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Elevation: 7,224 ft
GPS: 40.0001, -105.4125
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Shared By: Ray Snead on Oct 4, 2003
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Description Suggest change

A worthy crag, Solaris lies just left of Avalon. The crag consists of four buttresses separated by steep gullies. The main walls face west and provide morning shade for hot-weather climbing, and afternoon sun for climbing in cooler weather.

There are over a dozen routes here, most of them developed by Richard Rossiter and various partners.

Most routes are fully bolted sport routes, and can be done with a 50m rope and a set of quickdraws. There are a few trad routes and a few that require some gear in addition to the bolts.

Solaris has routes on three levels: the Lower Tier, the Main Wall, and the Summit Tower. To get to the Lower Tier, continue up the talus about a hundred feet above the creek, then cut left and down along the base of the wall for several hundred feet.

L->R:

Routes on the Lower Tier:

A. Crumbs, 8+, 1p, gear, 60'.

B. Left Line, 8, 1p, 60', bolts. Face with horizontal cracks to slab. Can continue on Leftovers, 5, 120', gear.

C. Arete, 9, 1p, 60', TR.

D. Crack, 9, 1p.

E1. Right Line, 8, 1p, 50', bolts. Face to tree to pillar.

E2. The Right Way, 8, 55', gear.

To get to the Main Wall, continue up the talus and look for cairns. Cut L at the cairns and follow a trail along the base of the wall. The first route you'll see is Contact. The other routes lie several hundred feet farther left, past a gully.

Routes on the Main Wall:

F. Fawkes and the Pilot, 10, 1p, 65', bolts.

G. Don't Get Me Started, 5, 1p, 70', bolts. Face to ramp.

H. Start Me Up, 7, 1p, 70', bolts. Face to slab.

I. Just End It, 8, 1p, 70', bolts.

J. The Luminosity, 9, 1p, 80', bolts. L side of roof.

K. Tower of Power, 10-, 1p, 80', bolts. R side of roof.

L. My Place In the Universe, 11, 1p, 65', gear.

M. Mission to Mars, 10-, 1p, 40', bolts & gear. Crack by tree.

N. Party On, 10-, 1p, 80', gear.

O. Harvest Moon, 8+ PG-13, 1p, 80', gear.

To the right of the below mentioned gully.

P. Contact 9, 1-2p, 130', bolts. Corner to face.

A steep gully lies between Contact and Mission To Mars. There are 3 routes on a ledge on the right at the top of this gully.

Q. Mephistophiles, 10, 1p, 60', gear & bolt. Finger crack to face to crack.

R. Twilight Zone, 10-, 1p, 60', bolts. Face.

S. Kundalini Express, 8, 1p, 80', gear. Dihedral to slab to headwall. R of Twilight Zone.

The Summit Tower is on the tier above the Main Wall (according to R. Rossiter's excellent guidebook is Japanese Garden):

T. Stellar Drifter, 9, 1-2p, 150', gear. Crack by tree.

U. Cosmic Explorer, 11+, 1p, 50', bolts. Slab R of P2 of Stellar Drifter.

V. Chomo Lungma, 7.

At the cutoff to the Main Wall, you can head south (upstream) and find a path to the Tarot Wall area on Avalon.

Getting There Suggest change

Approach #1: Park at the Practice Rock pullout on the right at 8.1 miles, opposite Bell Buttress and the route Cosmosis. Walk upstream 140 yards to the crag. If the water is low enough, you can wade or hop rocks across the creek right below Solaris. After crossing the creek, follow a path up to the right, around a short wall, to the edge of a talus field. From here, you can cut left to the Lower Tier, or continue up to the Main Wall.

Approach #2: If the water is too high to wade, you'll have to cross the creek via a tyrolean traverse. Unfortunately, the tyrolean traverse that used to be set up below Solaris is no longer present (as of 5/25/06), so the easiest tyrolean to use is the one below Avalon, another tenth of a mile up the canyon. You can park at a paved pullout on the right across from Avalon at 8.2 miles to shorten the walk to the Avalon tyrolean. Use the Avalon tyrolean, then hike up the talus angling left below the First Tier of Avalon. Continue up to the left side of Tarot Wall on the Second Tier of Avalon, and take a path north (downstream) toward Solaris. Go through a short wooded section, cross a talus field and within several hundred feet you'll arrive at a trail leading to the Main Wall of Solaris (look for cairns).

22 Total Climbs

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Classic Climbing Routes at Solaris

Mountain Project's determination of the classic, most popular, highest rated climbing routes in this area.
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a
 15
Stellar Drifter
Trad 2 pitches
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a
 282
The Luminosity
Sport
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a
 103
Contact
Sport 2 pitches
5.10a/b 6a+ 19 VI+ 19 E2 5b
 57
Twilight Zone
Sport
5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b
 150
Tower of Power
Sport
5.11c 6c+ 24 VIII- 24 E4 6a
 12
Cosmic Explorer
Sport
Route Name Location Star Rating Difficulty Date
Stellar Drifter
 15
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a Trad 2 pitches
The Luminosity
 282
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a Sport
Contact
 103
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a Sport 2 pitches
Twilight Zone
 57
5.10a/b 6a+ 19 VI+ 19 E2 5b Sport
Tower of Power
 150
5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b Sport
Cosmic Explorer
 12
5.11c 6c+ 24 VIII- 24 E4 6a Sport
More Classic Climbs in Solaris »

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