Malander's Passage

This is a good alternative to

Kor's Door

or

Stettner's Ledges

if these routes are occupied. We did this following

Kor's

and a quick rap descent down

Alexander's Chimney

(see the

Alexander's

description for rap info). This would be a 3-star route if the third pitch wasn't junky. The first 2 pitches follow asthetic and continuous crack and face climbing on beautiful polished golden granite.

P1. About 30 feet down and to the right of the start of

Kor's Door

, look for a narrow ledge running to the right that peters out after about 30 feet and about 6 feet left of a shallow left facing dihedral crack. Traverse across the ledge and where it ends, drop down onto your hands and face climb right to the base of the dihedral -- 5.8+. This section is sporty with questionable pro and grim fall potential. Be solid at this grade. Climb the dihedral/crack and where it peters out, traverse right on face past an ancient quarter-inch bolt to another thin crack. Ascend the crack for 100 feet (5.8) with occasional forays onto face to the right. Eventually face climb slightly left of the crack to a small stance and belay.

P2. Continue up the crack system for 100 feet or more of superb finger locks (5.8). When the crack turns to 2.5 inch hand size, climb about another 40-50 feet to a good belay ledge at the base of a dirty right facing dihedral.

P3. Climb the dihedral (fixed pin) and continue up a series of dihedrals, flakes and cracks that generally trend to the left. After about 150 feet start to look for an unobvious traverse to the left to a long ledge system. Find a belay (we ran out all the rope). This is the ledge system that allows an easy traverse to the left (East) to the rappels of

Alexander's

. The best landmark for the start of this ledge is a stack of blocks pasted to the face. The alternative is to continue up

Kor's

or

Stettner's

to Broadway.

From the horror stories you read about the Broadway and Lamb's Slide descents, I would highly recommend the

Alexander's

rappels which were convenient and quick but very wet.

Pro to 3 inch with emphasis on finger size gear.