Skull Queen

Skull Queen is a good alternative if the South Face is full. The aid is not much more difficult, a few micronut placements on pitch 8 and a few awkward placements on pitch 10. The last pitch is a stellar 5.10c finger crack. Climb to Dinner Ledge via South Face Route and do the Kor Roof pitch. Head right into the slanting crack (the bolt above the roof is for the S. Face route) and follow the rivet/bolt latter (in great condition as of June 2006). It is more or less straight up for 7 pitches from here (Supertopo or the Reid guides are accurate). Most likely will not need for a hammer or pins, and I was able to get away without using a hook either by doing a tricky free move (~.10a) on pitch 10 before the belay. I thought the quality of this route was a little better then the S. Face but they are pretty similar. Cheers, AK!

Route starts same as S. Face. After summitting stay up and right on trail that leads to N. Dome Gully decent.

Standard Free Rack (2 sets of cams including small sizes, 1-2 sets of nuts), 1 #4.5 BD Camalot or equivalent, 1-2 sets micronuts or offsets, 12 rivet hangers for pitch 5, 1 hook. Route relies on a few fixed heads to remain clean (in great shape as of 2006), so you may want to bring a few mid-sized heads and a hammer just in case.