Turk's Head Ridge 

I did Turk's Head Ridge this weekend with Jan Brown and I really enjoyed it! We did the 5.5 and under variation and in my opinion the experience is highly recommended. Give it a try. It does somewhat resemble alpine climbing although the pitches are [much] shorter.

From the author of that topo:

It is in NO WAY authoritative. As anyone who has climbed this beast knows, it's less of a "route" and more of a "pick your own way" type of climb. Please add additions/subtractions/modifications. I made that topo as an attempt to give those new to the climb a general idea of what the ridge we're all talking about is.

Does anyone do this thing in the winter, preferably during nasty stormy conditions, or is it just me (I doubt it's just me)?

And, if you're going to climb this (not necessarily for speed) you must finish on the 5.7-ish face route on Wiessner, not the 5.2 cheater (which I use, admittedly, at times). A spectacular finish.

A possible modification to the gear list: I don't think there's a need for anything larger than 1.5 inches. Maybe on top of the last pitch, but you can use the rock spike or sling one of the monster blocks behind the face (not the loose boulders).

Joe, If you climb the "true" second pitch--the inside corner to the left of the tower and below what you call the "30 foot wall"--big gear may be helpful for the wide crack. I think it is a shame to skip this pitch, or should we call it a pitch-let? It is more of a boulder problem, and the moves are scary and insecure for it's sandbag 5.6 rating. The Swartling guide lists the pitch as an alternative to the tower and calls it a "20 foot overhanging dirty inside corner". Sounds classic, eh?

I actually have that "pitchlet" listed as an alternate in a write-up that Tom has on Turk's Ridge. I believe he's going to post it at some point. It basically follows the description in The Guide, but adds more variations at the top of the Ridge. And as you know, having climbed the ridge, there really are a few good variations down low as well, variations/pitches The Guide seems to omit. Sometime this fall I plan to get out there with my GPS and a digital camera and finally nail down a good description of the ridge, the stuff below Turk's Head, and the stuff below and to the south of the Needle.Thinking about the second pitch (to the right of the tower), you're right, it does take some big gear.I've been climbing Turk's Ridge for a decade now and it's still hard, at times, to nail down a good descirption of the area. I was happy as hell to see yours, though, knowing that someone else actually really likes the formation.

Jay,If/when Tom posts my descirption of Turk's Ridge, it would be great if you modify it to reflect your true second pitch down low. I see that what I call the 2nd pitch would be the third, by your description (which I think is better).Or, Tom, if you're reading this (which I suppose you are), I can just resubmit that route description to reflect Jay's detailed descriptions down low on the ridge (and then my descrpition seems to fill out the upper pitches).

We're pretty much on the same page. My description just combines several of your pitches into one pitch (but I can't look at your description with the way this posting page works, so...) Wandering right towards the top (about 100 feet below the base of Wiessner) takes you into a rather interesting and undocumented area directly below Turk's Head. I'm pretty sure if you go right after the 40 foot "ridge" section (going from memory here) it's possible to link up into some more continuous climbing until you reach the base of the "little" tower in front of Turk's Head. You know you've gone right too soon if you end up in a big talus field (some interesting variations in the winter there, though, and a little bit of ice on occasion).

Check out Joe Block's terrific article on Multipitch climbing in the "Features" section of the site. Click on the "Community" button to the left in the sidebar, then click on "Issues" at the top of the page. Thanks a lot Joe for this great contribution!

Having just spent two days tromping around the ridge, I've discovered a few things.First, Tom, if you can lighten the photo of the whole ridge, it will reveal a bit more detail. I can provide another photo with the modifications if necessary.Second, the rock to the right (north) of the ridge is much more extensive than I thought. It's all undeveloped (and pretty overgrown this time of year), but surprisingly vertical. It is broken into short pitches, or steps, but is rather wide.There are actually three distinct bands of rock that make up the ridge.

1. The uppermost band extends from the Cleo Amphitheater to the Wiessner Wall to Turk's Head. 2. The middle band extends from the "40 foot ridge" on the south to the broken walls and towers on my topo.3. The lower band extends from several buttresses south (and above) the first tower to a series of overgrown and just less-than-vertical walls to the north.

The abovementioned "fixed" photo really helps you see this description. Once you see it this way, the ridge's terrain is much easier to decipher. Tackling the northern side of the ridge (the right side) is more committing, offering less walk-arounds and trickier third-classing. The "40 foot ridge" section forms the southern side of this band, and is quite impressive. The left side of the ridge (south) is the least committing and easiest route.Now that I've wandered a bit more around there and modified the picture, I can see an easier way to write up a route description, providing hints on pitches to link up. I suspect in the winter the ridge could be done in three long pitches (with some hard climbing), separated by scrambling.The interesting part is the fact that there is, as far as I can tell, a fair amount of virgin rock north of the ridge. The "middle band" particularly offers up a possible continuation of the route via a traverse underneath Turk's Head. I don't know where it ends up, but I suspect it peters out in the wide basin between Turk's Head ridge and Prospect point. (The top of the bluff drops a bit at this point)(The drawn overview map in The Climber's Guide hints at these sections of rock. It's much clearer in the older, '79 edition)I'll post a better description of the pitches in a few weeks.

This is a fun solo, especially in the winter, when there's no snow for skiing. I avoid the 5.8 on the 30-foot wall and opt for the 5.6. I also like to finish on Turk's Head (5.5), instead of Wiessner's.

Had a great time on a shorter variation of this route. It was dirty and wild. I loved it! The variation was a low angled slab to the right of a wall that had the left to right angling crack that looked about 5.8ish. And went up through a series of ledges for about 120 ft to a ledge N of Turks Head. It was low grade probably like a 5.4 or something, but man was it dirty fun!

What fun this is. A bit grovely at the beginning, but turns into a nice enjoyable climb. Really fun to do pitch after pitch and no stopping. Do it on a nice cool day. I did it in the sun on a warm humid day, sweating balls on every pitch.

This thing definitely needs more traffic. It was full of cobwebs when John and I did it this weekend...