Solar Slab is a very popular route due to its long length and approachable grade. The climb is 9 pitches long and over 1200 feet in height. However, the start of Solar Slab is on a huge terrace 500 feet up, which has a few different multi-pitch approaches. The most common ways to get to the base of Solar Slab are to climb Johnny Vegas (5.7, 4 pitches), or the Solar Slab Gully (5.3, 5 pitches). Getting an early start is highly recommended to beat the crowds, climb the 14 pitches, and make the lengthy descent. Having a headlamp is also a good idea.
Pitch descriptions:
There is an entire chapter about this route in Red Rock Odyssey.
Start from the Oak Creek Canyon parking area, and follow the obvious trail for 45 minutes to an hour. A prominent trail leads to an obvious gully to the right, the Solar Slab Gully. Climb Johnny Vegas, Solar Slab Gully, or one of a few other routes in Solar Slab - Lower Tier to the terrace 500 feet up.
Rappelling down slab is recommended unless many parties are below you. There is a good chance of getting your rope caught, so it is recommended to saddle it while lowering. There is a way to walk off back, but it is difficult and time consuming. The rappels also take a lot of time, but it is a fairly straight forward way of getting off the rock. Down climb to the right of the last pitch on easy slabs (3rd class) to get to a traverse around to the belay ledge used below the dihedral. Then downclimb the 8th pitch and the last easy part of pitch 7 until the anchors mentioned. From here, rap (double ropes, 200' better, maybe even necessary?). Probably about 6 rappels gets you to the starting terrace. Then rap either Johnny Vegas or Solar Slab Gully (another 5 rappels). I recommend the gully, as Johnny Vegas is likely to get your rope stuck.
Boulder, CO
If you have climbed Black Orpheus, you can descend the same way as for that climb. Even if you have not, you can, but it is trickier to find. Basically you head up and west to the red rock, around a corner to where you can see the Rainbow Buttress. Then two 50m or 3 25m raps will get you the the base of the Painted Bowl, where a long downclimb puts you in the drainage for a long exercise in boulder hopping.
The first two pitches of Solar Slab are weird and runout. On p. 1, the runout before the crack is huge, and it's easy to get into terrain harder than 5.6. On p. 2, there are also some runouts and it is a bit confusing. I was thinking of going up an unprotected arete on the left but a better route is the lieback crack on the right. Feb 17, 2004
Around Boulder, CO
I'm not even gonna start a discussion about our car-to-car time on this... (snicker) ...but I will say that it's a nice cruiser line and an advanced party can still have fun simul-climbing it. Feb 17, 2004
Longmont, CO
Cincinnati, OH
So, my advice is to 1. Start early. 2. Climb efficiently (ie try to simulclimb the gully). 3. Don't worry about the runout on the first pitch...it is very low angle and not at all that bad. 4. Routefinding on the ascent, and the rap route are both fairly straightforward. 5. Bring lots of water with you, and stash some at the terrace above the gully, as well as at the base of the gully. Oct 2, 2005
electric lady land
walk off aint too bad. after last pitch just keep going straight up into purple and red stone approx. 500-600 feet. Locate a small landing w/fire ring and head due west or up canyon from there. it's about as high you can go and still walk along side the main wall at top. follow side walk slab that turns into a trough that turns into a large flake/chimney feature. easy scramble/down climb down this feature for approx. 600 feet will land you on a large ledge. walk across ledge to the end and scramble down to the top of a flared chimney. This is probably the crux of the walk off. Down climb chimney 20 feet (maybe 5.4). Follow trail thru bushes to last down climb section. down climb another 60 feet and your at the top of painted bowl slab.from here the IBM boulder can be spotted easily. From boulder the easiest way to creek bed is to head west or up canyon traversing across ledges to creek bed.now your just a lovely bush whack away down the creek bed to your packs. MIght sound a bit involved but I just hate multiple rappels. Jan 26, 2006
Vegas
Note:As of 2/18/06, Solar Slab has water trickling down climbing path and the upper,steep gully has snow and ice for about half the way down, so if planning on rapping the upper gully anytime soon, be careful. The winds were brutal when we were on the upper pitches and blew me over twice while hiking up the low angle slabs higher up. Due to the high wind gusts, we had to literally crawl on our hands and knees (How humiliating!) as we 3rd classed our way over to the gully.The steep, narrow gully on climber's right provided great wind escape though.
It was snowing on our hike out. Feb 19, 2006
It should be noted that the drawing in the Brock guide takes one to the East Gully. Ignore this and use the West Gully.
Jason Apr 7, 2006
Kurt Aug 22, 2006
Decatur, GA
The climbing was great and exposed and had its challenges despite the 5.6 grade. P2 was the only place I felt any stress on lead; my partner found P3 and P4 (which he linked) to be a little tricky. P5 and P6 were probably my favorite lead; we linked these by simulclimbing for maybe 20' or so, which I think is a good option to keep things flowing.
The rap on SS went off without a hitch, but our ropes got snagged twice rapping Johnny Vegas, so be aware.
JL Apr 7, 2008
Colorado Springs, CO
Also, thanks to Jason and Ting Ting (if you ever see this! - sorry for the spelling of your name Ting Ting), for sharing their rope to simul-rap. We only brought our one rope and didn't have the luxury of reading the Mountain Proj beta on the descent, so this was a really nice gesture. On that note, it seems like we could have possibly rappelled the route proper with our one single 70M. Has anyone ever done this? Apr 9, 2008
Laramie, Wyoming
CO
If I did it again (pitched out) Id do some things different. First, Id bring a 70m rope and do P1 & 1/2 of P2 to the bolted "intermediate" belay above the flaring slanting crack thingy. Then Id combine the rest of P2 with P3. (we did this w/a 60m no problem). Then, combine P4 &5 (once again, a 60m would be no problem). Then you could shoot for the next bolted belay just shy of the big ledge and 3rd class scramble in one pitch. With a 60 we had to stop short and build an anchor about 20 ft from the anchors as my partner didn't want to simul.
You can easily do the Painted Bowl double rope descent w/a 70m. That descent rocks. Ive never done the Solar Slab raps and would never even thing of doing them with such a cool option available. Ive done it twice, both the single rope and double rope option. The double rope one is best but they are both fine. Don't miss this part of the climb!!!! You are only cheating yourself. Dec 9, 2009
Las Vegas, NV
1) If there is snow on top of the slab, expect water to begin running right down pitches 1-3. Realize the water might not start running until the snow starts melting in mid morning. We arrived at the base of pitch 1 at 9 am and it was totally dry. At 9:02 there was a literal torrent running down the crack.
2) In the event that you are committed to the route, you can avoid pitch 1, pitch 2, and most of the wet part of pitch 3 by doing Go Nuts instead (still just 5.6). We ended up only having to climb through about 20 feet of water on pitch 3. Most of the water runs down the 5.9 variation on the right of pitch 3, rather than the 5.6 on the left side. The remainder of the route was completely dry except for another 10 feet on the last technical pitch.
3) If there is snow on top of the slab, realize that the scariest part of the route will be descending the ramp to the first rappel. We ended up having to belay the ramp. Anymore ice on it and we would have had to leave anchors and rap down to the first rappel anchor. Alternatively, if you rappel the route with double ropes you'll end up soaked by the time you reach the terrace since the rappels go right through the water. Pick your poison or wait a couple more days for the snow to completely melt off.
4) It is possible to do this entire route with a 50 meter. You will have to occasionally (maybe twice) simul-climb for 15-20 feet on easier pitches and the very last rappel for the walk-off option will require about 10 feet of low 5th class downclimbing at the end of the rappel. It was worth it to us to save the weight and hassle of taking a longer rope (or heaven forbid 2 ropes.) Doing the descent with a 50 meter rope requires 4 rappels-2 on bolted anchors down to the big ledge, then traverse the ledge and rappel off a slung horn/deadman in a hueco/fixed nut anchor to another ledge, and off a tree to the ground. The downside of the 50 meter is that it makes the route much more committing than dragging a couple of 60 meters up it. We would have had to leave an entire rack behind if we had had to bail off from high up on the upper slab.
5) The downclimb isn't that big of a deal. I've done it twice. It takes a long time. We were 9.5 hours car to car and I think 2.5-3 of that was on the descent. The rappels go pretty quickly, even with a single rope. The descent down the painted bowl isn't too bad either. Mostly trend right and follow cairns (although they go back left at one point low down.) The really crappy part of the descent is going down oak creek canyon, especially if a lot of water is flowing. Tons of boulder hopping and bushwhacking to avoid the pools of water and drop-offs. This canyon is MUCH more involved to descend than others such as Juniper or Pine Creek. As far as George Bell's comment that the descent can go at 5.6....I didn't see it. The only 5.6 option I saw was to climb back down the route itself. Apr 10, 2011
Bluff, UT
Vancouver
As for the descent, there is definitely a low commitment downclimb option. I think most people just never find it. At the very top of the terrace at the end of the climb, we went through the low arch and up against the summit wall, followed a narrow gully down. It was maybe 45 deg easily downclimbed. After that there is one more vegetated gully to the walk off slab Mar 4, 2012
We finished P7 and figured we had to go all the way to the top, only to get to the top and realize that it wasn't really the top of anything. Rapped back down the route. I think it is worth doing once and I can see why some people really love it, but off-hand I can think of plenty of multi-pitch 5.6 moderates that offer more exposure, better climbing, scenery, etc. etc. YMMV.
Also, there always seems to be a conga line on Johnny Vegas, even when EVERY other route is empty, so consider other options for getting to the base of SS. Dec 13, 2012
Oak Park, CA
Also, rope got stuck on the pull after the rap from the boulder slings atop P6 down to P4 anchor, in a hard-to-avoid crack pinch (beware), while trying to bypass a super slow group on reg rap route. Re-led on other end of almost-down rope, cleared jam, cleaned while downclimbed. Rapped JV to bypass same slow group congesting Solar Slab Gully, good on all pulls. Apr 13, 2013
Tallulah Falls, GA
Vail
A few notes:
Pro can be found early on pitch one if one is looking.
Be careful when passing the exit of Arch Enemy on pitch 2, lots of loose rock.
The rest of the route is kind of a blur, super easy climbing, lots of good gear.
All stations have good bolts but no chains (except for P1 and P7 if I remember correctly) lots of old tat .. bring extra webbing just in case you need to back up a station.
There are no rap anchors after pitch 7. However one can easily down climb form the summit (Black O etc) to the pitch 7 rap station. From the top by the boulders go skiers left and meander down easy slabs (a few cairns can be found) staying skiers left of pitch 9 passing a bush. A bit of an exposed down climbing and traverse to the right brings you to the base of pitch 9. Then head straight down past some boulders and find anchor.
Cheers Oct 21, 2014
Denver, Co
Albany, NY
Some descent beta with photos if you are planning to walk off:
supertopo.com/tr/Red-Rocks-… Nov 11, 2014
Colorado
But if you did bring a rope, there's some new(ish) rap anchors dropping down into the Painted Bowl-
From the regular Painted Bowl rappel- rap straight down around 60 ft or so to the first new anchors- then straight down 100' to the next set of new anchors, then another 100' rappel gets you to terra firma in the Painted Bowl. Only a single 60m rope needed... Nov 18, 2014
Salt Lake City
Climb Johnny Vegas for the approach. Simul climb the last 2 pitches for faster climbing.
Pitch 1: Climb up to nice ledge and tree.
Pitch 2: Climb up the chimney and past the first set of anchors. Its about 40ish more feet to the next set.
Pitch 3: Climb until you get to the bottom of the beautiful handcrack. This is a longer pitch so be mindful of rope drag.
Pitch 4: Simul climb all the way to the final 5.5 corner.
Pitch 5: Climb the fun but short corner up and through a chimney-ish section. Belay on top!
Side Notes:
-My partner and I climbed Johnny Vegas and Solar Slab in just under 4 hours doing it like this.
-Rappelling off of this route will take WAY LESS time. From the top of the climb to our car took around 2.5 hours to do the walk off. Rapping may be hectic when rapping thru parties but will take way less time.
-If doing the walk-off descent just follow the cairns all the way down. A 70m is helpful. Nov 28, 2014
Tucson, AZ
Phoenix, AZ
P2: Thought this was very awkward and featured little pro options. Would not recommend for anyone not solid at 5.7. This felt like the hardest pitch in my opinion. Maybe we climbed it wrong?
P3: Good pitch and straight forward. If the bolted anchor is crowded, there is a good ledge for a gear anchor on a comfortable ledge 15 ft below and to the climber's left.
P4: Nothing special and very short. Straight forward.
P5 & 6: Money pitch and highlight of the climb in my opinion. Link the two to save time. Belay from the boulder at the top of the pillar up and left with cordage slung around it.
P7: Short and easy 5.2-5.3 climbing to bolted anchors. We stopped here for double 70m rope rappel decent.
---
We had a party ahead of us on Oct 24 that was a party of four with one "experienced" leader and pretty much held every party up forcing a few of us to bail early. Do not recommend this climb for anyone who does not have the stamina or devotion for a 10 pitch+ climb regardless of the 5.6 grade. We could've done this climb in 4 hours but ended up getting back to the car at 9:30 pm and doing 10 rappels in the dark as a result. This party was the first ones on the rock and the last ones off. Basically ruining the climb for the rest of us. Won't even get into the anchors they were using. Anyhow, please be courteous to legitimate parties and do not bring beginners up this route. Oct 26, 2015
leeds, ut
Adding for the ropeless:
If you don't want to downclimb the exposed first Black Orpheus rap (or you miss the ledge like me) you can also go a tier higher and downclimb the pocketed gully. You'll end up linking back into the BO raps. This was originally shown to me as the lower part of the Chicken Lips descent if that helps. Nov 24, 2015
Las Vegas
We also I think found the descent described by d-know above, behind the highest shoulder, leading to more of a small gully rather than a ramp. May 2, 2016
Lincoln, NE
Concord, CA
NOTE** Please someone bring a tool to tighten the nuts on the bolts. On at least three of them I had to hand tighten the nuts!! Apr 1, 2017
Las Vegas
We did Beulah's book start then Solar slab with a 70m and did the walkoff.
Car to Car in 7 hrs and 15 min. Climb took 4hrs. walk off back to where we stashed our bags near base took almost 2 hrs. May 9, 2017
McCall, ID
Pittsburgh, PA
Seattle, WA
Carpinteria, CA
Solar Slab
1: Built and anchor at the top of P9 (white tricam and 0.3 cam) rapped to the base of the corner
2: Built and anchor in the base of the corner (red tricam and 0.4 x4) rapped down the 4th class slabs to the large boulders at the top of P7
3: Slung block on top of P7 to the block on top of P6 - note: this was a very close stretch, was barely able to clip the tat before rapping off our ends (both sets of tat in good condition as of 1/20/19)
4: Block on top of P6 to nearby rap anchor to climbers right
5: down and climbers left to P5 anchor
6. P5 anchor to P4 anchor
7: P4 anchor to P3 anchor
8: P3 anchor to P2 anchor
9: P2 anchor to P2 mid-anchor
10: P2 mid anchor to P1 anchor
11: P1 anchor to upper slabs (downclimbed 5.0 terrain to top of gully)
Gully Raps: (these blended together after an epic day so may be slightly out of order - can anyone confirm and I'll update?)
12: Top of gully (climbers right) to 4 piece anchor (climbers left)
13: 4 piece anchor down to short flat section
14: walk to next anchor (climber's right) some exposure to clip, hanging stance to thread rope, down to clung thread on climbers' left
15: slung thread (Tat in good condition as of 1/20/19) down to flat section
16: walk flat section to anchor on climbers' right behind a tree (minimal exposure). Down to slung tree in the middle of the gully - this one is hard to find, may have to go slightly below the tree to see it.
17: slung tree to ground. (The tree is in ok shape but it's not inspiring) Jan 22, 2019
Gilbert, AZ
Boulder, CO
it felt to me like 5.9 :-)
I don't see it described in the Handren guidebook (2nd edition) or here... Oct 22, 2019
Las Vegas, NV
TX
Phoenix, AZ
Portland, OR
Las Vegas, NV
If you do decide to do the decent wanted to clarify the rappels as the rap stations were not described as in the guidebook and confused us a little. I believe another rap station was added at one point. Some comments touched on it, but I wanted to further clarify.
Once you top out continue west and follow the cairns. You'll eventually see the first rap station but will have to do an exposed jump to a boulder that is easy but exposed and a bit intimidating. At the first rap station, you'll see a second rap station not far down (maybe 20 meters). Rap to that station. With a single rope, you can now rap climbers left to a large ledge. Walk along the ledge climbers left to see the next rap station. Rap down the chimney and down the short ramp. The last rap station is on a tree. Rap that as far down as you can to a low angle slab and start the painted bowl decent. Some of the webbing and tat at the rap stations may need to be replaced soon so inspect before you commit.
We didn't do the double rope descent, but from the first rap station, you can skip the rap station 20 meters down to another rap station straight down just before it cliffs out. From that rap station, you can probably rap all the way into the painted bowl as described in the guidebook, but we didn't do it.
The rest of the descent takes you well into the canyon and is not a pleasant hike after a long day of climbing IMO. Nov 7, 2020
Las Vegas, NV
Nuts are 100% optional. We brought doubles of BD 0.3 to 3, triples of 0.4 to 2. Next time I will bring doubles from 0.3 to 3, a single 4, and no nuts.
P1 and P2 had the hardest moves on them. P3 - P7 were the most fun.
P1: reachy crux to get into the crack. There is opportunity for pro on the slab under the crack and slightly right.
P2, jam up the flake for pro. Crux was mentally challenging due to runout getting to the 2nd set of anchors or I went the wrong way. Shaded belay in December.
P3/4: link together, go right when the flake gets super big for the anchor. Both the face and corner work on P4.
P5/6/7: accidentally linked this into a 300ft pitch. 60ft of simul. The crack eats gear. Lots of face holds. Super fun!
P8: super casual climbing, go up and right the slabs to a corner, gear belay
P9: straight up the corner, move right onto the face eventually to keep going up, gear belay in corner with .3, .4, and small nuts.
Put the rope away and 4th class scramble to the top. Go right and then left.
Single 70m descent beta:
From the summit (after the 4th class), you'll see a few cairns and bivy spot. Walk away from Las Vegas for two minutes following cairns. They lead you to the 4th class ramp that goes down. Follow this down to the spot where do a small hop across to another boulder. Downclimb a bit further and you'll see a rap anchor next to an old bolt. On the rappel, you'll pass another rap anchor 40ft from the first anchor. Skip this anchor. Rap 34m with knots at the end of the rope down to a giant 2 ledge and walk away from the rap anchor past some trees/bushes. The next rap anchor is a nut, a big metal thing with holes in it, and a flake. Rap straight down through a chimney to a ledge. The next rap is obvious off a tree. Watch out for cacti.
Put the rope away. You can see a lone (IBM) boulder down and right. Walk down and right towards it. Then walk more right and less down for a bit following cairns. There's a bit of switch backing and then you get to the smooth butt sliding section. It is well cairned.
From here it's 40 minutes of boulder hopping. Sometimes you'll go left or right of the main wash, guided by cairns. Eventually you'll get to the red section of the dirt and work your way left out of the wash onto the main trail.
6:20am parking lot
6:55 base of Solar Slab Gully
8:31 reached the terrace
9:43: top of P2
11:30 top of P7
12:42 summit
1:37 finished the 3rd rap
2:10 creek bed right after the slide. Learn to love boulder hopping.
3:12 car Dec 10, 2020
Seattle, WA
Spokane
I disagree with the rap beta from 'Chipotle Sponsor Me Please' -- Don't skip the anchor right below the first rap!! With a 70, do the short first rap, then another to an anchor in an awkward spot on a ledge, then a third down to the top of the slab basin. That way you're still doing three raps but they're all on bolted anchors and there's no need to scramble between raps. From there, it's a short but run out 4th class section before getting to easy ground. Not sure if it's possible to do with a 60 -- it would be close though. Mar 29, 2021
Santa Monica, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Also, this descent has a lot, and I mean a LOT, of boulder hopping and scrambling once you reach the bottom. There have been climbers who have said that they've completed the entire descent from the top to the car in a matter of 1-2 hours, and I don't see how that's physically possible. If you are the type that doesn't mind hopping through miles of boulders in the canyon once you're on the ground, then you may not mind it. After a long day of climbing Johnny Vegas and Solar Slab however, this definitely was not enjoyable and took us several hours to get through. If we were ever to do these routes again, rappelling down the route after P7 would be the way to go. Apr 19, 2021
San Diego, CA
Would highly recommend rappelling right back down climb instead of doing the painted bowl descent.
The climb felt very easy to me, one person in our party free soloed and another soloer passed us. Was pretty consistently 5.6 or below. There were anchors strewn across the pitches, we skipped many even with a 60m rope. Anchors all felt excellent to me.
Our times:
7:30 parking lot
8:20 base of Solar Slab Gully
9:20 reached the terrace (free soloed the gulley to try and speed up overall climb)
12:00: Tried to link pitches 4 and 5 with a 60m rope and was 10 feet short, 30 minutes of problem solving to fix it.
2:15 summit
3:30 finished the 3rd rap
5:20 creek bed right after the slide. Learn to love boulder hopping.
8:40 car
Just rap back down the climb! Nov 8, 2021
leeds, ut
San Diego
You can rappel the route with a single 80 meter rope and no shenanigans.
From the rap start (top of P6 or P7 depending on guidebook).
Rap 1: 130 feet (full 80m rope) to an anchor climbers right of the route. This is the only anchor used not on the route.
Rap 2: 130 feet (full 80m rope) to anchor on large ledge at bottom of P5 hand crack.
Rap 3: 60 feet to climbers left. It may be possible to go straight down but not sure if 80m would make it.
Rap 4: 110 feet straight down.
Rap 5: 130 feet (full 80m rope) toward climbers right. Skip a set of anchors. Ten feet of exposed class 3 scrambling. The scrambling can be avoided if you don’t skip the anchor.
Rap 6: 130 feet (full 80m rope) straight down to class 4 start of P1. Stay climbers left for easier and shorter class 4 down climb. The down climb is about 15 feet and is not dangerous. A fall here would not result in serious injury because of the giant terrace below.
Walk to the top of Johnny Vegas rap rings behind huge bolder.
Rap 7: 50 feet straight down.
Rap 8: 110 feet straight down over a huge roof. There is about 30 feet of open air rappel.
Rap 9: 110 feet straight down.
Rap 10: 130 feet (full 80m rope) straight down. Get to the ground at the Beulah’s Book start. Do NOT try to veer climbers to Johnny Vegas start as this will likely lead to a stuck rope.
All this said, if the wall is full of climbers below walking off is probably a better option as you’d be rapping through the climbers heading up. Dec 12, 2021
Descent Walk Off Beta:
From the second photo beta for the walk off by fossana(MP user in the comments section here), continue west following the cliff line til you see some down climbing to a pedestal. A cairn marks the way at the time of this post. Continue down a small chimney to a pedestal where the rap rings are located at the edge. An old bolt on the pedestal near the rap rings will mark the first rap station.
Did 3 raps with a 70m rope.
From the first rap, there is a second rap approximately 40-50ft below.
From the second rap, continue down til veering left slightly til an obvious rap station.
From the third rap. this a rope stretch for my 70m, continue down straight to the Painted Bowl.
From here you will start to walk towards the gully/wash west ward, you will eventually see the IBM boulder. The Jerry Harden book, pages 146 & 160, has great photos of the top view of the descent. Follow the path of least resistance down.
The last butt slide on the slab section into the wash of about 20'ish feet mentioned in the Harden book is truly slick. Be very aware and careful here. I did not do the entire slide from the top. I hiked into a tree/shrub to the left of the slide, and proceeded to slide from the rocks cutting the slide down to 10ish feet. Still a uncomfortable situation if you do this uncontrolled. If done again, I would have rapped from the trees or rocks near the slide instead, as my partner accidentally slid down the slab uncontrolled and broke his ankle.
The walkout from the wash is a lot of red rock boulder hopping, a balance mistake would be costly. Be ready to scramble out for at least 1 mile? til the mouth of the wash where it links back to the trails for the lower solar slab section. Dec 13, 2021
Earth
Lakewood, CO
Vlorë, AL
- Loose anchor bolt on pitch top of pitch 6. Loose as in you can almost pull it out. Climbed on 10-9-22. *
Oct 11, 2022Las Vegas, NV
The last spot with anchors is the low angle slab below the big boulder. This is pitch 7 in the guidebook. Rap Stations (RS) are either off route anchors, or commonly skipped on ascent and used for rappelling.
1- Rap from P7 anchor to Rap Station 1. 35m down and right to ledge. This bypasses the tat at the top of the pillar.
2- Rap to P6 anchor by crack. The missing bolt mentioned above has been replaced.
3- Short rap from P6 to P5 big belay ledge.
4- Rap from P5 to RS2: 30m straight down (25’ right of climbing route).
5- Rap from RS2 to RS3, in the middle of P2, just right of route.
6- Rap from RS3 to P1 anchor.
7- Rap P1 to slab and down climb 4th/3rd class.
From here, I prefer to walk down to the big boulder near JV and rap from the large ring anchor into the gully.
8- Rap from large ring anchor to ledge down and left to glue-in bolts.
9- Rap to large ledge, scramble down to updated anchor in gully.
10- Short rap down 4th class pitch to anchor at top or P1 of SSG near tree.
11- Rap straight down, anchor slightly left.
12- Rap to ground.
If going up and over and doing the Painted Bowl descent, just do 3 raps straight down into the Painted Bowl (1x 60m works). The 3rd rap puts you into 4th class terrain where you can leave one end of the rope in your rappel device and down climb / pull rope at same time. If someone is weary, just fix the rope and have them do a full rope rap to low angle terrain, then have the more experienced person pull rope back to half and rap / down climb. No need to do the 2 short raps + walking left and 2 more raps. Just go straight down. Nov 22, 2022
Natick, MA
New Hampshire
Las Vegas
Fayetteville, WV
Los Angeles, CA
Pitch 4 is short 60ft and trend right. It’s stiff for the grade. Protection in the crack but face climbing is easier. My petite friend has issue in removing the gear as she follow.
Pitch 5 went pass a repel station midway until a single bolt is seen to the right of the crack/pedestal/chimney. Gear is use for supplement that single bolt for anchor. Very tight for 3 people.
Pitch 6 easier climbing. My wife miss the first set of bolts. She end that pitch at a set of 30 feet higher bolts.
Pitch 7. I don’t know where it ended. It feel like 3-4 class until at the base of the mention 5.5 dihedral.
Pitch 8. After the dihedral the angle lessons. We wandered around looking for a way to walk towards the first repel station.
The top of the mountain is huge. We were not able to walk to the top due to exhaustion and running out of day light.
One of us finally spot bolt and sling higher up on the slab. There is no repel ring. We leave sling and carabiner to repel down the dihedral. I was planner to lower my wife and friend down that dihedral pitch then down climb myself until we locate those bolts. The we scramble down to what we thought was top of pitch 6. I repel around 30 feet and noted another set of anchor to climbers left. We have 2 60feet ropes so I continue repelling. My gearlooptopo beta says the next set of repel station is at the same level as top of pitch 5. I did not see it and judge my rope may make it down to the next lower set which is the set on the middle of pitch 5 as we see on the way up. The rope is 3-5 feet short. I clip end of one rope to my harness to remind me which rope to pull so know the end is coming. And has auto block for the 3rd hand. I fashion 3-4 cams in the crack on the left to help us all reach that repel station. I am still shaking as I write this. The next repel took us to top of pitch 2. No more drama after that. There is a lot of rope spaghetti but no rope got stuck or hang on chicken heads. We use the EDK knot. An earlier party climb “Going Nut” got there rope stuck in a choke stone in the chimney of pitch 2 and we help them to o free it during our ascend. Lucky our rope did not stuck there.
We use the gully to get to the base. From car to car took us 17.5 hours. We use one set of totem, one set of BD from 0.3-3 and that is enough. We are older, with me near 60. May have set the record for the longest ascent. Apr 21, 2024
Sierras
Oak ain't a joke. Although the painted bowl descent kicked my ass the first time I struggled up the route, after getting it dialed and years of experience later, its a chill 90 minutes from summit to car. Not sure I would recommend the absurd number of raps, but exploring the painted bowl in the dark will be just as epic for a newbie. For the ropeless, the easiest descent is to go up from the summit to the chicken lips gully, its about 5.3 downclimbing from here to the bowl, secure and minimally exposed. Jan 20, 2025
Pocatello, ID
Las Vegas, NV