Quick mini TR to highlight how much more epic this traverse is when done ridge direct instead of the standard route that drops way, way off the ridge.

I did this as a "blind climb" - meaning I intentionally did only minimal research to make sure the ridge "goes" and then flung myself out there to check it out without too many spoilers.

Biggest thing to note: I should have gone Columbia to Harvard.

By starting with Harvard, the class 5 crux was an ugly downclimb that I managed to skip by doing a far uglier reverse and descend off the west side then up a very steep slab with climbing shoes. I think if I approached from Columbia to climb up the crux it probably wouldn't have been too bad.

Funnest feature: The Bunny Ears!! listed as "Rabbit" in some of the photos of the "standard" (read: boring) version of the traverse.

These things are epically huge and can be seen easily from the valley floor below on either side - and the sweetest thing - you can actually get up on them! Well, at least in between on, maybe on if you're bold enough.

From Harvard they were almost the final major feature. I went around on the back right to find a ramp and some scrambling up into the middle of the bunny ears. The West Bunny Ear I very nearly worked up the nerve to climb to the top - maybe next time. The East Ear looked too sketch for me.

There are a ton of little towers and bumps and fun features that run anywhere from class 3 (plenty) to class 4 (scattered around) and occasional class 5, especially the crux , which some have rated 5.7

Crux location: Some people mistakenly think the crux is the Rabbit (or Bunny Ears) but these are an optional feature. There's a slanted knife edge between the Rabbit and the crux. Rumor tells of a class 3 bypass on east - I didn't get a chance to verify. The "bypass" on the west is more sketch than the crux.