John had cleaned it but neglected to jump on it rite away. Joe thought it had been climbed & went ahead & did it.

Two previous attempts proved to us the difficulty of placing pitons and gave us a leader fall, but we did de-moss the second, third and fourth pitches. The removal of a vertical ribbon of moss and heather was immense effort for the leader; I tore loose one such 150-pound floating carpet, completely terrorizing AB, who was belaying me.

Western Dihedral: The dihedral starts as a white, curving crack from the trees lining the western walls of the Chief and then rises straight as an arrow to the summit rim, over 1000 feet higher. The climb is NCCS V, with mostly hanging belays. Two previous attempts proved to us the difficulty of placing pitons and gave us a leader fall, but we did de-moss the second, third and fourth pitches. The removal of a vertical ribbon of moss and heather was immense effort for the leader; I tore loose one such 150-pound floating carpet, completely terrorizing Dan Tate, who was belaying me. Those who follow on this now lovely route will never really know that horribly dirty dirt-removal work which was necessary to get iron into the solitary dihedral crack. Under a canopy of sometimes drizzling clouds, Tate and I did the ascent on June 3 and 4, spending the night on the only bivouac ledge. The first and third pitches took 14 pitons each, with a pendulum from a bush that may no longer exist; the second lead took 27 pitons. The very hard fourth pitch took 30 pitons, a fifi-hook and a belay bolt; the equally hard fifth took 29 pitons and three aid bolts on an overhang. Beyond the bivouac, the lead took 11 pitons, one bolt and a ropethrowing tactic. Then came a superb free pitch with five pitons, an awkward flaring crack (14 pitons and two belay bolts), and a finale ending with classic aid on cracks with a geometric pattern (8 pitons). An unexpected joy of this rewarding climb was our total oblivion to the public: not a solitary tourist discovered us.