Direct North Ridge

The

DNR

climbs the northeast ridge of Talk Buttress, starting from the very toe of Talk Buttress, right of

Over Easy

and left of the gully/wide chimney leading to the routes on the northwest face of Talk Buttress. The route is to the right of

North Ridge

as shown in John Gottman's 1979 guide, which is best described as a chossy crack that starts about 10 feet left of the toe of the buttress. There is an MP posting for

North Ridge,

but from what I can tell that describes a variant of the original route as shown in Gottman's guide (and Tony Calderone's 2017 guide), albeit longer, starting from the fin of rock just east and uphill from the routes on the east face of Challenge Buttress, and traversing onto Talk Buttress in the vicinity of the start for

Look Who's Talking

.

Trivia aside,

DNR

stays pretty much directly on the skyline between Talk Buttress' east face (bearing

Over Easy

) and the north face (bearing

Hyperbole

and

Empty Rhetoric

). Although we spent some time cleaning the route, expect a small amount of lichen and a few suspect holds, but it should clean up with subsequent ascents. Consider jumping on this if

Steorts' Ridge

is hammered, but, of course, you'll have to go back to bag

Steorts'

because it is the best 5.6 in the Wasatch.

Start on the lowest point of Talk Buttress and climb the ridge above, using gear when you find it and clipping an occasional bolt (bolted in an effort to make it suitable for novice trad leaders). When the ridge kicks back, near the top of Talk Buttress, scramble up and left maybe 30 feet to the chains atop

Over Easy

. About 60 feet up from the start of the route is a stance on the right with two bolts, but it's better to do one long lead until the terrain becomes hands-free and cam placements abound.

The easiest way to find

DNR

is to follow the approach for

Social Engineering

(see that page) and its neighbors on the north face of Dead Snag; the approach goes right under the start of

DNR

.  Another way to find

DNR

is to first go to the base of

Steorts' Ridge

. From

Steorts'

, walk down the trail toward Challenge Buttress about 50 feet and look for a trail on the left (west) that leads through the trees and into a talus field nestled between the north face of Dead Snag and the east face of Talk Buttress.  The trail traverses the talus field to its right (north) side and turns up at the right margin of the scree toward a dark gully/wide chimney.

DNR

starts on the toe to the left of the gully/chimney. If you continue up the gully/chimney, you'll quickly pass under

Hyperbole

and

Empty Rhetoric

and eventually get to the northwest face of Talk Buttress. Once on track, it should take no more than 5 minutes to reach

DNR

from

Stoerts'

.

Singles of nuts and cams to three inches, draws (3 bolts) and slings. Two single rope raps from chains down

Over Easy

(the lower set of chains is just under a roof). 60 meter rope should be okay.