Sunspot Ridge 

We did this route late last week. We were the first of two parties to get on it on a Thursday morning!

I was a little worried that the description here would prove too thin, but it was just enough. Note that to get to the initial belay cave (not visible in the beta photo), you 'scramble' up a rock step and then bushwack. We ended up belaying the step, mostly out of confusion. The guys who were following us roped up, scrambled, and bushwacked left instead of right, continued partway up p1, and apparently had an epic day of adventure climbing - we saw them rapping off from 3 pitches up at dusk. Study the photo of the p1 belay alcove/tunnel, which can be spotted from way down the trail. If you hit that right, the rest of the route description falls into place.

On the easier pitches there are lots of options.

Yields great views of climbers in the crux of Black Orpheus.

We went left on the final pitch, and didn't quite make the chains on Solar Slab with a 60m rope.

I would compare this route in quality and difficulty to MysterZ or One-Armed Bandit - bring your mountaineering aesthetic.

This was a really fun route!

The route is a bit on the loose side. It might be a good idea to avoid matching hands on holds...especially on some of the more run out pitchs.

The combination of loose rock and run-outs warrants an R rating. However, I think that if this route becomes popular, much of the loose rock will get pulled off.

I don't think that any individual move is harder than 5.7. But as Doug stated there are some variations here and there.

I believe this is the longest individual route on the Solar Slab Wall. It's great that you barely have to walk uphill before your climbing and then you don't stop until your at the top of the Solar Slab Wall! As a result the route provides a lot of bang for the buck.

Jason

I'd recommend bringing a #4 Camalot or equivalent for the start of p2, and some Ballnutz for one of the belays above the lower shoulder. I don't feel like the route is run-out or unusually loose, I might support a 5.7 rating rather than a 5.8 however.

This is a fun route that will improve as more parties climb it and the loose stuff gets cleaned off. There's a fair bit of it right now so be careful and enjoy a great day in an airy location. Four of us did it in 11 pitches, on December 11, so it goes fairly quickly, especially the upper part. There are many belay options so pitch length and numbers will vary, especially higher on the ridge.

We did this in 14 pitches to the top (down the Painted Bowls descent). (For the record, I would strongly recommend rapelling down Solar Slab...)
The line is pretty continous in the 5.7 range. I thought that at least 8 of the pitches had many 5.6 or 5.7 moves. There are at least two very memorable steps over empty space as you change sides of the corner. Fun!
Many of the pitches follow beautiful, exposed aretes & faces. You need to be really comfortable placing pro on the varnished faces (try Spiderline in Willow Spring if you want a good preview)www.mountainproject.com/v/nevada/red_rock/willow_spring/1061>>>
While not technically difficult, the route's loose holds (my partner and I broke off at least one hand/foothold on every pitch) and strange protection slowed me down a lot while leading and left me more mentally drained than physically tired.
As others have said, as more people do the climb it will get better and better.
BTW - my PG rating is more for the looseness of the holds, not the actual protection which was usually good and at least adequate.

Climbed in 8 pitches with some simulclimbing to the last anchors of Solar Slab. We climbed the chimney that forms the right side of the gendarme (left side of ridge)to get away from the 30-40 mph winds. This variation checks in at around 5.6 or so and was pretty fun. Also, I thought the left hand crack on the last pitch was a little awkward and probably 5.8. A cam to 4" would be useful for the start of pitch 2 and the lefthand variation of the last pitch.

Does anyone know if it would be possible to do the first half of this route and then break left (somewhere near the notch) and access the upper pitches of Black Orpheus?

If memory serves me, you'd actually want to top out on sunspot (where it joins solar slab for the final pitch to the summit), then scramble up and left, then drop into the ramp system that splits the halves of Black Orpheus- the final corner system of Orpheus starts much higher than you think it does. You end up about 200' above it when you hit the second terrace on solar slab.

I'm not sure if the scrub oak protecting the alcove at the bottom of the first pitch has grown, but getting past it looked quite daunting if not impossible. We ended up starting the pitch lower down and to the left of the tree right on the arete. We still had to navigate past a couple branches, but seemed quite a bit more civilized.