Nova Express 

Be careful protecting the bottom. The flakes are loose. This pitch has cratered several people with broken legs and maybe even a fatality.

5.9+ for sure. Not for the fledgling 9 leader...at all.

I'd take a few larger pieces as well.

I agree that this is a stout 5.9! While it does protect very well, care must be taken to place gear so that it doesn't get in your way. There is a distinct crux about halfway up, although the whole climb is fairly strenuous.

Great climb, some grainy rock. The cupped hand jams through the crux will chew you up if you're not careful.

Don't let the previous comments scare you off from doing this route. The bottom part of the climb before you get in the crack is perfectly protectable. I think I put a #4 Camalot in as my first or second piece pretty close to the bottom. After that, the largest piece you will need is a #3 Camalot.

The crack is splitter and takes good pro. This is a must do for all crack lovers.

I followed this one - great climb to practice crack moves. There's nothing like a solid hand jam!

New to crack climbing. Tried to put this up yesterday, very very stout. Awesome climb though, tons of fun. But like was said before me, not for the fledgling crack leader (such as I).

Great climb, nothing harder than 5.9, but sustained in a couple of upper sections. Great hand jams through the crux, and you do need to crank on them!. I was able to use hand jams through the upper wide section, but I know some prefer fist jams. Used a #4BD at the bottom, and a #3BD at the top.

Really fun climb! Did farewell to arms just before and found this climb to be a bit harder.

You see, Corey, the Nova/Farewell gauge of difficulty is order dependent. If you do Nova first, Farewell will feel harder...and vice versa. ;)

Such a good climb! I highly recommend the variation that starts farther right and traverses a left slanting crack system and meets nova about 25-30 feet up. Super excellent. I found it to be easier than Black September on Black Wall, which is also 5.9+. The whole east face area of Snowshed is superb, and this climb dominates the center of the main face.