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Authentic Life
5.10 C1 PG13,
Trad, Sport, Aid, 300 ft (91 m), 3 pitches,
Avg: 1.3 from 3
votes
FA: Mark Geikenjoyner, Scott Duemler
Arizona
> Northern Arizona
> Sedona Area
> W Sedona
> Coffeepot Rock…
> Sphinx aka Cibola Mitten
Description
P1: 5.10 TRAVERSE!!! about 100ft past gear placements and bolts to a nice ledge. P2: 5.10+ CRACK!!! clip a bolt and head up steep finger and hand crack, passing another bolt then up to a ledge atop the column. P3: 5.10,C1 STEEP!!! 4th class up slab to ledge then climb face on huecos, clip bolt, then thin fingers(aid)and edges past bulge to summit. (will probably go free at 5.12)
Location
start from the notch between Cíbola Mitten and Sweetheart Spire. Approach from Jordan Road TH about 10min then up climbers trail/wash and slick rock toward the saddle north of Sweetheart Spire.
Protection
doubles from tiny to #3 camalot & 1 #3.5 useful. small nuts very useful. Descent: rap twice North side to Kamikazi Corner w/ 60M rope- anchors are bonified!
[Hide Photo] Mike, just past the cruxy "5.12" part on the last pitch.
[Hide Photo] East face of "japhead", you can see where the limestone traverse meets a right facing corner, then the 2nd crack from the right takes you to the summit.
[Hide Comment] repeated this today with Mike Knarzer, we still can't get the top pitch clean, bad bolts were replaced and anchors improved.
Dec 3, 2010
[Hide Comment] I found the P1 traverse to be quite fun yet engaging despite the 7 or so bolts; the only gear I placed was a small purple BD nut roughly in the middle of the pitch. Keep a tight belay at the middle because there is a ledge about 12 feet down you could potentially hit if you peel off in the wrong spot.
P3 was quite hard and the rock is very friable. I broke a few footholds off and there are 2 or 3 crucial patina faceholds that seemed quite solid but if they break this will become much harder. The placements for the crux are generally small, shallow, and flared. Small nuts, offset nuts, TCUS, C3s, and even offset cams could be useful. I was able to get the lower boulder problem after a few tries and it's probably 12b/c. There is a sidepull jug rest after the boulder problem but the pitch is definitely not over yet. I'd bring whatever small stuff you have and then singles of .5-1. A nut tool is also very helpful for scraping out the sand for gear placements.
The route is more North/Northeast facing than East facing. The upper part of P2 was a little damp and mossy when we did it.
Feb 3, 2015
Avg: 1.3 from 3
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flagstaff, AZ
P3 was quite hard and the rock is very friable. I broke a few footholds off and there are 2 or 3 crucial patina faceholds that seemed quite solid but if they break this will become much harder. The placements for the crux are generally small, shallow, and flared. Small nuts, offset nuts, TCUS, C3s, and even offset cams could be useful. I was able to get the lower boulder problem after a few tries and it's probably 12b/c. There is a sidepull jug rest after the boulder problem but the pitch is definitely not over yet. I'd bring whatever small stuff you have and then singles of .5-1. A nut tool is also very helpful for scraping out the sand for gear placements.
The route is more North/Northeast facing than East facing. The upper part of P2 was a little damp and mossy when we did it. Feb 3, 2015
Ouray, CO