[Hide Comment] I've not done the downclimb either, I have heard of several epics. I like Swain's comment on the downclimb "The descent can be done unroped, if you can solo down 5.6." Heck if you can down solo 5.6, you don't need a rope for the route either!

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

[Hide Comment] Great route, particularly if accessed from Beluah's Book. You can hit the summit and then scramble over to teh finish of the solar Slab gully and scramble down that. A little shrubby, but more like 5.3 than 5.6, if memory serves me.

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

[Hide Comment] The descent for Black Orpheus (another awesome climb) is almost certainly the way to go for getting off the top of Solar Slab. The long gully descent (basically heading the opposite way from the Black Orpheus descent) is brutally long and dirty. And once you fight through all of that, you still have to rappel/downclimb the Solar Slab Gully itself. Avoid this descent at all costs! Feb 17, 2004

[Hide Comment] If you compare George Bell's modern photo of Warren Teissier leading pitch 1 with the old photo of Joe Herbst leading, you'll see that the FA took a different line, farther right. The black roof by Joe's feet can be seen towards upper right of the Warren Teissier photo. That original first pitch, also about 5.6, seemed among the route's best. Feb 21, 2004

[Hide Comment] P1:At the start we headed up slightly right of the crack, and headed for some slings that are below and right of the crack. Not quite as runout and there is some good gear before the slings (not as bad as it looks). Move left under the crack, then up. P3: Head up just left of the belay to some gear (can't see it from the belay), then scoot right to get into the crack. If you head up right of the belay, there is no gear until the crack. P4 is the crux. Mar 17, 2004

[Hide Comment] After topping out on Johnny Vegas we found a ton of people in line for solar slab. We decided to climb a route left of solar slab called "Going Nuts 5.6." This route avoids the runnout slab of solar slab but keeps it at the same grade. P1 climb two dark steep cracks beneath the middle of the large arch. The cracks eventually separate and the crack on the right is the one you want. Once this crack ends climb left and belay using nuts and small cams in between the many plates. P2 Climb the plates up and left to avoide the arch until you reach a large bushy ledge. A quick scramble right on the ledge will put you at the bottom of P3 for the remainder of solar slab. The best part about this route is when everyone gives you the "get in line buddy" glance for solar slab and you walk right passed them and climb this excellent variation. Check the supertopo for a more detailed description. Chris M. Nov 27, 2004

[Hide Comment] My partner (Jay) and I climbed this on 9/30/2005, and we are both climbers stuck in Indiana, so take that for what it is worth. I have climbed quite a bit in Colorado (Petit Grepons, Culp Bossier, etc), and I consider Solar Slab to be a near-classic, just below the quality of other routes that I have climbed. For the record, we started mega-early, and parked at the old Oak Creek Campground. The approach (in the dark) from there was not obvious. I led the first pitch of the gully...we then essentially soloed the rest of the gully, save for the last 70' or so. The first pitch was mine...it started out very low angle, and the runout quality of it was not at all an issue. The second pitch Jay led, and it was a bit weird (to steal a few words from George Bell), but not at all bad. I had intended to link both pitch 3 and 4, but thought better of it, because pitch 4 gets a bit burly and thin (but never too insecure). Jay led the stellar crack on pitch 5 for about 190', where he set up a belay. I led pitch 6 up another 120' to bolts. All the belays were bolted, save for our pitch 5. The bolts at the end of pitch 6 were the first rappell bolts, and (for a few reasons), we decided to descend from there. Out rope got stuck on the first rappell, so I spent about an hour climbing up a 5.6-5.7 crack to free it, then I downclimbed. Thes rest of the descent was uneventful.

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

[Hide Comment] 12/27/05 Beulah's book to solar slab and the walk off truck to truck 8.5 hours. walk off took 2.5 hours. done in 7 pitches. 3 for beulah's and 4 for solar slab w/simu-climbing.
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

[Hide Comment] By scurrying up the Solar Slab Gully and swinging leads on Solar Slab with combined pitches, we were able to complete climb from ground to ground in 4 hours and 45 minutes. We only took one rope, which sufficed, as we rapped the steep, narrow upper gully on the climber's right. A bit of easy climbing and 3rd classing to get there. Eight single rope rappels from big chock-stones, with short, intermittent down-climbing to reach the terrace. Then a few more raps down the Solar Slab Gully.

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

[Hide Comment] For those who wish to descend Solar Slab via the Gullies climber's right of the route, the first gully -- the West Descent Gully -- is significantly easier and safer than the right gully -- the East Descent Gully. However, you should expect to leave cordellette or sling material as people don't often change out the anchors in either of these gullies very often.

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

[Hide Comment] I think that the canyon to the climbers right can't be missed! It is one cool little canyon. I on-sight soloed the route in 04/03 in 47 minutes bottom (ground not ledge) to top (summit) It is a wonderful route with very classic climbing and the descent was amazing. I downclimbed the whole descent (onsight) with nothing harder the 5.5 or so. Then down to the ledge and down climb the gully route for a time of 1 hour 47 minutes ground to ground and 3 hours and 22 minutes car to car (parked on the highway not the loop) and I smoke so I really suck at the running thing. HA! Great day it is amazing how such a crappy day can end so well.
Kurt Aug 22, 2006

[Hide Comment] Definitely a classic and one of the high points of my first trip to Red Rock! Doing Johnny Vegas and Solar Slab was a really full day; we were on the rock around 7 a.m., started SS about 10 and were back on the ground close to 7 p.m. This was a good reality check for my partner, who had been planning to lead Epinephrine, which now seems like an Everest expedition in comparison. It was our longest sustained multi-pitch climb ever.

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

[Hide Comment] We climbed the route in 5 pitches using a 70M rope, including the final pitch. Basically stretch the first pitch to the second anchor, above the left angling chimney sort of thing. Then just keep stretching the rope from there. We didn't simul-climb at all doing it this way, but it still kept us moving pretty fast.

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

[Hide Comment] I'm unclear. can I rap solar slab and solar slab gully with my meter 70m rope or not? May 2, 2009

[Hide Comment] What a fun climb. I didn't think anything was run out on it but if I was a 5.6 leader I might take my time on Ps 1 and 2. Personally, P4 was the weird one. The topo said its a lieback but I climbed the face to the right with only a little pro but it went fine.

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

[Hide Comment] Anant-- it is possible to continue to the summit of Rainbow Mountain from the top of Solar Slab, but it is a substantially bigger operation. Not a "hike" either; several roped pitches, including one or two of 5.9 unless your routefinding is a lot better than mine. Once you unrope, you still have a half-hour walk to the summit followed by the non-trivial Oak Creek descent. Just as a yardstick, we took about 6 hours from the top of the Solar Slab route to get to the summit and back down the canyon (and we were familiar with the terrain). Jan 13, 2011

[Hide Comment] A couple of comments about an ascent on 4/8:

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

[Hide Comment] If you find yourself at the top of this route without a rope (how'd that happen?), the down climb into the Painted Bowl is quite reasonable for anyone who made it this far without a rope. Here's the beta. First locate the normal rappels into the Painted Bowl by scrambling left (west toward Eagle wall) in the red rock up high. Eventually the ramps/ledges will head down into the top of the Painted Bowl on a narrow ledge. At the first rappel anchor, carefully down climb about 10 feet to a good stance. This is the hardest part...probably 5.5ish. Now, instead of continuing down, climb up and left on 5.5 ish positive holds to reach a ledge system about 20-30 feet above you. Now, scramble down this ledge system and traverse all the way across the ledge (easy). At the time of this writing, you'll see a cairn on top of a little ridge to the west. Don't keep going west, but instead now shimmy down the chimney below the cairn. There's a mass of slings here to facilitate rapping...but you don't have a rope...so 5.4 down climbing is required. Now, wander through some bush directly down hill to a pine tree with rap anchors. Now, bear skiers right (west toward Eagle Wall) and start down climbing again, finding the path of least resistance on 5.3sih jugs and plates, eventually depositing you on the slabs at the top of the Lower Painted Bowl. Not recommended for anyone squeamish of down climbing with exposure. But solid for the competent who wasn't bothered by the 14 pitches of 5.6 scrambling it took to get up there. Feb 25, 2012

[Hide Comment] Climbed this and went down through painted bowl. The descent and walk down the canyon made this an extra long and tiring day, despite the moderate climbing. I took a look at a quick solo to the mountain summit, climbed halfway up the slot on the right after the low arch, but it was more than I was prepared for.

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

[Hide Comment] I'm going to buck the consensus and say that I did not like this climb, and that it did not live up to all the hype I have been hearing about it for years. It is long, but only has a few pitches of real climbing, namely P1, P3+4, and the hand crack on....P5? The rest is pretty much just low 5th class scrambling up to the next belay (P2, P6, P7, "P"8, P9). Not very sustained.

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

[Hide Comment] I climbed and rappelled this route in late March 2013. The Handren guide (first edition) shows (pg 133, 134) that the rappel line has an intermediate rappel station between the pitch 4 anchors and the pitch 1 anchors. When I got there, I found that this station was a pair of rusty old bolts with no hangers. I had to swing left to the pitch 2 anchors to continue my descent. Apr 4, 2013

[Hide Comment] Intermediate rap anchor between P4 and P1 anchors mentioned above now consist of solid hardware.

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

[Hide Comment] Seems to be some different info on the Supertopo site. It claims this is a 1500' pitch, not including the approach. There's also talk about "bolts". I assume the reference is to belay station bolts? Headin out there in early Nov. Thanks for the input! ~William Sep 16, 2014

[Hide Comment] Yesterday was my first time climbing Solar Slab. Did it in one pitch in one hour. A perfect fun outing.
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

[Hide Comment] I am getting on this route in a few days. How are the rappels down the route currently? I don't really like the idea of doing a bunch of down climbing after a long day(pitch 8 and some of 7). Can anyone testify to the safety of this option? Oct 30, 2014

[Hide Comment] Super fun route, a classic for the grade for sure.

Some descent beta with photos if you are planning to walk off:

supertopo.com/tr/Red-Rocks-… Nov 11, 2014

[Hide Comment] Josh Ewing's down-climb beta is good-- Very casual down-climbing, following an obvious path... it's not a problem to leave the rope at home!

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

[Hide Comment] Concise evaluation of route:

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

[Hide Comment] On 5/7/15 after climbing Solar Slab to the top we hiked off via Painted Bowl, following cairns. We never found bolted anchors as described by Handren and others (which confused us, needing a single 60 m rope rap alternative), but the cairned route worked fine. Our route matches that described by d-know (1/26/06) and others as a walk off, though we did 2 raps. We found 3 rap stations en route. The 1st was at a small tree in d-know’s trough that turns into a flake chimney (we downclimbed this). The 2nd was after the trough/chimney where the cairns led us skiers left to the top of d-know’s flared chimney (his walkoff crux), with webbing around blocks backed up with runners around a small tree. The 3rd was a short ways down a brushy gully, with webbing around a larger tree. Our 60 m rope just reached easier scrambling terrain here. Looking at Handren’s Solar Slab descent photo, I think we bypassed the bolted anchors to the north, joining his single-rope route for the last rap. May 9, 2015

[Hide Comment] I also agree that Josh Ewing's down-climb beta is good. The crux really is that first down move past the first set of chains which is a little awkward (and the most exposed of all the down climbing) and then it lets up. After this first little crux of down climbing, essentially you traverse diagonal and up on face holds to a ledge system which parallels 50 ft above the traditional ledge system you would normally traverse to get to the middle rap when doing the single rope rappel series. Very slick. Fun solo day out! May 12, 2015

[Hide Comment] P1: First half of pitch 1 earns this route an R rating in my opinion. You're looking at roughly a 60 ft run out to the first piece but climbing is easy on 5.4 with solid hands & feet. Didn't bother looking for pro, climbing was easy and would've added rope drag if you place gear down low on the traverse to the crack. Crack is decent, but nothing to write home about.

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

[Hide Comment] @Nivel I don't think it's too bad as a solo. The first pitch feels steep, but holds are good.

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

[Hide Comment] 4-star climb at a 5-star location! Using 70-meter ropes this can be done in 5 very long and highly enjoyable pitches (the upper crack pitch is particularly long). The 5th pitch is a shorter, easier scramble to the rap anchors. The only issues with this route are the crowds and the lack of a rap line going off to the side of the route. Consider going the extra 3 pitches and walking off via the Painted Bowl descent: with several parties rapping below you it will definitely be faster walking off. Enjoy! Mar 20, 2016

[Hide Comment] Left a nut at the top of pitch 9,to the right of the climb, to do a clean two 60m rope rap back to the top of the 4th class pitch 7. An easy way to get all 9 pitches and not have to walk off. Mar 22, 2016

[Hide Comment] took a while, but eventually figured out the Handren descent route into Painted Bowl - from the first (and largest) of three distinct shoulders, head left until you see cairns. From there we followed Handren's traversing single-rope rappel, didn't see the new anchor beta.
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

[Hide Comment] Did Solar Slab on November 8th - Election Day! What a great climb. I took my newbie oldest brother (age 46) and he climbed like a champ. 6 hours 15 minutes from base of the 5.3 gully start to the top of the climb in 11 pitches. Linked 2/3 of lower section and 3/4 of SS proper. We went light and brought one 60 meter rope so decided to do the walk-off. Found our way down to the first rap - a dead pine tree with two pieces of tied-off 1" webbing and two rings. Couldn't figure out how we were supposed to rap to the skier's right (left as you rappel) as there were huge shoulders of rock that way. Definitely no ledge to traverse on rappel in that direction. So, we went down (tied ends of the rope of course) to find three crappy pieces of webbing slung around a boulder at the end of the first rappel. Looked down for the 3rd rap station with nothing in site. So, rapped anyway, built an anchor in a crack out of a #3 BD cam and a large yellow Omega Pacific link cam, sling and locker, and rapped off that into walkable territory. If anyone recovers those pieces, please hit me up. If not, grab that booty. All that to say - I would not recommend the walk-off. It goes West, further up the canyon, and makes for a grueling walk out. Plus, the walk down the slabs sucks. If I do this climb again I'll definitely rappel. Nov 20, 2016

[Hide Comment] Climbed this route today. Super fun cruiser climb. Got a super early start to avoid crowds. Got to base of climb by 6:15, & we were the first on the route. Shortly after us the que started. Simul climbed the gully to access the base of SS. Linked P 1 & 1/2 of 2 to the intermediate anchors, then linked remainder of P2 & 3, linked P4,5 & almost all of 6. Had to make an anchor just shy of the bolted anchors (about 10ft). Simul climbed P7-9. Brought one 70m rope & opted for the walk off option. I recommend checking out the super topo link Dennis put in his post on 11/11/14. Someone took the time to make a very detailed photo journal of the decent. Took screen shots of the photos & it guided us perfectly. Also lots of cairns to point you in the right direction. Be prepared to down climb a wide chimney to a ledge to access the first set of rap anchors. We did the three rappels with the 70m.

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

[Hide Comment] Lost: TC pros either on top or during the walkoff with a BD oz carabiner.

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

[Hide Comment] Climbed with Barbara on May 18, 2017. Second time for me. Note that there is an error in Handren. The 6th pitch, the 5.4 pitch, is 155 ft, not 110 ft. With a 70m we linked P3 and P4, then P5 and P6. On P6 there is one bolt on the right about half way up the pitch. Due to high wind we chose to rap down the climbing anchors and this single bolt is needed as the second rap station. If rapping this way a single 70m makes it for all but the final rap to the ledge. Total of 14 raps to the base took about 2.5 hours. May 19, 2017

[Hide Comment] Started out too far left on the first pitch, and had to traverse some sketchy run-out section. Moving further right than the book suggests might be a better choice. Second pitch traverses a lot, so be mindful of placements and extensions. I had a nightmarish rope-drag to a point where I was barely able to climb the final 20 ft before the anchors. May 9, 2018

[Hide Comment] Regarding Idaho Bob's comment "this single bolt is needed as the second rap station" [if using one 70]... There is a 2-chain anchor ~10m climber's right of that bolt. It makes the first 2 rappels somewhat diagonal but easily manageable. May 28, 2018

[Hide Comment] My partner and I had intended to do the walk off and only brought up a single 70 m rope. We made it up with plenty of time left in the day but wind came in earlier than forecasted and was blasting us hard enough at the start of the walk off descent that we could barely make forward progress. We decided to backtrack and rap the route rather than venturing into the exposed slabs below painted bowl. Made it down in 17 raps, luckily with no snags. Here's info for anyone who ends up in the same predicament:

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

[Hide Comment] Did this route last week via Johnny vegas and it was amazing. I just had a few things to say about the descent, if any of you are thinking about only bringing one rope-like my partner and I- and hiking down/ doing 3 small raps. First things first, bring two ropes and rap down the main route. The decent is literally living hell. The descent took us longer than the climb and I mean from the bottom of Johny vegas all the way to the summit. The route took us about 4.5 hours or so and the descent took us 5. Maybe we went the wrong way, but we were following cairns the whole way, so I doubt it... Anyway JUST BRING TOW ROPES AND RAP IT! May 25, 2019

[Hide Comment] ?Mike St? - Does anyone know what the finger crack is just up and right of the intermittent belay from pitch 2?

it felt to me like 5.9 :-)

I don't see it described in the Handren guidebook (2nd edition) or here... Oct 22, 2019

[Hide Comment] @ Carl Schaefer: P3 of Arch Enemy. Oct 25, 2019

[Hide Comment] For what it's worth, the black orpheus single rope rappel into painted bowl is a good way to descend IMHO. Cairns clearly mark the way, it's a quick walk (and a boulder hop)to the rappel anchors. We had a 70m rope and did 4 raps, first 2 on bolts, 3rd on tat and 4th on bolts. The tat anchor was not necessary and actually was a PITA to traverse over, so if you have a 70 I would recommend skipping it. After rapping, it's an easy scramble down slabs to the canyon floor. Only downside is it puts you up canyon a ways, so the walk out is a long hike of boulder hopping. But it's a really pretty hike, what an amazing canyon! Dennis' comments and link to super topo are great. IBM boulder is super easy to see. I know there are a lot of comments on not doing this descent. It boils down to do you want a ton of rappels or less rappels and more hiking. We thought it was good and didn't have to haul 2 ropes, so I'll give it a vote. Oct 28, 2019

[Hide Comment] Descended with a single 70 meter via the walkoff. There were cairns clearly leading to the painted bowl. Basically follow the cairns quite a ways to an easily downclimbable gully (couldnt find anymore cairns at this point), where you will find a bolted rap station. Shortly below this is another bolted rap station. From this second one, rap down to the large ledge and walk 50 or so feet climbers left. There's a rap station above a chimney/offwidth made of cord (maybe bring a small knife & 5 feet of cord to replace it?). rap down this short vertical section and hike down until you see the last rap station on skiers right. I did not see this last one initially and ended up downclimbing some easy and highly featured terrain. From here, youll simply want to hike down and skiers right until you hit the wash. Jan 30, 2020

[Hide Comment] The raps were quick and easy with no snags. We linked pitches 3+4 and 5+6 (requires a 70m). 5+6 is an amazing full 70m of cruiser hand crack. Approached via SS Gulley. Started up the gulley at noon and were back on the ground at 5:20pm. Mar 4, 2020

[Hide Comment] Did the painted bowl descent 11/4/20. Overall would not recommend unless you really like a long descent.

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

[Hide Comment] The descent is straightforward and should take no more than 2.5 hour back to the car from the top. Should be faster than rapping unless you really get lost up there. If you have never been in the area I highly recommend it to get a taste of the beautiful oak creek and an introduction to red rock wash scrambling. Fun stuff, but maybe not for everyone? More fun than rapping SS gully I'd say. Nov 14, 2020

[Hide Comment] Notes for the climb:
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

[Hide Comment] 5-7 scrambly, forgettable, somewhat poorly protected approach pitches lead to the main event - a beautiful hike or exciting rappels to the ground. Feels like one of these no-fall 5.0 alpine climbs with 20ft of actual climbing, but doesn't actually go to a summit. Jan 3, 2021

[Hide Comment] Fun route, I recommend linking pitches where possible. The hand crack pitches will just barely link with a 70, makes for a fun pitch. We did the walk off option -- it wasn't too bad, just a bit long (in terms of other Red Rocks descents at least).

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

[Hide Comment] We set our anchor at the first set of bolts we came to after the p2 ramp/chimney and then climbed up and right to a finger crack that continued up into a beauty finger crack/ left facing corner on black varnish w poor left feet to the bolts. felt a whole lot harder than 5.6. Was that arch enemy or are we just soft? Apr 18, 2021

[Hide Comment] We climbed Johnny Vegas and Solar Slab and it was an amazing day - until the descent, that is. The descent route through the Painted Bowl, while beautiful to look at, was not for us. Towards the beginning it takes a giant hop from a boulder on completely exposed rock to even reach the first rappel station, and it looks so sketchy we thought maybe we had arrived at the wrong area but we hadn't. While the boulder jump is easy, a slight balance error would be very costly.

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

[Hide Comment] Loved the climb. Hated the descent down the backside. Miles of walking on 30 degree downhill slant, followed by downhill slides and then miles of boulder hopping.

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

[Hide Comment] A few people asked for beta when I topped out on Sunflower recently, so I added detailed photos with instructions for the Painted Bowl walk-off (optional raps) to the Solar Slab Upper Tier page photos: mountainproject.com/area/10… Dec 4, 2021

[Hide Comment] 80 Meter Rappel Beta

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

[Hide Comment] Fun route, just a great route overall. Doing the full route is worth doing at least once.

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

[Hide Comment] Solar Slab is a mega classic deserving of the hype. Pitch 2 is a bit run out and definitely heads up. December 18 there was some ice near the belay on top of pitch 2, so take care around there. The most difficult part about this climb is managing logistics, like rope managing and rappelling. Be careful with ropes getting stuck, especially if you're rapping Solar Slab Gully Dec 19, 2021

[Hide Comment] Did Johnny Vegas & Solar Slab. The toughest part of the climb was rapping. We got our rope stuck after pulling it & had to re-lead a pitch to get it back (very time consuming). Hindsight 20-20 I would have topped out and walked off. Even though the walk off takes a bit of time, the logistics of rappelling and possibility of having the Gully or any of the cracks eat our rope was just not enjoyable. Apr 27, 2022

[Hide Comment]

• 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, 2022

[Hide Comment] The loose bolt at the top of pitch 6 is now gone. I pulled it out, and was astounded at how short of a bolt it was(2") considering this sandstone. Nov 20, 2022

[Hide Comment] 2022 RAP BETA - 70m Rope:

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

[Hide Comment] Climbed Solar Slab yesterday with Sam Weichert from Red Rock Climbing Guides (RRCG). We started with Beulah's Arete, which was fun and exposed, as there was already a party on JV. We combined P2/3, P4/5, and P6/7 for Solar Slab with a 70m rope, and then rapped down starting from the top of P8, with 2 ropes, and then rapped Solar Slab Gully. Sam managed the ropes with skill and the descent was very smooth, although the middle of Solar Slab Gully was a bit awkward to rap through. The rocky part of the approach/descent just below the start of Lower Solar Slab was a bit hairy but otherwise the walking was really pleasant (we even saw a bunch of coyotes!). We were car to car in about 8.5 hours, with about 1.5hrs total of walking and ~500m of climbing - it was a big day out for me but super enjoyable! Feb 11, 2023

[Hide Comment] Fun route with good pro and all bolted anchors. The first time I did this climb I rapped, and this time I figured I would try the walk off...oh what a mistake. The walk off descent was heinous and took almost three hours. I know it's early in the season for this one, but most of the descent cairns once getting down to the wash were gone (possibly due to the tropical storm that came through). This was a combination of bushwacking and boulder hopping without any real clear trail. Topping out didn't really add much and was definitely not worth how involved the descent was. I highly recommend rappelling this route and definitely won't be doing the walk off again. Sep 23, 2023

[Hide Comment] On our decent with a single 60 meter, we added to the rappel anchor down the chimney. In addition to tat and rings that were there… there is now as of 6/5/24 new webbing+ring we used in addition to the existing. Oct 6, 2023

[Hide Comment] As mentioned before, this route can be rappeled with a single 70m rope from the top of p6 (I can't vouch for higher pitches just yet). Be sure to rap before it gets dark because the anchors can be difficult to locate and the stances on some are small / insecure. There are seven rappel anchors for single rope in the Solar Slab Gully. The upper part of the gully (top four rappels) can be easily downclimbed, but you'll probably want to rap the final three rappels. Nov 10, 2023

[Hide Comment] Climbed sunburn on 4/2/24 which tops out with last two pitches of solar slab. Straight forward walk off descent: continue up 2nd/3rd class until you begin to notice well marked cairns as you begin to make some 3rd class moves on the way down. Upon noticing the first set of rappel anchors there is a significant fourth class move to the left of an alcove. Three rappels (60m) leads you to the rest of a slabby walk off in the painted bowl and into the wash where you boulder hop in and out of the oak creek canyon wash which leads you to the rest of the trail towards the parking lot. Apr 4, 2024

[Hide Comment] Climb solar slab on 4-19-24 with party of 3. We use the beta provide by gearlooptopo.com during our climb. On the climb, pitch 1, our friend able to put a piece of small gear before the crack. She has some issue surmounting the baby roof initially. So it’s harder than 5.6. Second pitch I went up the chimney with little gear placement. There is an optional anchor lower. I went up to the higher set of anchor. Top of pitch 2 is spacy and comfortable for 3 people. Pitch 3 anchor is little harder to find. Our friend went up that pitch about 10 feet, traverse right about 3-4 feet to climb the seeming 5.6 crack to a flat ledge on the right. She was not able to locate the anchor. She finally spot the anchor about 8 feet above that ledge. We all wonder why the anchor was set so high to make it into hanging belay and uncomfortable. My wife had to stay on the ledge as there is no room at the anchor level.
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

[Hide Comment] Great route if you want to climb something big, but with easy pitches. The climbing isn't too memorable or difficult, but a large sunny face to climb on a sunny winter day at a moderate grade keeps me coming back. This is the route to break into big multipitching, and see what a red rock canyon descent entails. Unless you expect to epic, the approach from the scenic loop is best and keeps the mileage short. P4 feels like a standout crux, but only with a couple crimps while stepping on edges. It currently has a fixed .1 z4 and doesn't take much other gear. On my first time up, it was a full day adventure for a 5.7 leader, but recent ascents have made this a fun half day or a better approach to upper painted bowl / eagle wall. With 3 tractions and 30m of rope, all 5.6 climbing is protected and I've done the route in about an hour.

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

[Hide Comment] On 5/2/2025 We were 4th car through the gate at 0605. Walked to the base in 45min. Team of 2 not swapping leads. Our rack for the day was more than enough - doubles from .5 to 3" with a few small nuts and plenty of slings. 3 liters of water, jackets, headlamps. Took our time up Johnny Vegas and then Solar Slab - had both routes completely to our selves. Searched around for the descent route, rapped off, walked out to, and down, the creek bed and back to the truck by 1715. IF YOU ONLY HAVE A SINGLE 60M or want more adventure, the Painted Bowl descent works fine. Building on the note from Josh Ewing (2012), finish P9 by stepping R at the top of the easy black dihedral onto the massive white slab. Belay from position, switch shoes and coil the rope. Walk the 4th class slab up and trend left. You may notice two bolts with hangers. Continue up and left along the edge of the feature on red sandstone until you reach a large ledge (photo by Travis O'Neil 2019). We followed cairns along this ledge as it continued West, paralleling the canyon. The ledge eventually begins to descend and narrow until you can see a rap station on the wall below. Reach rap 1 by making the short 5th class down climb passing a small alcove on your right (good bivvy spot?) to reach the 2 bolts with quick links. Rap 1 is about 40feet to the next set of bolts. Rap 2 is about 90feet over ledges and slabs straight down the fall line. Rap 3 about 95feet is again straight down, two bolts with quick links. The bolts for rap 4 are right on the edge. Rap 4 is partly a free rappel. Our single 60m worked with the rope ends about 5' off the ledge at the bottom of rap 4. This puts you at the top of the massive Painted Bowl. 50 feet of 5th class down climb puts you onto 4th class slab. We saw no cairns in the bowl. Walk down the bowl, following the fall line almost to the bottom (cliffed out), then trending skiers right over a small ridge until you see a ledge with cairns heading West. Follow this ledge contouring all the way out until you can step into the creek bed. Then it's boulder hopping down canyon back to the trail below Johnny Vegas. May 6, 2025

[Hide Comment] In response to Lance's comment, it's only 3 raps into the bowl, not 4. That's a typo on Lance's end. If Lace updates their comment, feel free to delete mine. May 6, 2025