Stardust

This wild route climbs the left side of the Mudwall's most overhanging sector, finishing in a right-leaning crack feature you can see from the trail. The belays are bolted, as are many of the cruxes, and protection is good throughout.

P1. Climb shallow corners up and left, as the overhang pushes you toward the prow, then make harder moves past a fixed pin (visible from the ground) to reach lower-angled rock. Wander another 30 feet to a ledge with a bush. (70 feet, 5.10)

P2. Climb the steep dihedral directly above the belay, step right where it jogs, then continue to a ledge. This is a straightforward pitch with no fixed gear. (80 feet, 5.9+)

P3. The Triple Bypass. Traverse 10 feet right (beware of creating rope drag) to an easy dihedral that leads to a dirt ledge below large offset overhangs. Sketch through a rotten undercut to clip a bolt, have some mid-sized cams ready, and pull the first overhang. Move right, then weave back left between the next two overhangs, exiting up and left past a bolt to a small ledge in a dihedral. (80 feet, 5.10+)

P4. Climb the steep dihedral to its top, step right around a bulge, then move back left to two ledge stand-ups, passing a pin, to a bolt below an unlikely section. Continue with surprising gear in horizontals to a final bolt protecting the last moves to a small belay ledge under a roof. (80 feet, 5.10)

P5. Step right and climb to a bolt, then traverse precariously past a pin to the arete.Two bolts protect thin pulls through the overhangs (5.11,), then emerge in a nice dihedral. Follow this or the thin crack on the left to a big ledge. (Paradise City, “where the ivy’s green and the rock is shitty.”) (70 feet, 5.11)

P6. The crux pitch. Boulder past two bolts to a thin crack. Follow this past a pin and one more bolt into a right-leaning dihedral. Twist and stem through this very steep feature until it finally relents, then step left to a belay ledge about 15 feet from the rim. (60 feet, 5.11+)

Walk left from the approach trail to the Mudwall Route, then continue about 50 feet, to the left edge of the sandy, rain-shadowed area. The wall becomes even more undercut here, until the overhang ends at a right-facing groove that defines the start of the route. This zone is to the right of the lower-angle face climbed by

Horse and Pony Show

and

Behind the Curtain

.

Descent:

To descend (with two 60-meter ropes), make four raps, involving at least some backclipping: 1) a short one to the ledge atop pitch 5, 2) a long one (definitely place directionals) to the top of pitch 3, 3) a short one to the top of pitch 2, and 4) one final long one to the ground. You can also easily top out from the final belay and attempt to find one of the gully descents (bring slings and rings, and perhaps bivi gear).

2 ropes, set of wires (no RPs needed), small TCUs, double set of cams .5-inch to 3 inch, 10 QDs, many long runners.