Ascent Notes for: A Few Dollars More. - 5.10a Average Rating : 4.00/5

Ok, so I climbed this route again with the intent of climbing the "rumored" 5.11 variation which is supposed to climb through the steep roofs above.

I climbed the first few pitches again and belayed in the vertical crack about 25ft below the beginning of the roofs. I began climbing the corner, past the fixed pin to directly under the first roof system which I traversed slightly to the right to get to. There is a shallow not so obvious weakness in the first roof where I hand placed a long medium knifeblade in a grassy crack just below. I would suggest bringing a hammer and a long thick KB or #5 Lost Arrow and fixing it there. There are a couple shallow finger pockets which allow you to make a committing mantle up the first roof (solid 5.11). Good gear is found within reaching distance above the roof. Then make a 10ft traverse left back into the main corner. No gear is found at first but not to worry as there is some just a few moves above. This corner is quite crispy and therefore a bit slick. A solid nut placement is found just before making more 5.11 moves and finding a good rest under a large overhanging roof. I set up a belay here in bomber cracks because of rope drag issues. Next exit the roof to the left in an awkward series of .10+ moves (bomber pro) and onto some big dikes to the right. Climb these dikes to a very narrow ledge (about 15ft,no pro). Good pro (blue/black alien size) can be found to the left but the climbing above this pro is very very difficult and dirty. I could not figure out a good exit path so traversed to the far right (15ft) where a series of .10+ thin edges and a big sloaper granted access to the top out. Pretty sketch right to the top.

I would not attempt this direct finish unless you're solid at 5.11. However, this route and roof exit blow the exposure and climbing quality of The Line right out of the water. A little scrubbing or traffic would make this route an instant classic, though I doubt that will ever happen. Leave it to the adventurous souls I guess.

I believe and have no reason to doubt Ed Drummond did climb this direct finish. Though I'm not too sure if anyone has since.

Not a climb on my hit list but was glad to have a rope gun to tag this one.

The first pitch though mostly juggy dikes had one short mantle move with some sloaping hand holds. Though easy, it was a long way above the last pro and a fall would result in certain death. The second pitch was a short section of 5.8ish moves to a small ledge with a pin and a decent piece of gear. A decent runout on some good and some sloaping holds (5.8) was done before reaching a thin crack system (took small offset nuts at first) that featured better and better gear as you went. We tried the direct finish over the roof system but found the gear to be quite sketch. We opted for the traverse right under the roofs following the origional route.