North Dome is one of the most prominent formations in Kings Canyon, and Vitaliy Musiyenko, Brian Prince, and I had parked below it many times on our way to search out heinous approaches to other rock. We had looked at its big south face, discussed possibilities, photographed it, and planned on it for years but it wasn't until Richard "Dick" Leversee told Vitaliy of an unclimbed "king line" that we decided to finally attempt a new route on the El Cap of Kings Canyon. Richard is one of the most prolific climbers of the southern Sierra, and instead of begrudging the next generation he is extremely helpful and encouraging. If Dick Leversee says a route has potential, then you have to at least check it out.

In June, on our first day, Vitaliy and I walked along the base and tried to decide between the line I had scoped and considered, and the line Richard had seen up close and recommended. We ended up choosing Richard's line up the prominent slanting buttress in the center of the wall. This was my first time back on a serious climb since I had broken both of my heels in a climbing accident less than one year earlier (ANAM 2018) so I was belay slave while Vitaliy did all the work.

The first few pitches had some amazing crack climbing but led into a blank section. That day ended with Vitaliy on a three-hour lead through a mixture of hooks, beaks, bolts and free climbing. We bailed about four pitches up. It took two more separate days to push through the next aid pitch and the final four free pitches to the summit. I felt a bit better on each attempt and contributed with a few leads where I could, but Vitaliy did the bulk of the work and by the final pitch on the last day I resorted to jumars as my ankles finally gave out. The route follows fantastic rock up an independent line, fishing with a steep and burly corner to the summit. We thought of calling it We Did it for the Dick, but went with Richard's suggestion of Lucid Dream (1,500’, 9 pitches, V 5.11 A2) instead.

We came back to North Dome in July, along with Brian Prince, to try the other route that we had all separately considered. It had a few improbable looking roofs, but from our view on the previous climb it looked like they might go, and go they did.

Our route went directly from toe to summit up the tallest and steepest portion of the face, in between A Tall Cool One (V 5.11R) and North of Eden (V 5.10+). We started early, kept moving, and before we knew it were linking great cracks through the roofs and covering a lot of ground. Swapping leads was the plan for the day, with myself occasionally handing my lead off to someone else when things got tough. We climbed the final pitch that night by headlamp and wandered around the summit ledges, eventually finding the top of Lucid Dream and rapping that route, making it back down to the car by 2:30 a.m. It was a fantastic adventure, going mostly at 5.10, with a few harder pitches that can likely be bypassed by anyone who takes the time to search out other variations. Great White North (1,500’, 10 pitches, V 5.11+) is a tribute to the formation and to Brian, the Alaskan rope-gun.

– Daniel Jeffcoach