Home - Destinations - People - Partners - Forum - Photos - What's New
 ADVANCED
Solar Slab - Lower Tier
Show routes:
Select route...
Beulah's Book 
Corona 
Dubious Flirtations 
Frieda's Flake 
Horndog 
Johnny Vegas 
Sandstone Overcast 
Solar Flare 
Solar Slab Gully 

Johnny Vegas 

5.6

   

FA: Harrison Shull, Tom Cecil, Dave Cox, Todd Hewitt, 11/94
Type: Trad
Consensus: 5.7 [details]
Views: 3,548 page views

Submitted By: Jake Wyatt on Jan 1, 2005


Add Photo  Add Comment 

You and this route  |  Other Opinions (68)
Your todo list:
Your stars:
Your rating: -none- [change]
Your ticklist: [add new tick]
 Printer Friendly View

The top of pitch 1, Johnny Vegas


Description 

Approach as per Solar Slab Gully. The start of Johnny Vegas is just to the left (when facing the wall), behind a boulder perched on a short pedestal of rock.

p1. Start up the double cracks, which eventually become a single crack. As the protection starts to become sparser, trend up and left. Belay at a bolted anchor on a platform at the base of a short dark dihedral. A long pitch.

p2. Stem up the dihedral to gain a face with some questionable rock. Continue up and slightly right to another bolted belay, below the base of a right-facing dihedral capped by a roof.

p3. Head up and right on the easy but run out slab, and continue up, and around the corner. The pro is better once around the corner. The crux route-finding is deciding when to surmount the apex of the face and start trending back to the left. It's easy to come up to slabby ground and find yourself above the belay/rappel anchor.

p4. Head up easy climbing to the boulders near the edge of the main Solar Slab Terrace, and continue scrambling up to the base of Solar Slab if so desired.

With the exception of p4, all of the pitches felt like they had some 5.6 climbing, and some friable rock.

Rappel from the top of p3 with two ropes (or if you only have one rope, head down Solar Slab Gully).


Protection 

Standard rack, bolted belay stances.



Photos of Johnny Vegas Slideshow Add Photo
Solar Slab Wall

BETA PHOTO: Solar Slab Wall

Looking straight up from the p1 belay ledge.

Looking straight up from the p1 belay ledge.

Unknown climbers the first pitch.

Unknown climbers the first pitch.

Jared approaches the third pitch belay.

Jared approaches the third pitch belay.

Photo of me on pitch 1. This was my first climb at Redrocks. Classic!

Photo of me on pitch 1. This was my first climb at...

Dona Jones finishing the 5.9 variation on Johnny Vegas,

Dona Jones finishing the 5.9 variation on Johnny V...

Looking down at Gary M on the top of pitch one, a rather small and uncomfortable stance, this would suck for a party of three.

Looking down at Gary M on the top of pitch one, a ...

Anne having fun on the very enjoyable 2nd pitch

Anne having fun on the very enjoyable 2nd pitch

A look up at the 5.9 variation pitch

A look up at the 5.9 variation pitch

First 2 and a half pitches of Johnny Vegas showing anchors for pitches 1 and 2.  Photo taken 16 Feb 08.

BETA PHOTO: First 2 and a half pitches of Johnny Vegas showing...

Michael rides the easy crack on P4 of Johnny Vegas.

Michael rides the easy crack on P4 of Johnny Vegas...

View from bottom of P1

View from bottom of P1

Gary has led off on the classic pitch two. Looking up from first belay.

Gary has led off on the classic pitch two. Looking...


Comments on Johnny Vegas Add Comment
Show which comments
Comments displayed oldest to newestSkip Ahead to the Most Recent Dated May 7, 2009
By George Bell
From: Boulder, CO
Mar 1, 2004

It's also possible to do a different pitch 1 starting right of Beulah's Book. A party got in front of us using this alternate start and reported it's similar in difficulty to the regular pitch 1 (maybe a little more runout, though).

We also combined 3&4 with a 50m rope, I think it just barely made it (Swain calls it 180', and we might have had to simulclimb a little with our 50m). This way you do not have to downclimb to the 3rd anchor (after climbing too high)!

By Scott Conner
From: Lyons, CO
Mar 1, 2004
rating: 5.6

We combined the pitches 3 and 4 too, George, but we had a 60m. Going straight up the corner for P3 and moving out right at the bolt is 5.9 friction.

By Mike Morley
Administrator
From: Oakland, CA
Mar 3, 2004

A fun route! P1 and P2 are each approx. 135 feet long. As Jake mentions, it is easy to miss the bolted anchor for P3, and I ended up 30 feet above it before noticing (not to worry - you can easily build your own). There also appear to be two different ways to approach this pitch. One way is to stay left in a corner, then step right (protected by a shiny new bolt) once the crack peters out. The other way is to stay further right off the belay out on the face, which is somewhat runout but probably no harder than 5.4. Done this way, the singular bolt is a bit out of reach, but is not needed.

By Bill Gibbs
From: Andover, Ks.
Apr 23, 2004
rating: 5.7

I'd honestly have to give this route a higher star rating, 2.5 at least, and as for the grade...by Red Rocks standards I would definitely have to say this was a slight step up from anything in the 5.6 range there. If it were in other places I could see it being called 5.6. Anyhow, it's all subjective.

By the way, the nice shiny bolt on the 3rd pitch is for the 5.9 variation in the right facing dihedral, which is by far better than the right traverse out to the rounded arete. Going right at the 3rd belay is 5.4 but harder to protect off the belay than in the dihedral.

By John Hegyes
From: Las Vegas, NV
Jan 31, 2006

Don't rappel this route. This recommendation is based on personal experience and also that of others. It is very easy to get ropes snagged while descending this route. You would be much better off making your way to the right and rapping Solar Slab Gully with one rope.

By Adam Catalano
From: Albany, New York
Feb 9, 2006

This climb was a blast. The second pitch is just fun cruisin'. Rapping each pitch individually is probably the best option for rope pulling and traffic issues.

By triznuty
From: Murray, UT
Nov 10, 2006
rating: 5.7

Classic must do route! Our rope got stuck temporarily during the raps... So be careful!

By Killis Howard
Jul 24, 2007

I would disagree with John about the rappel-this is the quickest and most safe descent from the solar slab ledge that I know of, and I've done every route on the wall that's in the guidebook. I've descended the Solar Slab Gully by rappel at least three times (I may be blocking out other times-*find a happy place!*) and find it complex, sketchy to find and traverse to certain anchors on the way down, and Johnny Vegas offers a quick, safe solution. A short (50 ft) rap from the boulder, a 120' exposed rap over the roof to the P2 anchors, two full length raps, and you're back at your packs. Stuck ropes are as common as cheap hookers in Vegas, but do the math on how many short, diagonaling rappels are in the gully, and you'll see my point-mathematically speaking, it's better odds doing 3.5 raps straight down. See Nevada Forums for info about the accident report in SS Gully-I climbed Horndogger Select that day, and very nearly got to witness the results of that rappel and an inexperienced and tired climber. I went down JV and hit the ground in less than 20 minutes of rapping. We weren't there to assist because we were already scarfing pizza at home by the time the other party got to the next to last rap in the gully.

By cammyjams
From: Las Vegas, NV
Nov 23, 2007

I have a question about the slab on the start of P3. That sure didn't feel like 5.6 (to my fat ass anyway) I went about half way and fell on my pro, then traversed out to the right and went up that way on much easier terrain. Clipped the bolt from above/right. Can anyone comment on these moves? Are they really .6 or more like .9 (in the dihederal on the left of the slab)? Man I love friction but that freaked me out for some reason.

By Larry DeAngelo
Administrator
Nov 24, 2007

Cammyjams-- it sounds like you got onto the 5.9 variation. The standard route goes to the right from the 2nd belay. The climbing is very easy, but not much protection on the right (unless you do something weird, you will be too far to the right to even clip the bolt).

By George Wilson
From: Las Vegas
Nov 27, 2007
rating: 5.6

JV is a fun route. We had two parties rappelling down while we were climbing up...This made for quite a scene!!! Both parties reluctantly climbed back up to free their snagged rope. I would recommend rappelling the gully as it puts you right back were you start JV. Using the gully for descent also creates less traffic on JV. We descended the gully, had no issues and were down about the same time the snagged rope climbers were packing up. This descent uses one rope (we had a 70 meter) and is very straight forward. There are even some old pitons next to one of the rap anchors for your viewing pleasure!!! Be prepared to walk out in the dark.

By cammyjams
From: Las Vegas, NV
Nov 27, 2007

Thanks Larry, I realize this probably should have been posted in the forums. I'm gonna go back up there soon and nail that slab. It just seemed like the 'right' way to go off of the belay at the time. Live and learn. 5.9, not 5.6, LOL.

By Tom Cecil
Feb 27, 2008

..named for my old friend, John Rosholt, I hope your pulling down where ever you are...

By saxfiend
Administrator
From: Atlanta, GA
Apr 7, 2008
rating: 5.7+

Great route! The climbing was always interesting and never really stressful. This was our "warm-up" for Solar Slab, so we had a full day.

As for the dreaded rope snags, ours got snagged twice coming down JV after rapping Solar Slab without any issues. It was a real pain in the ass, but it doesn't look like rapping the gully would have made any difference: as we were hiking out, we heard obscenities from a climber with a snagged rope in the SS gully.

JL

By Ron Graham
Nov 17, 2008
rating: 5.7

My partner and I did the 5.9 variation on pitch 3 without clipping the bolt. The slab was really slippery and there's absolutely nothing on it to grab, but it contains some very shallow divots high up that offered us just enough traction for our mantled palms to keep from slipping off. If you set a piece high enough up the crack in the dihedral, a slip on the traverse will result in a pendulum across the smooth slab high enough to miss the more featured rock below it. The layback moves required to set a piece that high are pretty fun. Fortunately, neither of us slipped during our traverses, but the slap was so powdery we both felt like we were right on the edge of doing so!

A few sections of this route that might feel a little runout contain solid horns that can be slung for protection. You might want to look for them and use them whenever potential gear placements aren't obvious.

By Gary Schmidt
From: Boulder, CO
Dec 3, 2008
rating: 5.7

A note for the start. Best to "suit up" at the base of the descent gully. You can then easily scramble up to your left (4th class) to the base of the actual climb. Nice to find your packs waiting for you right where you descend!

Great climb, but very easy except for the 2nd pitch, which is way classic. And just when you think the challenges are over the holds begin to thin out and it becomes run out! Nothing to fear as you will find what you need but keep a cool head.

Rappelling the gully takes a while as there is a lot of junk and ledges and you are continually having to help your rope along. Also lots of loose rock so be careful. I managed to pull a rock down behind me with the rope. Would'nt you know it that the rock managed to take the rope with it and wedge it perfectly into a crack below me. Luckily was able to dislodge the rock with my hands and free the rope. Lots of opportunity for adventure here.

Most of the rappel anchors in the gully are obvious accept for the second one. Continue on past tempting rappel trees and look left. You will see a very exposed anchor on the cliff corner.

A great climb. If I ever do it again though will get there a lot earlier and try to link it up with Solar Slab (which several other parties had done that day) which looks and sounds awesome.

By Geir Hundal
From: Tucson, AZ
May 7, 2009

If there are any other parties on this route (and there probably will be) - please, please consider rapping Solar Slab Gully instead of this route. You'll be doing a service to those following you.

Contrary to some of the reports above, I found the gully to be an easy descent. Six straightforward single-rope rappels.