightforward approach, we were surprised it had not seen any previous attention from climbers. Over the course of 2016, I had the pleasure to visit it three times with various partners. We climbed three independent routes and one variation, all of which follow nice crack systems on quality rock.

Brian Prince, Daniel Jeffcoach, Brandon Thau, and I first climbed FML Crack (750’, IV 5.11 C1), which could also be called the Thank God Crack by those into the wide. After an approach pitch, it follows a single crack system, the crux of which is a burly OW that requires a number 5 and a number 6 cam.

Brian, Chaz Langalier, Caitlin Taylor, and I then tackled the major dihedral on the eastern aspect of the formation, calling it Eddie’s Chimney (III 5.10+). The route looked more intimidating than it was—we found clean cracks of all sizes, sustained in the 5.9 to mid-5.10 range. After topping out we made two 60m rappels partway down the dihedral and then climbed a line to the right that we dubbed Eddie’s Crack (200’, 5.11c). It is the best all-natural finger to hands crack (no pin scars) I have come across in the wild. Brian and I split it in two leads, but it could be climbed in one epic 70m pitch.

Daniel and Adam Sheppard had begun Chasing the Wind (800’, III 5.10) but aborted their attempt after four pitches, due to an incoming storm. A few weeks later, Caitlin and I finished the line to the pointy summit, adding another three pitches. This route makes for a fast and easy descent of the formation with two 60m ropes.

– Vitaliy Musiyenko