Our five-pitch variation to the Northwest Face of Warrior I stemmed from an attempt to gain the stunning right-facing dihedral at the top of the tower while avoiding the 5.11b R traverse on the existing route. Last July we cleaned many loose blocks and broke many obvious holds, so we believe that this variation had not been climbed.

Undoubtedly more unstable blocks remain; this is an adventurous route to be climbed with discretion.

The Candy Shop begins on the right side of Warrior I, in a long, wide crack visible from the meadows below (5.10 offwidth). It ends atop a pedestal.

From here we followed the path of least resistance, up broken crack systems to another ledge beneath an overhanging hand crack. The next pitch ascends this superb crack to a technical roof (5.10d), a dihedral, and a short chimney to another ledge belay. The next pitch is the psychological crux, ascending a flared weakness and traversing left into a large right-facing corner, where powerful moves to a mossy undercling (5.10d) got us through the corner to a belay on another pedestal. From here we could see the upper dihedral. We traversed a slab, finding intermittent gear, and rounded a friction bulge (5.9) into a large alcove. From there we stretched the rope on easy ledges to the base of the upper dihedral and followed the existing route to the summit. The descent was an ordeal, involving several rappels off horns and old pitons into a steep gulley that spit us into the snowy col between Warriors I and II, where we found exciting rappels off boulders and snow bollards (six hours all told). The Candy Shop to the summit is 1,200', IV 5.10d and offers fun climbing up a direct line on one of the proudest features in the Cirque. We hope people will get out there and enjoy it; it will only get better with traffic!