This was a pretty fun climb, and I think Laura enjoyed it. It doesn't have any
stellar or classic crack or slab climbing, but it is pretty nice overall, and
the route-finding was quite trivial. The hardest part for a
less-trad-experienced climber is probably the very beginning, a short but easy
offwidth/chimney. Also, we got up to Lunch Ledge in two pitches, rather than
the three indicated in the guidebook, and did this with no rope-stretchers,
bad belays, or anything like that. I think what I did was to (unintentionally)
link the first two pitches. These must be quite short if you do them as two.
It's kinda funny, actually... I didn't even realize I had done this, so when I
got to Lunch Ledge, I was pretty surprised! I only recognized it because I had
done Fingertrip a few times. Also, I tried a different variation for the last
pitch off of Lunch Ledge, and it was a very fun finish. This was the variation
that goes way left and finishes with a 5.5 slab with a bolt in the middle.
Highly recommended, and the rope drag is nonexistant compared to the way that
I usually go. Laura still couldn't hear me though. Just before we started
climbing this, we ran into Mike Reardon at the base. I saw him free soloing,
and I thought it looked like the photos I'd seen of him, so when he walked by I
talked to him for a few minutes. He was a really friendly guy! We saw him again
later at the summit, and again back at the base of this climb at the end of the
day, and each time we talked to him again for a few minutes. He did something
like 70 pitches that day, mostly solo.