This route climbs a few tiers of rock on the small buttress just meters to the E/SE of the Sphinx proper.  It begins on a low point to the North of center on the slab and climbs past a large ledge to the top of the broad face.  Some additional distance, fun, and difficulty (still very moderate) can be had by climbing up and over the narrow tower of rock at the top of this and behind.

The rock can be descended by scrambling West/Northwest and around back to the base.

It is also possible to traverse Southward from the summit onto and across the face of the Sphinx to join the Lower East Face, though that passes lichen and some death flakes, meriting caution.

The Tiller

Half Man, Half Beast

Face the Sphynx

Lower East Face, Sphinx

Upper East Face, Sphinx

Curse of the Pharaoh

Sphynx Not

Pharaoh's Tomb

I Sphynx There's a Way

The BFE Dihedral

A Sphinxter Says What?

All of the east face routes on the Sphinx so far are rated-R. Is there a more protectable line up this thing?

I Sphynx There's a Way tackles the right side of the east face and not only goes safer than the standard route, but it is easier. I'm not really sure why this one didn't get discovered long ago. Like

Lower East Fac

e, this drops you off below the final 4th Class pitches.

P1. 5.3ish. Like

Lower East Face

, start down on the apron of the Sphinx skirting left around the big headwall 40 feet up. This time though, after moving around the headwall, fire straight up to the trees on the right side of the ledge.

P2. 5.4. Start up the right side of the Sphinx face aiming for the protectable 5.4 dihedral with poison ivy under it. Climb the dihedral, then tackle some lightly protected 5.3 terrain up and left until you reach the lonely tree in the corner. Belay off the tree optionally backing it up with the semi-thin corner.

P3. 5.6. Move right from the belay, and pull a well-protected 5.6 move up the dihedral. Head up to the corner, and jump over the wall to the right. Move right again to dodge another roof, and then belay from the trees above.

A short walk 40 feet left will deposit you at the 4th Class pitches (you can probably belay P3 from a tree over here with immense rope drag).

There are plenty of places to fall off ledges, but I think that's typical of most blocky Flatiron routes. Anything hard has chest-level pro.

This climb is, like the legendary Sphinx, half-man and half beast though it seems unlikely that anyone will "brute force" the route.  The meat of the route is classic climbing- both physically hard and also very technical. Excellent moves on excellent stone with gear as you need it, or at least where you are strong enough to place it in the fiercely overhanging first-knuckle and thinner fingercrack.  The reason this is not a classic route is that the first 40 feet are easy, non-distinct, and loose in spots.

Belay from above on trad gear. The route is NOT easily top-rope-able. TR hang-dogging below the roof would be bad for your rope. To retreat, scramble to the West 5 meters and rap from some fixed slings on a flake. These need a rapid link.

Full disclosure- the grade is given for an on-sight, which will be very difficult, but I took one hang on the on-sight FA attempt while cleaning loose rock and lichens. I lowered back down and did it- the route felt a little easier (11+?) after I had done the sequence initially with a hang.

Face the Sphynx is a challenging and burly clean aid route up a huge crack system in the center of the Sphinx that can be led on purely cams and nuts. This could have been a classic free line if it weren't for the 5.13 (?) overhanging crack at the start. As is though, this is an interesting and sustained aid adventure.

Pitch one is the "classic line in disguise". This is as good as C1 aid gets with multiple overhanging sections, absolutely massive features, and a continuous crack system from bottom to top requiring nothing more than a standard rack.

Pitch two is less good. A short overhung wall with huge Flatiron-style grooves stands between you and the top. Precisely placed large pieces will bring you to the top of this rather scary section.

We established "

Sphynx Not

" to allow parties to climb pitch one and avoid pitch two. You can rap off a tree back to the starting ledge or follow "

I Sphynx There's a Way

" up to the upper ledge.

Approach: either climb the 5.3ish lower apron or go around it on the left.

P1. 5.6 C1+. Start up the gully on the left, but then take a hard right at the base of the wall. Meander through the giant overhung flake system to the severely overhung, undercling crack. Aid your way up the overhang, and pull around the corner. Take care to route your rope outside (left) of the crack or it will get stuck! Work your way up the massive flake/crack system, and then build an anchor on the ledge.

P2. 5.6 C2 R. Head up from the belay do a 5.6 undercling slab move. Climb up onto the right side of the blocks, and prepare yourself for some scary aid moves. A series of strange and poor large cam placements move you directly up the wall until you can reach the smaller cracks behind the large roof. Easy moves lead to the ledge and a large tree to belay from. A #5 Camalot was critical for us here. You'll also need another #5 or larger.

In terms of free-climbing, the opening overhang is 30° and would be a brutal undercling on small feet. After that, the route mellows into a moderate chimney. For P2, there are two options, and they're both bad. On the left, one can pull a ~5.11 roof, using sketchy flakes as pro. The flakes will crush both you and your belayer if they go. There's also a bird's nest over there, so maybe this isn't the best way. The alternative is to climb the aid line directly. This is probably 5.10-5.11, but the opening moves will be protected by sketchy big pro.

P1, 5.3ish - Climb from the base of the Sphinx up to a ledge system with trees and bushes. Traverse left.

P2, 5.5ish - Climb up and into a cool chimney. Crank out of the chimney on your left, and belay at a large tree. Watch out for big loose rocks on this pitch!

The crux pitch.  It's not obvious where to go, and it looks like there is very little pro.  An easy ramp tempts one left, but avoid this temptation unless you want to climb

A Sphinxter Says What?

.  Instead, move up and right from the belay to the base of a steep face.  Then, follow "the line of least resistance" more or less straight up, ending the short pitch at a small tree.  You can get pro in on this pitch, but at the start it appears unprotected and more difficult than 5.7.  Choose your line carefully.

Now join the Upper East Face route, and romp 2 more pitches of easy slabs to the summit.

This is the easiest route up or down the Sphinx.  Most of the east and south faces are guarded by a sizable overhang, but you can walk out on a ledge from the north that takes you above these overhangs.  From here, it is an easy romp up slabs to the summit.

This climb is perhaps 10 meters left of the obvious hanging chimney of 'Tomb of the Pharaoh.' The right-leaning crack climbs up onto a junky pedestal and then through a cruxy pull on to the wall- mostly due to poor rock. Continue to the top of the wall with some poor gear for the first 15 meters. After 32 meters, you arrive up top and belay from hand-to-fist sized trad gear.

We found an old WW-II era stamped pin in the route about 8 meters up that led us to believe that this route had a prior ascent, many long years ago. Lack of publication and the amount of junk where you might like to put feet begs the question whether it was aided or freed; either seems possible.

Largely it's irrelevant. It's not a very good route and this publication is more to let people know what it is--not to encourage people to bother with it.

Nonetheless, if you do you'll need to get off when done. Downclimb about 200' and to the North face to find a notch and bail anchor as for 'Half Man, Half Beast.'

Sphynx Not exists as a link-up to connect the first pitch of

Face the Sphynx

with the end of

I Sphynx There's a Way

. We established this route so that more people would be able to experience the incredible aid experience that is

Face the Sphynx

P1. This route traverses hard to the right and is even downhill at times. Be sure to think about your second when placing gear.

Approach: climb P1 of

Face the Sphynx

.

P1. 5.6. Do the same undercling slab move as

Face the Sphynx

, but instead of tackling the roof, head right along the wall. Continue right using cracks on the headwall to the big tree.

P2. 5.4. From the tree, climb down off the shelf, and then pop back up on the other side to join

I Sphinx There's a Way

. Dodge the roof, and then head up a very dirty slab to the big tree on the ledge.

These two pitches are certainly short enough to link, but this route zig zags a lot, so rope drag may be the new crux.

This route is the obvious chimney on the South face.  Start below an overhanging section (crux) with big jugs and do some gymnastic moves to get into the chimney.  From here, the route eases considerably but still has some good movement.  Reach a pine tree about halfway up and either set up a belay or continue to the top of the formation, which can easily be done with a 70 meter rope.  The start can be protected with small cams or nuts deep in the chimney, otherwise plan to do the crux without any pro.

To descend, walk towards the North face, then downclimb the east face for about 100ft. near this ridge to a notch on the North face.  This is actually the top of 1/2 Man, 1/2 Beast.  At this notch, rappel from webbing around a chockstone to the ground (35m).

This route is located on the West end of the North face and follows a left-leaning crack to a large white roof, then to the top of the formation. Start at a small dihedral and climb to a ledge about 15 fee up. From here, follow the finger crack up more ledges as it tends towards the left, leading to the white roof. Pass the roof to the left, and start heading up for the top of the wall.

This route deserves 1/2 a star. It had some good movement on it, but it was also discontinuous with all the ledges and a little lichen.

To descend, downclimb the ridge for about 50 feet to locate the notch forming between the East slab and the North face. This is the top of 1/2 Man, 1/2 Beast. Rap from slings around a chockstone to the ground ([35m]).

This route is a 1-pitch variation to the Lower East Face route.  The first 2 pitches are shared with the Lower East Face route.

P1, 5.3ish - Climb from the base of the Sphinx up to a ledge system with trees and bushes.  Traverse left.

P2, 5.5ish - Climb up and into a cool chimney.  Crank out of the chimney on your left, and belay at a large tree.  Watch out for big loose rocks on this pitch!

P3, 5.11a - From the big tree, climb up the ramp with no pro (5.6s) on your left about 50'.  The ramp seems to hang in the air a couple hundred feet above the ground, and the exposure as you go up this ramp is awesome!  Traverse right on jugs to the base of a short, thin, overhanging crack. There is good gear at the base of the crack (.75" - 1"), and OK gear in the crack (blue/green aliens and/or small nuts).  Fingertip-lieback and funky-stem up the crack (crux) to bigger holds and better gear.  The crux is over, but the pumpiness isn't!  Hang on a little bit longer and crank over the steepness to a restful hand traverse.  Traverse right and belay at a tree as for P3 of the Lower East Face route.

To summit, keep traversing, and scramble up an obvious gully to the top.  This is class 3 in Rossiter's book, but I would give it a class 4/5.  If you stay roped, it is probably 2 pitches to the top.

To descend, downclimb the gully, and rock hop North into Shanahan Canyon.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in The Sphinx