West Ridge, Mount Conness 

This can be tough to find from the back side, Tioga Pass. You have to stay more right than you would think.

If you do approach from the Saddlebag Lake area, as opposed to from Lembert Dome, you have the option to downclimb the North Ridge and hike out that way. It makes for a nice long day out in the back country.

Very nice views off the ridge, stay as close to it as possible.

At a slide show a few years back, Croft said that-- after his 9,000 foot, one-day Karakoram 5.11 route-- this was his favorite rock route. Jokes notwithstanding (Q: What is Peter Croft's favorite rock route? A: Whatever he's just climbed), you can see why.

This is the best alpine rock route at its grade (and one of the best at ANY grade) I have done. You can EASILY free-solo it: there is one dicey section (the rock bridge) which is exposed, but easy; the rest is a 5.6 ladder on impeccable rock, a billion solid incut holds, and good cracks. Loads of places to stop and admire the view. Then you top out, and look waaaaay down into the Valley, and feel all bad-assed up there at 13,000 feet.

We were going to do the Harding route, but my partner didn't feel up to it. So, instead of going back by upclimbing the choss approach, we did the West Ridge...and it was so good that we didn't put our harneses on, just simul-soloed the whole thing, massive shit-eating grins on our faces...it was so good we didn't want to stop.

DO IT.

We had to bail after 4 pitches but they were great. As you gain the ridge, try to stay as close as possible to climbers' left. This is where the classic climbing is, including stellar parallel cracks and wicked exposure on the ridge proper. We climbed 4 pitches and bailed down the gully to climber's right dude to extremely high winds. We made 4 rappels using a 70m rope. I believe we rappeled very close to where the guidebook's description of the route goes.

This is my favorite alpine solo climbing! Great views, exposure and so much fun!

I use the North Ridge to access the West Ridge for a full day of ridge running. I often find loose rock sections downclimbing the first rappel on the North ridge, but downclimbing the blocks on the second rappel is more solid than it looks.