This is a free variation to Dan McDevitt's 2001 aid route 911. It goes 99% free at 5.12 A0. The route follows thin crack systems, seams, knobs, steep face, and dihedrals up the steepest part of the Fifi Buttress; no wide climbing required. Most cruxes are protected by bolts.

P1-3 makes an excellent 5.12 climb on its own. Bring a kneebar pad for the steep and gymnastic p3.

Prime Directive

Dream Team

Make It So

The Nexus AKA The Niels Tietze Memorial Route

Voyager

Bird of Prey

Romulan Warbird

More Burly than Girly

The Final Frontier

Center of the Universe

Second, seventh and ninth pitch are the crux pitches of the route. Majority of crux sections are protected by bolts. Route is set up for rappelling if desired. High quality rock climbing on a cool steep section of Fifi Buttress.

A good line that revealed itself as we climbed. Many beak placements, stellar views, and great times.

All hardware is 3/8ths and stainless. All belay anchors have two bolts except for belays 2 and 4. Belay 2 is one bolt and cams. Belay 4 is one bolt and bomber beaks.

The Bridge is a quality portaledge bivy.

Above the second pitch, the route is stellar. The first 2 pitches can be bypassed by starting on Final Frontier and cutting over on that route's 3rd pitch.

Also note: this route was altered to some extent due to a free project in the area. Some bolts were added on some shared pitches. Unsure as to current state of the route.

The Nexus, AKA The Niels Tietze Memorial Route, is the culmination of many different hands and visions to uncover another stellar free climb on the Fifi Buttress.  In 2017, Brandon Adams and Adam Ramsey established Make It So, an 8 pitch 5.8 A4 route just left of The Final Frontier.  Soon thereafter Niels vision led him to begin working on the route as a free climb.  Tragically Niels died in a rappelling accident while removing fixed lines from the route.  Niels was a wild man, I did not know him well, but his energy, vibrancy, and grasping towards living life to the fullest inspired everyone who knew him.  Niels was a renaissance man with a staggering variety of passions and maintained an open mind to everyone he interacted with.  He found value and meaning in places overlooked by most.  He is sorely missed in this community and in the world.

In the spring of 2020 Brandon Adams decided to resurrect the dream of freeing Make It So, and in August, Brandon openned the project to Nick Sullens and myself .  Any credit to freeing this route must be shared with all parties involved.  Brandon for so much work initially and this spring, Niels for the vision to work towards this free ascent, and lastly Nick and myself for putting it all together.

P1 10+ 30m

Starts approximately 50 feet left of Final Frontier.  Varied climbing up cracks. Begin up 4th class terrain, to a short chimney and a right facing corner.  Belay is on a pedestal at the apex of the belay ledge.

Gear to #2

P2 12b 35m

Climb the shallow right facing corner system above the belay.  Until 2 bolts appear to the right.   A big reach right past the first bolt accesses the lieback flake.  A tricky lieback boulder problem past the second bolt gains the perfect .5’s lieback.  Another crux guards the traverse right to the anchor.

Gear: Doubles from blue totem to #1,  single #2, 2 bolts

P3 11b 20m

Climb cracks and flakes through a wide lieback section to a chimney pod, placing gear in a small crack to the left.  Step right and pull a small roof to easier face climbing. Can be linked with the next pitch to avoid the hanging belay, or belay out left.

Gear: Doubles in Finger size cams, single #3, Yellow DMM nut, 2 bolts, some quickdraws.

P4 13a 20m

Powerful liebacking up a cool rounded edge or technical stemming leads to a small roof.  Traverse right using underclings and bad feet to amazing diorite face features.  Technical climbing up diorite knobs gains the belay.  Amazing pitch!

Gear: 6 bolts (some extendable)

P5 12d 20m

Boulder problem pitch. Climb up and left off the belay to a large reinforced flake. Bouldery moves lead up then right. More tricky than hard, very fun technical climbing.  Possible to climb this pitch in a variety of ways.

Gear: 1 pin, 3 bolts

P6 13a/b 25m

Climb the technical corner above. Granite wizardry at its finest.  Stemming and laybacking lead past the first crux.  Sustained climbing leads to a second pumpy crux.  Amazing pitch.

Gear: 4 bolts, purple totem, black totem, small nuts or small cams can be placed down low to supplement the bolts.

P7 11c 25m

Stemming off the belay gains the crack systems above.  It is possible to climb in the right or left crack.  A bolt protects the crux lieback moves where the flakes are slightly hollow.  Continue up the corner to “The Bridge”.

Gear:  Doubles blue totem to #1, Singles small cams, #2, #3, 1 bolt.

P8 12c 30m

Exit “The Bridge” to the right.  Face climbing leads first right then back left passing 4 bolts, and some supplemental gear, to the base of the roof.  Big moves gain the underclings below the roof and burly liebacking passes it on the right.  Place a critical #1 at the lip.  Continue up the crack to a bolt, where hard moves left on thin flakes gain the low angle corner above.  There are some slightly suspect holds on this pitch.  It is possible to traverse over to the upper pitches of FInal Frontier low on this pitch.

Gear:  5 bolts, Single black totem to #.75, Double #1.  Additional nuts, or finger sized cams can be placed.

P9 12d 35m

Climb easy terrain up the corner to a small cam placement.  Traverse right on face holds to gain the thin cracks.  Technical seam and face climbing leads up the diorite spotted face.  As the seams disappear, challenging moves left lead to pumpy face climbing on diorite knobs.  A final bulge guards the anchor.  An amazing pitch, sustained, technical, pumpy, what more can you ask for!

Gear: 4 bolts, fixed beak, Nuts, Single tips, Doubles blue totem to #.75

P10 11b/c 30m

Niels equipped this pitch previously and we never lines fixed on this pitch.  As such, the final pitch is very dirty and lichenous.  We do not recommend climbing this pitch.  But if you do, climb up and left, passing 3 bolts to a shallow corner.  Bring small nuts for the corner.  Tricky moves lead to easier, albeit dirty terrain above.  Climb up and right to a large ledge.  Climb the face to the right, passing one bolt to the summit.

Gear:  4 bolts, single black totem to #3, nuts

Voyager is a fantastic route. Established in 2013, it offers sustained climbing on surprisingly clean and solid rock. Each pitch is high-quality, featuring numerous stem corners and hand cracks.  Almost all of the belays are at comfortable ledges and the route catches shade until around 1-2pm (May).  Great route for a warm day in a secluded spot.

P1: Blocky bolt-protected climbing leads to a long clean stretch of fingers in a corner. Stemming and jamming segues into fun face climbing on edges and knobs. Step right to a bolted anchor below the tree. Alternatively, continue to a larger ledge and below directly below the base of the next pitch. 11a. 105'.

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[Alternative Start: Begin on Running Wood (5.10 c/d, 4P) and traverse over to the ledge at the base of the Incinerator (P3 of Voyager).

The starting corner of Running Wood is hard to miss as it leads through an obvious crack system in orange granite directly right of a big roof. It's immediately left of Voyager. Awesome pitch!

Alt. P1: Stemming and reaches lead through varied cracks down low. Reach a stance and follow a perfect hand crack though overhanging bulges. A short squeeze leads to a bolted anchor on a ledge. 10 c/d. ~115'.

Alt P2: Climb up a nice crack in a left-facing corner. Traverse right past a shrubby ledge to meet the original route. Continue up a short left-facing corner to the base of P3. ]

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P2: Move up and past the tree to the base of a stem box. Climb the corner past a small roof. Wide stemming leads to a bolted anchor next to a large ledge. 10c. 105'.

P3: The Incinerator! Flared fingers in a left-facing corner. Lay it back or stem it out. Keep your cool or you might get...burned. Heh. Bolted anchor. 11c. 80'.

P4: Boulder Problem. Move right across a ledge to the first bolt. Nice movement leads past a couple bolts to a stance at the base of a short right-facing corner. Technical difficulties begin as the corner ends and the slab begins.  Draws and a few finger-sized pieces are all you need for this pitch. Bolted anchor. 11c. 70'.

P5: Delicate opening sequence of stemming in a steep corner. Hit a jam and pull into a stretch of hands and fists. Bolted anchor. 11a. 105'.

P6: Follow the cracks up into lower angle terrain. As the crack thins and the angle eases look for a bolt on the right. Clip it and move right onto the slab. Face climbing leads past another bolt to a stance. Work your way up a fist crack in a short left-facing pillar. Bolted anchor. 10c. 105'.

P7: Starts out with a punchy crux of overhanging tight hands. Gain a stance, catch your breath, and press on through an enjoyable hand crack to a blocky section below the anchor. Watch for loose rock here. A tricky mantle guards the anchors. Bolted anchor. 11a. 105'.

Rap the route with a single 70m rope.

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)

Thanks to the efforts of Lucho Rivera this Dan McDevitt route now goes free. This route is very sustained and difficult. Each of the first six pitches is burly in a different way.

This is a newer route, freed in 2012, so there is still a little foliage and some loose or hollow rock on a few pitches. This does not really detract from the climbing since this route follows an incredibly steep line with amazing belay ledges after every pitch.

P1 - 5.12-  35m Climb a short dihedral and then make a hard move left to a good stance below the main corner. Work up the corner passing another crux section with thin pro. When the crack pinches out stem and do some ninja moves to get to a crack out left. Follow this crack as it arches to the right to the belay.

P2 - 5.11  30m Layback up from the belay until you can step right to a parallel crack/corner. Follow this briefly before stepping back left into the main corner. Follow sweet knobs until the corner pinches back out. Employ some trickery to get through a short boulder problem to another good stance. The crack pinches out but the geometry creates a perfect edge for laybacking. Romp up to your hearts content stepping right around a large block. Keep laybacking until you can mantel up onto the spacious belay ledge.

P3 - 5.11  35m Follow the obvious wide cracks up and to the right. A few tricky layback moves get you past the first of many hollow flakes. Step back left into the corner with difficulty and layback up past another scary section of blocks. It is possible to get good gear out left. The next section presents two options. You can go straight up the corner (more difficult) or quest out right (more exciting) and then hand traverse back across. The fear factor goes down but the pump clock goes up as the angle kicks back on the last 20 feet to the belay. Traverse way to the left with heel hooks and a good amount of air under your feet.

P4 - 5.12  35m Place some high gear and make a cruxy move right to clip a bolt. Use your granite voodoo and houdini up to the finger crack. Power up the short crack to a good rest in an alcove. Regain your composure and punch it up a long flared section of fingers and thin hands. A kneebar can keep the pump at bay before you move past a couple of large chockstones into a flare. Thrutch up and pull one more tricky section when you exit the flare. A few easy moves leads to a big tiered ledge with a mess of bolts. I belayed on the right bolts and used the bolts on the left when we rappelled.

P5 - 5.11  25m Traverse about 10 feet right from the belay and clip a high bolt. Climb down around the corner and then mantel a dirty ledge and reach back around the corner to clip a second bolt. (It is also possible to face climb past these two bolts and then flip around the corner). Eventually you'll chimney and stem up inside the corner with difficulty until your fingers fit in the steep crack. Pull back around the corner to hand crack which leads to a good stance. Step left and climb up a short dihedral. Fun moves lead to another awesome belay ledge on the left. A short but surprisingly challenging pitch.

P6 - 5.12+  25m The Crux! Move down and left from the belay being careful with some fragile rock. A few thin moves get you established below a tips crack in a corner. Crimp and finger lock up the crack keeping your core tight . A few good holds give a momentary reprieve before a final tricky move exiting the crack. Recover as best you can and attack an exciting face climbing sequence on holds that all face the wrong ways. Clip a fixed pin (currently missing as of 2017) and hand traverse across to the belay.

We rapped from here. A 70m rope gets you down. From what I understand the remaining pitches are still high quality just easier in grade. If you have an 80m rope or two ropes you can skip the P5 belay on the way down.

P7 - 11a Follow flakes up wild looking rock directly above the belay.

P8 - 10d

P9 - 10d

I plan on going back and will update the description later on.

Per Dan McDevitt (FA) - The upper pitches of this route are quite good also. If you go to the top, there is the option of walking down (30-45 min.) from top of route, do short uphill to beautiful summit, look for cairns to the south, then wrapping around to the west. it is fairly well marked. no raps, but a little 3rd class.

As good as sport climbing on granite gets.  Lots of creative, body position-y smeary climbing, very few downward facing holds, and overall very steep, but with a little creativity there's a no hands rest pretty much wherever you want it.  Bonus points for every knee bar you can find!

The route was a bit dirty our first time up it but cleaned up no problem. Needs more traffic, so get on this thing!

The Final Frontier offers some of the best climbing in Yosemite. With a mellow approach, tons of shade, easy rappels and truly amazing climbing this route gets my vote for one of the best free climbs in the Valley.

P1. Start in the obvious wide chimney (5.6) just left of the Romulan Warbird. Pass a tree on the left side with a bolt and head right to some 5.10 face climbing protected by bolts. Belay at 2-bolt stance.

P2. 5.10 corner climbing to an awesome 5.11 flake with a bolt. Belay at 2-bolt stance.

P3. Varied crack climbing (5.10+) off the belay. Several crux sections on this pitch with bolts/pins and thin gear (5.11c). Belay at the base of the obvious white corner on bolts.

P4. 5.11 stemming and crack climbing just off the belay to a left traverse into the base of a stunning grey corner. Pass a bolt and tackle 12+ stemming. Just after a sloppy rail at the top of the corner there is a key .75 cam placement. Exit right on some face holds and then traverse back left. Belay at a 2-bolt stance.

P5. Short and stout! 5.13- boulder problem protected by bolts to 5.12- climbing to the anchor.

P6. Awkward 5.11 climbing off the belay to the base of a wild corner. Thin 5.12 layback moves (green aliens work great) with the occasional finger lock lead to a small roof. Clip a bolt just over the roof and tackle the crux boulder problem (5.13a/b). A few more bolts of steep 5.11+ to the anchor.

P7. Steep 5.12- climbing past a few bolts leads to a hard 12c move off a crimp rail. 5.11 face climbing to an exposed anchor on bolts.

P8. Awesome 5.11+ climbing with steep crack climbing and knobs. A good long pitch that ends a perfect ledge.

P9. 5.9R past a bolt to less than vertical rack climbing to the top of the wall.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Fifi Buttress