Starts in the gully on the far right side of the Sheepshead. The start of the climb has a 10c roof/bulge protected by two bolts. Look for a right-angling line of bolts headed up a 100' slab.
See the link to Kerry's online guide (above) for further details.
Protection
All bolts, all cruxes well-protected. Even so, you should have a significant amount of multipitch experience before attempting this route. Due to the wandery nature of this route, retreat would be difficult after the first pitch, even with two ropes.
After climbing the route to the right of Stampede we did the opening pitch just for fun at the end of the day.
Without doing the entire route I cannot comment on the grade and/or stars beyond the 1st pitch. That said, the first pitch provides a fun bouldery start up some tenuous face climbing to the anchors.
I'd recommend everyone do it just to get a feel for face climbing at the Stronghold. Nearly everything looks big after that route.
Experience your own slab dismorphia today and give it a try!
I finally got on it last weekend; wonderful and the crux was fairly easy 11. I had been put off by the talk of runouts and there were a few but on easy rock. The first and third pitches were great, although the first got your slab work going fast; the second and crux pitch was also good and airy.
By Jon Ruland From: Tucson, AZ Mar 1, 2009 rating: 5.11a
this climb is solid 11a, and awesome.
EDIT at the end of pitch 5 you will find yourself on a giant ledge. directly in front of you, on the far right side of the ledge, there is a line of bolts going up a cleft in the rock. unless you want to participate in a cleaning effort (which you may) i would not suggest following this line of bolts as the rock is crumbly and a little scary toward the top.
this pitch goes at about 11a and deposits you on the right side of the formation, where you can either scramble left up to the summit or rap off to the right.
again, i would suggest you simply go all the way to the left side of the ledge and finish on the last 2 pitches of stampede, which are of the highest quality.
We followed the bolts in the right side cleft. It was an OK pitch, but is still a bit crumbly. The benefit of this is that with one rappel and a short bit of scrambling you can be at your packs much quicker & easier than if you top out.
If you have never been to the top or done any of the left-side finishes, then I would recommend going that route. However, if you have already summited The Sheepshead on multiple occasions and have already done some of the left-side finishes, then I recommend the direct finish and it's easier descent.
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