Pitch 1 Begins on Lunch ledge, 40' left of the S Direct. Stem up grooves for 20'. Traverse right to a shallow crack in a right facing corner. Climb straight up (poor pro) to a low angle slab below a wide roof. Belay at the left end of this roof, about 10 feet ABOVE the slab at 2 bolts (5.9 R not obvious). This dangerous pitch can be avoided by climbing the first pitch of the S direct and traversing left across the easy slab to the belay (5.6).
Pitch 2: Climb up and right along a ramp to a steep section. The airy belay is 20' higher (5.10).
Pitch 3: Move up & right to a beautiful flake, similar to the "Zion Curtain" in Bells. At the end of the flake move back left and up to a bolted belay - great pitch! (5.10a).
Pitch 4: Ascend the slab above to the chimney breaking the headwall above to the top (5.8).
This route has been recently re-bolted.
Location
Starts on Lunch Ledge, left of the S Direct.
Protection
Standard traditional rack. If you climb the first pitch you may want to bring a few large copperheads!
This is a lot of fun. You should know it is not as sustained as S-direct and the runnouts you do have are where its 5.6 or less. It definitely has harder moves than S-direct and they are for real but almost always within arms reach of a bolt or pro.
If you've done S-Direct and loved getting high on the Thumb this is a very worthy option. Do the alternate after the first pitch of S-direct as Brian recommended. That flake pitch is a lot like the Zion's Curtain on Arm and Hammer in Bell's and has cool entry and exit moves, making it worth the trip alone.
You can easily traverse to the top of S-direct from the anchor after the flake if you wanted to rap the whole thing with a 70m rope.
The Thumb Area
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