In mid-June, Aivaras Sajus and I approached the northeast face of Mt. Jepson (13,390’) via the South Fork of Big Pine Creek in search of an adventure. We chose a line up a triangular pillar on the left side of the face. After a snow slope with a ’schrund, a steep, clean corner woke me up from a post Himalayan hangover. (I’d just returned from a two- month trip to Nepal that was physically and emotionally draining.) I found thin laybacking and jamming with nice crimps and committing moves. A number of good cracks then got us to easier ground. The rock was as good as one could ask for on a first ascent in the southern Palisades. When the final pitch didn’t collapse completely, we hiked up to the summit, signed the register, and hurried down toward Scimitar Pass via a west-leaning rib of choss—onsighting this descent in the dark would have been difficult. We named our route Witch Hunt (800’, 6 pitches, III 5.10d). Overall, a good adventure...so long as that last pitch stays standing.

— Vitaliy Musiyenko

TOO FAR, TOO HIGH ON MT. JEPSON: Another line was climbed on the northeast face of Mt. Jepson on April 13, 2021. Joel Kauffman, George Lowe III (then 75 years old), and Tad McCrea climbed a formation they dubbed the Southeast Pillar via Too Far, Too High (800’, 6 pitches, 5.9+). R.J. Secor’s guidebook to the Sierra briefly describes two earlier routes on Jepson’s northeast face. The Steeple (II 5.8, Dobeman-Fischer) is described as a “prominent pillar split by a crack” on the far left side of the face. It’s not known where that route lies in relation to the two reported here.