At the 2nd belay station from S-Direct, head straight up. Still healthy runouts, but fun climbing linking chickenheads on less gritty rock. From the third bolt on the direct var., I could not see another bolt to my right on the original route as shown on the topo, where I remember from my previous ascent. I belayed at a small overlap, where you can get small but good cams, and sling a giant chickenhead just to the right. Pulling over this overlap, the climbing gets easier, though still runout. The anchor shown on the topo for the crux pitch is BAD - 2 quater inchers. One LONG pitch above the overlap will reach easy ground.
All in all, we enjoyed S-Direct (direct variation) tremendously. I would give the Variation one R, and the Original route 2 R's. Timid climbers and Good samaritans: still some manky and missing bolts up there to replace!One last note: the walkoff still sucks. I vote for a zipline from the summit of the Thumb to the Gate boulders.
The Thumb Area
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