Last month I accompanied Nathan Simpson for his 14er finisher day (Congrats!). We made the traverse from El Diente Peak to Wilson, but I opted to stay on the true ridge the entire way, tagging every organ pipe, gendarme, narrow fin, and spire along the ridge proper. It made for an epic climb consisting of lots of low 5th class, precarious chossineering, and fun summits.
This variation adds three major sections to the standard traverse; The Organ Pipes, the Gendarmes, and the Final Stretch.

The Organ Pipes were quite nice. The rock was quite solid and once you are on the ridge, there were about 20 small spires. They can be bypassed at an easier grade, but if you really want to do the true ridge, you've gotta hit them all. Most are about 5 to 15 feet tall and involve climbing up to 5.7ish. One of the larger ones has a beautiful handcrack up the west face. I felt this was the easiest of the 3 additional sections.

The Gendarmes were my favorite part. Most of the difficulty was right at the start, a 80 foot wall that goes about 5.7 if you follow the ridge proper. This is best done west to east, uness you ike solo downclimbing or rappelling. Once on top, there are a few more small spires along the top of the gendarmes formation. A couple more variations to the normal traverse follow but they are pretty easy until you reach the final section.

Ahhh, the Final Stretch. This was exciting. Although not as technically difficult as the Gendarmes, I felt this was the hardest and most dangerous part. It starts at the notch where the standard traverse goes up a gully on the west face of Mt. Wilson. This last 200 feet of ridge was very loose and narrow. Expert chossineering skis are a must! Luckily, I grew up climbing in Eldo. At one point, you cross a narrow fin, only about a foot thick, and it appears to be only a couple feet thicker 30 feet down! Dodge more loose rock and join the north ridge for the short stretch to the summit.

This made for an amazing and fun traverse, although I wouldn't recommend it for most. It involves tons of 5th class climbing and navigating loose rock, sometimes mid climb. But if you enjoy that, and know what you're doing, it makes for a fun variation to the normal traverse.