Turnkorner Direct

If you're looking for a harder, more dangerous way to start

Turnkorner

, this is a good option. The cool, varied climbing is interrupted infrequently by widely spaced and/or marginal gear placements. You can finish up the last few leads of

Laura Scudders

, instead of

Turnkorner

, for some additional funk/fear.

The upper 3 pitches of

Turnkorner

get the 10; the Turnkorner Direct pitches get the 5.9 R.

The real climbing starts off the top of the smaller of the two giant flakes leaning against the base of the wall. Instead of climbing the easy left side of the flake though, I would reccomend soloing the front face of the flake. This might serve to calibrate your head for what's to come.

From the top of the flake, place a couple small cams in the horizontals in the roof, and devise a way to pull onto the wall. On May 29, 2010 we fixed a blue TCU here (not on purpose). Once established above the roof, angle left to a right-facing corner system. You could belay in this corner somewhere, or continue on (recommended). This is where our experiences on the route diverge from the description in the Gillett guidebook. The book seems to describe following the corner as it arches out right, after a rightward jog, but I ended up pulling out left after the jog into another right-facing corner crack. This felt pretty hard. I then followed this corner up to a horizontal and past it to the right to gain a nice ledge. Belay here or keep going if you belayed in the corner below. Angle up and right to the blocky second belay on

Turnkorner

.

Do the last 3 pitches of

Turnkorner

.

This route is between

Turnkorner

and

Mr. President

, starting from the top of the smaller of two giant flakes leaning against the base of the wall. After two independent pitches, it joins

Turnkorner

at its second belay.

Stanadard rack up to #4 Camalot.