Duncan's Girdle Cheese

"The only thing more abstract than climbing up a wall is to traverse it from one side to the other." -Greg Child.

When you only have a couple of hours, this is a fun way to have a a little more adventure at Duncan's. The climbing is still of Duncan's quality; however, it gives the ability for longer pitches and continuous climbing and therefore is a pretty cool route. This route is a little funky, because you are never belaying your follower up and many times you are actually belaying them down. Take extra care to protect your follower as well as make sure they are comfortable with the fall potential as it's not a toprope fall. This girdle traverse encompasses all the routes along the main section of Duncan's Ridge from South Chimney to Unnamed Corner.

Pitch 1 (5.7): start on South Chimney, climb up until a ledge system heading left is reached follow ledge system until below The Nose climb up to the first roof, then continue left and down to the belay ledge. Belay on a small ledge roughly 15' up on Joe Dirt.

Pitch 2 (5.8): climb up Joe Dirt until level with a small roof on the left, traverse just below this roof. Continue across the thin slab to easier ground. Flip around the blunt arete directly above a horizontal break, and downclimb the crack to a large ledge. Belay from this ledge which is slightly to the right of Unknown Crack #8 roughly 10 feet off the ground.

Pitch 3 (5.7): climb up the crack directly above the belay ledge. Traverse along the slab to the top of the large boulder pile. On left side of boulder pile, downclimb a chimney just to the right of Crackmard. Traverse a little further to a small ledge with small gear for an anchor roughly 4' off the ground directly to the right of Out of the Black.

Pitch 4 (5.9): stem up the chimney until you can step over to Out of the Black. Then climb up until the highest of the horizontal breaks is reached. Follow this break left around the aretes until it is possible to downclimb to a ledge 15' off the ground on the route Liberty's Last Stand.

Pitch 5 (5.8): traverse low across the slab trying not to use the large dirt covered ledge. Continue across easy ground until you step across the dihedral on Dihedral Route. Traverse well below the big roof following pockets for gear until it is possible to step into the alcove on the Corner Climb.

Pitch 6 (5.6): traverse low across the delicate slab, then climb up Broken Crack until it is easy to continue to move left and down. Grab a large jug, and step under the roof for Unnamed Overhang. Continue left until it is possible to climb and top out on the Unnamed Corner. Belay on top of the ridge as for Unnamed Corner.

Please be respectful to those climbing in the more traditional direction, and work around them on your ascent.

Start on the far right end of Duncan's Ridge on the route South Chimney. 

A doubles rack with an optional #4. Micro-cams were also nice to have.