Minty 

The original Minty route goes up the right-facing corner from the pine tree ledge belay. If you go that way, it is indeed 5.3. The variation of stepping left onto the face and going straight up past "the hole in the rock" goes more 5.4+.

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Ever had a day when you just didn't feel like climbing something difficult? Do this climb.
I wasn't a huge fan of the Minty Overhang, but the rest of the route is fantastic.

One of the best 5.3s in the Gunks (the other is Beginner's Delight), and yes, you have to step on the face - the exposure is wild! Plus the corner is another route - Tipsy Trees.

Another method of descent is to head 150 feet or so to climber's right after completing the climb. There is a large rock platform roughly 20 feet lower in elevation. There is a little bit of minor downclimbing involved but it is fairly easy, and you are not close to the edges of the platform. There is a bolted rappel station on this platform -- the Madame G's rappel. You can get to the ground in two raps with one rope here.

The bolts are adjacent to a large pine tree at the front of the platform. Clip the rings with your anchor / cowtail for safety by peering over the rock that sticks up next to the big pine tree. Once you are clipped in, you can safely step around and set up your ropes for rappel.

A must climb for anyone learning to lead. I've led the first two pitches several times. Good near vertical climbing at times, and it's actually 5.3 The crux move is at the bottom, if you're taller it's much easier. Pitch 3 is okay but not worth the extra effort of having to head over to the Madame G's rap (plus there's sometimes a line there). Madame G's is more like 300+ feet climber's right, fwiw.

I will continue to rap after pitch 2.

The belay at the end of the first pitch is in rough shape, best to build one.

The crux (for non-tall people) of the route is at the start of P1, dealing with small footholds and not well-placed handholds alongside the low right-facing corner (I'd say at least 5.4). Leaders should make sure their followers are well-protected from above on that move.

That "severely leaning pine tree" is a good thing to aim toward in P1, but an awkward spot to belay from. More comfortable to instead to go past that pine tree and build a gear anchor at the base of the Right-facing corner. (Or continue even farther + higher before stopping to belay).

Climbing straight up that Right-facing corner is an obvious thing to do, but it puts you on a different climb, "Tipsy Trees". Stepping around left is a bit intimidating -- but also one of the things that makes Minty one of the more interesting easy routes (and better than Tipsy Trees). Going that way does not raise the difficulty rating of the climb, because the P1 crux is a harder move.
(Anyway it's true that some leaders choose to avoid that section by temporarily switching to Tipsy Trees, then traversing left a bit higher up to rejoin Minty below the next higher right-facing corner.)

The "hole in the flake" is one of several threaded protection opportunities on Minty, so if you enjoy that sort of thing, bring lots of runners and look carefully.

Above the GT ledge, the main route is not so interesting and my memory from years ago is that the overhang variation isn't much more so. Therefore I normally stop the climb at the GT ledge, walk right (north) on the ledge like 20-30 feet to the Tipsy Trees route at an obvious big tree, and rappel off that. With double ropes this is a rather nice clean rappel line all the way down to the bottom. With only one rope I forget how it works -- I sorta think you have to diagonal a bit to the north to reach a lower tree or something for a second rappel.

In fact, if you rap Tipsy Trees 20ft right from where Minty reaches the GT with a 6o meter, your rope will be about 4ft short of the ledge where you will find a the second (intermediate) rap station about seven feet off to the right. I did this, and it involved a bit of un-roped down climbing and short traverse along the ledge.

I would say this is an important consideration for decent, and in the future when climbing with a single 60 meter, would finish the last pitch up from the GT and walk 50ft left to rap Snookys.

This situation could possibly be remedied by moving the Tipsy Trees rap station -webbing and rings- to the base of the tree (it is now 4ft up in the crotch of the tree) This would provide a safe ride to the ledge, then just a few steps right to the second rap station...

Thoughts?

I think .... rope lengths vary, and I'm *really* glad you watched the ends of your rope.

Stephanie, I think you may want to check the length of your rope. I only climb with a 60m and have never had a problem reaching the raps stations on Tipsy Trees.