As the weather's should start to turn nice soon, I thought it might be a good time to start another discussion of worthwhile, but little-done, linkups and variations.

Here's one:

On Cheap Thrills, instead of starting on Alley Oop as Williams' suggests, start on Dry Heaves and then traverse over to finish Cheap Thrills normally, thereby linking the cruxes of the two routes. This definately ups the pump factor for this one. Two ropes reccomended. A *** link up.

Cheap Thrills is that pumpy 5.10 roof up and to the right of the Aleey Oop/Dry Heaves finish? Yeah that would be a good linkup

Has nyone mentioned Raunchyopath? Do the crux of Raunchy and the little corner, then trend up left to finish on the crux of Osteopath. Two good 5.8 cruxes

RR

RR, you got it right.

I did the Dry Heaves undercling, went up a wee bit, and then traversed immediately right on jugs over to just below the .9R section of Cheap Thrills, then up that and through the roof.

As I said to my partner afterwards, "I haven't made a call that good in a long time." Combined, those two were really superb.

If we're just listing them, the Select book combines Arch to the GT ledge with the last pitch of Wrist.

One of the books, Swain I guess, recommends the Nose to Fillipina, hitting the crux of each. (I've never done it, can anyone say?)

Drunkards officially ends at the GT Ledge, you can walk 15 feet left and do the last pitch of Maria, giving you two huge 5.6 roofs for the price of one.

Everyone links the Thin Slabs Direct pitch with Thin Slabs, though officially it's the top of On Any Monday.

I notice the Select book puts The Dangler on top of Something Interesting, which makes perfect sense (though presumably it's historically inaccurate).

Swain switches the second pitches of City Lights and Pas de Deux. He has a rationale (the two don't cross then, though they go to the same station), but I think it's stupid. (Switching the upper pitches of The Winter and The Spring, which I think Williams does, confusingly, in the Select, should make sense, I haven't done them, so I can't say.)

CCK Direct officially begins at the GT Ledge, and just about everyone does p1 of Erect Direction to get up to it; not only are the ratings closer (5.8/5.9, instead of 5.5/5.9), but it substitutes a wonderful pitch for a pretty lousy one.

There are any number of linkups in the Twilight Zone / Andrew area, eg Silhouette to Traverse of the Clods.

Yikes. Sorry for the misinfo on Drunkards, I guess I've never looked in the book and it was just What I Was Told.

Anyway, I think the two-5.6-roof linkup with Maria p3 is still a nice way to go.

tiers of fears into no man's land. this is more in the nature of "required link-up" since the tiers of fears anchor is truly grim. after pulling the tiers of fears crux you still get to do all the pumpy fiddling with rp's at the end of no man's land...quality!

I did The Nose/Fillipina link-up last year and thought it was worthwhile. I thought the Fillipina crux was sketchy if you don't hang out to get gear, but G once you do, leading to a pleasant and exciting enough Gunks-type overhang haul.

Another link-up on the moderate end: p1 of Hans' Puss to p2 of Proctoscope. Some spooky 5.7 to bolts, then a typical 5.8 Gunks overhang. I thought it was worth doing, and no one was on it yesterday despite the crowds on the Arrow wall. Hans' Scope? Proctopuss?

(By the way, does anyone NOT get lost on Hans' Puss? )

I didn't get lost, then again I had been given some beta before I left the ground, and spent several minutes staring at the traverse (thinking "I have to go WHERE?") before I set out.

I did the normal route of Fillipina and although I haven't done The Nose I tend to agree that The Nose is probably a better start Some wrong routefinding led me to a high, steep leftward traverse that ran out of holds, followed by hanging on gear cursing and a long downclimb/bushwhack to get back on route. That traverse really looked like a fun alternative though--if you've ever done the Lady's Lament/Boldville linkup, then you've seen the start of it and all the chalked-up sucker holds, and it probably looked like an appetizing 5.9ish line. Too bad it goes nowhere.

Daniel, I like Proctopuss personally. Here are some more....

Rauncheopath- climb through the crux of Raunchy and then angle up left to the crux on Osteopath. Turns an okay route into a little better than okay route.

Strictly From Shockley- climb through the crux of Strictly from nowhere, Second pitch will climb the crux section of the second pitch I believe, then angle right to meet the belay for the last pitch of Shockley's. Awesome route.

Direct Exposure- Do Directissima in one pitch from the ground, essentially punching stright uo the arete. (one of the best pitches in the Gunks mind you), the obviously finish on High E. God one to swap leads for mismatched leaders climbing together.

Erect Kaleidoscope- first pitch of Erect Direction, and the last 1 or 2 (depending on your preference) of CCK or CCK Direct. Absolutely one of the best linkups in the Trapps.

Man's Quest For Flight into Treaverse of The Clods- While I have not done this yet, I am told it is really really good.

I could keep going, but I'm tired and I going to bed

RR

I'm reviving this old thread because I led Hans' Puss the other day and I was thinking about how much I enjoyed it and how it seems the bolts have killed off much of the route. (Everyone seems to use pitch one just to toprope Feast of Fools, which I refuse to do because someday I'm gonna onsight lead that sucker! But I digress.) It seems to me to be a special shame that many people skip the second pitch of hans' Puss. I almost backed off it when, after moving about 15 feet to the right, I wasn't sure whether to trend up a little or go straight, and I didn't see much in the way of footholds or gear placements. But then I saw a pin (thank you, pin!) and when I got to the pin it all seemed clear. A really nice 5.7 pitch.

After we did the third pitch, which I thought was enjoyable for 5.5, and certainly worth doing but not as good as the first two pitches, it occurred to me that Hans' Puss should be THE way to get to Traverse of the Clods (which I've never done). That way you get a 4 pitch climb with quality traverses, of (roughly) increasing difficulty, on every pitch! And a half-day adventure. A really good workout for the traverse averse, like me. I'm definitely going to give this a try. What do you think?

Another good one right there: P1 of Proctoscope>P2 of Feast of Fools.

Ditto. We did this 2nd pitch a few weeks back, headed for TotC. Was raining, or threatening big time, so we didn't continue. This seems generally overlooked and as with all great traverses is quite exciting both for the leader and the second. It might be 5.7ish but you need to have your wits about you, so I would not rec. to the noob leader pleased with themselves after the 1st pitch of HansP..

As long as you are reviving the thread, Dog-Stick-Ridge (5.8 PG) as described in the Purple Dick. Ed P led the first pitch, I took the second. Start on The Hounds, straight up to Generation Gap alcove belay, traverse right finish on Yellow Ridge. Terrific climb!

Mothers Day through Birdie Party roof
Start on Star Action and traverse left into Co-Ex
Double Crack then traverse left to Fool's Rush In (described in Grey Dick)
Directissima but stay right of arete after undercling roof; avoid the traverse and finish straight up

Squat Thrust into In Between the lines in one pitch. 4 solid cruxes on perfect rock the whole way.

Pitch 2 of Enduroman into the Directtissima arete. Although easier and less pumpy than the normal finish beyond the roof, the arete is sooo nice.

Raunchyopath. Start on Raunchy, pull the crux, then step left into the crux of Osteopath. Nice way to finish.

started up the Nosy Phillipina this weekend. Some great climbing to the crux which struck me and my partner as looking harder than 9-. Looked harder than Wegetables which I had done earlier. It certainly is G but really pumpy to protect. It was getting dark and i wasnt feeling it and backed off out left and around the top. was really clean with some great old pins and some good cams and not so good cams (loose rock in some horizontals that needs some visits to clean out so get out there and do it!)

pedestrian - i guess i am having a hard time figuring out where you got lost on your attempt. i took an easy left traverse to get back to the upper nose when i bailed. although i did come straight up from phil.

its not a link up, but do the second pitch of wegetables (left variation) it adds some good climbing although really dirty and pretty easy above the second roof. needs some visits to clean. i did as one long pitch on doubles with some rope drag and was out of gear a good way short of the GT ledge (but easy climbing. needs some visits to clean the rock above.

wombat-

The way I have done this route, twice now, is to start way over by Lady's Lament (correct name? It's the next vertical crack to the right) and traverse left, instead of starting down in the Nose corner. This puts you into an awkward dihedral, near a bush, below another traverse (well, it's a traverse if you include the optional belay out on the perch.)

First time, back in 2006 I climbed WAY straight up the corner past the abovementioned bush, (this turns into another route if you don't try to go left) and then I headed left, and as I mentioned in my post back then, the holds ran out.

gotcha - i broke left past the bush, into a shallow right corner with a rusty pin which is basically right under the "parallel cracks" roof. I ended up doing the traverse to a hanging belay from the vertical crack left of the nose arete. if you manage the rope drag better with doubles, you could make it upto the anchor on top with a 5.7-8 rating.

Okay....since we are talking about The Nose area, How about this....
Start in the Nose corner, where The Nose traverse starts going left, stay in the corner, following it up and into a right hand traverse. Pass a tat of slings, and belay on the perch out right. 5.7. Finish on the second pitch of Boldville, which is WILD 5.6. I don't know if this corner actually has a name, but it's a great way to get to the incredible second pitch of Boldville without leading 8+.

Another good linkup is to do the first pitch of Land of The Giants at 5.7, then finish on Fat City. If you can't yet pull the 10.d crux on Fat City Direct, this is a nicer way to get to the belay anchors.

This one seems pretty obvious, but the first pitch of Transcon into the the second pitch of Birdland.

RR

i love boldville but have Tr'd The Winter rather than continuing up. I will try that RR. Boldville is 8+?

You know I get confused around there which second pitches are which. Yes the first pitch is 8+. The second pitch traverses far left to the aformentioned perch, then goes up and out the obvious roof system above....at 5.6. That's why I was suggesting doing that 5.7 corner between Filipina and The Nose. It's a more natural link up.

The second pitch of the Winter looks interesting. If I am correct, it is the logical extension of the Spring corner system, above The Spring's first pitch. The second pitch of the Spring traverses right and climbs the roofs above the first pitch of the Winter. I tried it once and it looks like committing 5.10bish. Not sure why they swap second pitches.

RR

I think maybe being shorter makes Boldville easier? I thought it was easy for an 8, and delicate footwork isn't really my strong suit.

did the RR suggested triple linkup which was really quite fun. i would suggest Nosey Filippinaville as a name and highly recommend it at 5.7

Filipina picked my nose in Boldville

Near Trapps:

Dog-Stick-Ridge is an outstanding 5.8 way to the top of the nears that weaves its way through improbable terrain in two varied pitches. You get great moderate climbing in the open book of Hounds, the easy fun corner that makes p. 2 of Fat Stick, and a fun layback that's part of Generation Gap...all in one pitch that ends on a small but very cool stance with a gear anchor. The second pitch takes a wild finger traverse to the arete of Yellow Ridge, witch you take to the top.

Ranger Rob once told me that p. 1 of Land of Giants to p. 2 of Fat City Direct is also a worthwhile link up.

DL

DL --- Glad to see someone else seemed to enjoyed Dog-Stick-Ridge as much as I did. Looking forward to leading the first pitch which I followed on my first trip up it earlier this year. The second pitch is really a tremendous hoot! --- Bill

Well, is it worthwhile DL?

Yes, absolutely.

I'd also like to suggest Matinee to Betty. Both are historic routes with superb climbing. The discrepancy in grading between the two pitches (.10d to .3) only serves to show how asinine this thing that we call climbing really is.

DL

One of my favorite linkups is Unholy Wick to Diana. I love P2 of Diana, but P1 isn't all that exciting. And P1 of Unholy Wick has a cool move right off the deck.

QTM-
That's a good idea. The first pitch of Diana isn't particularly memorable, but the sequence of roof moves on the p.2 is a hoot. Coming into that from the right, via Unholy Wick, would give back-to-back enjoyable pitches.

I'm sure everyone already knows this one. Arch first two pitches (can combine with good rope management) to end on last pitch of Wrist. Very enjoyable.

First pitch of Erect Direction to Moonlight is nice.

Ribless to P2 of Ribs to P3 of Billy Shears.

Or ribless, ribs, calesthenic.