Bird of Prey

Another nice addition to Fifi Buttress. First 5 pitches are clean and high quality. The 2018 “revised edition” of the Sloan book has a good topo.

P1

: Follow a thin corner to bolted anchor 3/4 of the way to the big ledge. Starts between two bolted climbs at a small mossy alcove with a wider flake that you climb around. 11a

P2

: Follow the thin, bouldery corner to the big ledge and to the bolted anchor 10ft to the right. Links with P1. 11a

P3

: Crux. Mantle through the decomposing corner into the clean OW, maybe 10b, then stem up into the thin 5.11 corner/flare, then through an easier roof and over to a pedestal on the right. An optional #6 should put you on toprope through the opening moves but there’s alternative gear in the decomposing corner that might keep you off the ledge. 11b

P4

: Climb up the sharp and steep thin hand crack. 10c

P5

: More sharp and steep climbing. Short pitch, 10b

P6/P7

: Pull through the bulge on 9+ fingers into easier climbing. The climbing starts to wander and the rock becomes dirtier.

(P8 through P13 from Chris's comments)

Head up, then a bit left on pitch 7 which ends at a bolted anchor and a fixed line to a tree

P8

: Either climb the slab directly past a bolt at 11a or traverse in to the second bolt at 5.7. Continue up through some very dirty rock passing two more bolts to a slung tree 5.9/5.11a

P9

: Climb up to the right of a bolt, clip it and traverse left into the corner. Continue up the wide hands corner and pull up onto a flake to a two bolt belay 5.10+

P10

: Continue up the wide hands and fists corner to a bolted belay at a small ledge. Links with pitch 9 pretty easily if you have enough #3s 5.10+

P11

: Step left into the chimney and continue up using a mix of chimney and offwidth techniques. Step right to a two bolt anchor at a stance 5.10d

P12

: Move straight up off the belay for 5 or 6 bolts of fun face climbing leading up to the roof. Pull a series of wild roofs up to the final two bolt belay. Links with p11, but I had a bit of rope drag 5.10c

P13

: Move left off the belay and wander up through some very dirty rock to the summit! 5.8

You can rap off a tree on the summit if you're rapping the route, or walk off. We rapped the route with an 80m, but a 70m should work fine too (a single 70 definitely below P7)

Approach Fifi and turn left at the first rocky stream-bed/gully that takes you up the lower base (as for center of the universe, don’t go all the way to the midway, Voyager ledge). Walk past the start of Center of the Universe: Bird of Prey is one of the last climbs along the base and is probably only a couple hundred feet before the lower gully meets the midway ledge. Look for the cleaner, inset corner between two bolted lines.

P1-P6:

Doubles .1 - #3, optional single #6 (avoids smaller cams in bad rock)

P11:

#4, #5

Short pitches + bolted anchors means some of the larger and smaller doubles probably aren’t necessary.