Jerry Gallwas Remembers Yosemite’s Steck-Salathé Route on Sentinel - Gripped Magazine

Jerry Gallwas Remembers Yosemite’s Steck-Salathé Route on Sentinel - Gripped Magazine

“I was pounding a piton, and—zing—the hammer handle broke, sending the hammerhead flying past my ear. There I was in the middle of that pitch with no hammer,” Jerry Gallwas recalls of the 1953 second ascent of the Steck-Salathé Route on Sentinel Rock. “Royal [Robbins] came to my rescue. After that, I bought a second hammer and took it on every climb.” Their First Big Wall Royal Robbins (off-route) on Sentinel Rock. Photo: Jerry Gallwas collectio…