The Thing 

This route was originally touted as 13c/d, which is laughable. Most people seem to be able to call it 13b without blushing, so its probably a soft 13b. Rumor has it you can climb up the arete and skip the crux, making it more like 12+. The 5.13 grade assumes you follow the obvious line.

Thanks for your more complete descriptions of this route! I used your comments for a better description of the actual route. It's always preferable to have comments from people who have actually climbed the routes!

So for the 5.13 grade did you use the large jug Hueco out right and above the last bolt? Currently from the rest my sequence is right hand pinch - clip - left hand in a 2-finger pocket sidepull - right hand into the Hueco as a Jug undercling - left hand up into a sloper pinch - cross thru and match right hand on the same hold - Left hand far left on a sidepull - and dyno left hand for the obvious jug.

I'm thinking about trying to skip the large Hueco, going straight up from the 2 finger pocket sidepull to the sloper pinch.

Using my sequence I guess 13a.

First, in the first photo I saw of this route it was actually called 5.14 a/b and a project.

Second, Disturbing, I do not remember any jug in the area you are talking about, I went right hand to the sloper off of the 2 or 3 finger sidepull undercling with the left hand. Then there is a sloper pinch block thing for your left hand just to the left of the U shaped sloper sidepull that I'm guessing you crossed in. This hold allows you to turn your right hand from the sloper to a sidepull pinch and then do the jump.

Brett, I don't think anyone is suggesting that you can or can't use the arete. As far as I'm concerned I'm just relating my experience on the route. I would agree that if you can reach the bolt line, or even move off of it and back onto it then you should feel free to use it, climbing is about enjoying yourself and freedom.

Hey Brett, You're right it is about finding the line or weakness, I only asked because I wanted to be sure I wasn't missing the crux, not that it really matters. I was just looking for something hard at El Rito, and was curious how other people did the top section. In this case if you follow the arete all the way up it puts you pretty far right of the anchors.

Video Beta: You'll notice that I definitly use the arete then move back onto the face.

Here's how I did it back in the day:

Mono, nice video and impressive camera work for having a fixed camera. Certainly looks like your sequence adds a couple of hard moves getting past the last bolt before setting up for the crux.

I thought the finish up the arete was really cool! It's probably not 5.13, but it seemed substantially harder than To Beer or Not to Beer and other mid 5.12's I've done at El Rito, so 5.12+ seems about right. Highly recommended, especially if the original finish feels a bit too tough, as it did for me.