"Rawlpindi" begins at the major/obvious corner system some 30 meters left and slightly uphill from the start for "Birdland". Ascend three pitches of 5.7 up the corner (good protection,good belay stances-- a couple of short bulges make the first two pitches fun). It is likely that these first two pitches were climbed in the 1980s. The third pitch is short and ascends a weird chimney to exit behind a chockstone (tight) and unto a ledge system that extends right unto the Birdland face. After exiting the chockstone squeeze,leave the corner system and traverse about 10 feet right on the ledge system to belay.
Pitch 4 (175') ascends the main Birdland face to the right of the corner system. Climb to a protection bolt on a small white face about 30 feet above the pitch 3 belay. From the bolt go up to a diagonal ledge/crack system (good #3-4 Friend placements). Follow this ledge/crack up and a bit right 20 feet to just below and left of an overhanging black flake with white calcium deposits beneath it. There you will find a series of solution pockets/holes going straight up (steep), the pockets take medium to large size cams (#3,#4 Friends). When the solution pockets/holes end, bear right and upwards (another protection bolt) to the bolted station just below a small triangular shaped arch.
Pitch 5 (90') ascends straight up from the pitch 4 hanging belay. A slider nut or very small cam is useful to protect the first 10 feet off of the anchors (perfect horizontal micro crack). Follow various cracks straight up over the small triangular arch (well protected with stoppers in a horizontal crack at the base of the arch) to a small ledge. Avoid climbing over the arch at its apex as there is a loose block that must be avoided. From here ascend a white face with a small crack system on the left until you reach a good ledge with a bolted station. This pitch is well protected with medium stoppers. Rappel pitches 5 and 4 to the bolted anchors on pitch 3 of "Birdland." Two 60 meter ropes are needed to reach the "Birdland" pitch 3 anchors from the top of pitch 4 of "Rawlpindi". Continue to rappel "Birdland" to the ground.
Location
"Rawlpindi" essentially climbs the corner system to the left of the "Birdland" face. At the end of pitch 3 it moves right to climb the center of the "Birdland" face to end some 40 feet left and about 20 feet above pitch 5 of "Birdland." This route is certainly as good in terms of enjoyable 5.7 climbing as "Birdland". Pitch 4 requires some expertise when it comes to placing protection. "Rawlpindi" can also be climbed from the top of pitch 3 of "Birdland", although pitches 1-3 of "Rawlpindi" are quite enjoyable.
Protection
A standard rack of nuts and cams. Some small nuts for pitch 4. Medium to large Tri-Cams or medium to large cams for protecting the pockets/holes on pitch 4 (no larger than Friend #4). A medium slider nut for protection off of the belay on pitch 5.
An enjoyable outing...but those who have just started to lead 5.7 or those without excellent gear placement skills should be careful on the fourth pitch. An R rating may be appropriate here.
Jason
By Bill Gibbs From: Andover, Ks. Oct 7, 2007 rating: 5.7
Very enjoyable route! You can combine the first 3 pitches into 2, but watch out for rope drag if you run the first pitch long (185')like we did. You can escape this climb onto "Birdland" in several places if you need to rappel. Only do it in an emergency though, because the upper pitches are just as enjoyable as "Birdland". The pitch 4 & 5 rappel slings could use replacing soon. We backed them up with one sewn sling each.
I loved the first two pitches (which I had always thought were part of "The Big Horn"), but unfortunately I did not read the route description here and missed the chimney 3rd pitch of Rawlpindi.
I went right to a nice ledge before the Big Horn crack, spying a new bolt (with a quickdraw!) on a red face 10' above the ledge. This turned out to be a choss pile that might have been 5.7 but felt like 5.9. (scary) I am an experienced sandstone climber and none the less pulled off a huge sloper that felt bomber...until it came off!
Word to the wise, forget the red face with the bolt on it and continue up the corner.
This route is a good alternative if Birdland is crowded, and be sure to do the Big Horn crack while you're there. You can rap it, and continue up Rawlpindi - through the chimney!
If you want, the 3rd pitch chimney can be climbed further out in combination with a finger crack/lieback on the left, and thus avoiding the tight (and a bit funky) chimney behind the chockstone. This is actually really fun climbing, in the 5.8/9 range depending on how much you stem/chimney, and it has good pro.
Also, when you traverse right to belay just above the chockstone, you actually traverse about 30 feet right on a huge ledge (great small tree as a directional above the chockstone).
The crux pitch is certainly impressive, but the rock is not the best. The solution pockets take cams, but generally not very good ones (poor rock/shallow placements/poor placements). If you want to protect that section well, and use the best pockets, you'll need larger Tricams (1.5-3), or maybe the larger Aliens (not too many people have those).
I just recently climbed Rawlpindi. This climb had a few excellent sections. I found the overhang at the top of P1 to be interesting. We belayed above the overhand and made it to the chockstone ledge for the next belay. This might go easier if you belay below the squeeze chimney to avoid some funky rope drag. I thought this section was one of the best on the climb. Or finish as Greg said. I didn't notice that ! I really liked the P3 (or 4) face climb. it was a bit runout but never boring. The anchor here has some old webbing with a rap ring. It didn't look too bad, I used it. But you may want to replace or add to this. we skipped the last pitch.
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