Staircase Arête, Mount Moran. First ascent on August 28, 1959 by Dave Dornan and Al Read. We two first tried this fine ridge in 1957 after noticing it from the South Buttress route. It is located between the south ridge of Drizzlepuss and the waterfalls to the right of the Blackfin route. The first step of the ridge is about four leads of long and moderate fifth class. The second step has a short direct-aid pitch, and the third has a difficult fifth-class pitch. The rest of the ridge is of moderate difficulty; the last 100 feet were climbed by traversing to the left to avoid difficulties. The climb ends on the south ridge of Drizzlepuss. Although longer, it compares to the Jensen Ridge on Symmetry Spire in difficulty. On the decimal system it is 5.7 and 6.3.

David B. Dornan, Sierra Club