Stars and Stripes alt start

There is a description of a route called Northwest Salvage (

Northwest Route

) which climbs flakes to the right of Stars and Stripes Forever. There is not a documented topo of it available and the Needles mini guide lists it as 5.7. The route described here goes significantly harder than 5.7 so this may be a different flake than Northwest Salvage. Start downhill from Stars and Stripes Forever. Climb up a flake with thin protection until the flake opens up to hands and then larger (5") and trends right. Stand up and move far right on the flake to a 10a move to gain another thin layback flake which you can surmount. From here trend up and left to meet up with the Stars and Stripes main crack/flake junction. The flakes in this area are very hollow so be gentle! Belay here to minimize drag and continue up to the first Stars and Stripes belay marked on the topo.

There is a large pine holding up a boulder at the start of Stars and Stripes Forever. Downhill from this is another large wedged boulder. Start below that large boulder. Either downclimb or rap off the tree, or descend the Djin-Charlatan notch and move down the large slab face until you can drop down and traverse left towards the Sorcerer. This puts you right at the base of the route.

Micro nuts for the 10a move and otherwise standard rack. Long runners on the section which traverses right and then back left.