[Hide Comment] Alright, exercise some self control here and DON'T READ THE FOLLOWING unless you want the full beta spray-down. We would have liked to have known what we were in for, but when it came down to it it was pretty much what we expected and in retrospect I'm glad we didn't have all the details. That said, if you still can't resist, read on. Caveat emptor.

P1 (5.10d R, 150'): Begin well left of Prince of Darkness and Rock Warrior just right of small pillar of rock that leans against the wall. Scramble up low angle white rock for 50' or so. High up this there is a small slot that could take a cam or two - you might want to place them otherwise this pitch becomes X in a hurry. When the rock steepens, you'll reach the first bolt (barely visible from the ground right where the rock becomes varnished), but clipping it requires an insecure 5.8 move. From here launch up the steep, varnished wall heading generally up and left clipping bolts (5 in total on the pitch) and placing gear (ignore a stray bolt way out right by itself). The climbing is cruxy but reasonably well protected especially as you get higher. Belay at a bolted anchor. All the bolts on this pitch have been replaced and are really good.

P2 (5.10b X, 150'): Climb up off the belay and get a few decent cams about 15' out. From here continue straight up ignoring another inconspicuous stray bolt that is about 20' left of the line and instead aim for the obvious bolt about 50' above and slightly left of the belay. You are so psyched to get to this bolt only to discover that it is a 1/4" button head with Leeper hanger, rusty and ill-seated. Continue upwards? Yes. I reckon it's X, but maybe when that bolt is replaced it'll be pretty soft-core. Up and slightly right to thank-god gear, then another long run to yet another 1/4" button head/Leeper hanger. From here continue straight up to a bolted anchor. One bolt is 3/8", the other is 1/4" button head/Leeper. Back it up with a blue Alien at your waist.

P3 (5.10a PG13, 140'): Try not to factor two onto the anchor and climb a little left then a little right but more or less straight up off the belay to another anchor, again a 3/8" bolt and a 1/4" button head/Leeper. Bring a knife to cut away the old tat or you won't be able to clip the bolt. Good news is this pitch is a little easier and a little better protected.

P4 (5.10a PG13, 110'): Climb up and slightly left to a nice, varnished seam. Enjoy fun and well-protected climbing up this feature which is the majority of the pitch. The anchor is guarded by a sheer panel of beautiful rock and a cruxy move that is fortunately well-protected. Belay at a 3/8" bolt and Z-pin that can be backed up with a medium nut.

P5 (5.11a R/X, 150'): Arrange a solid piece up off the belay to protect against a factor 2 fall and perform a hard move before tenuously standing up to clip the first of two closely spaced bolts. Yeah, they're 1/4" button heads but at least the hangers are better and they're not rusty. They protect hard moves - really nice rock and climbing here. Continue off to the left, generally heading towards a huge right-facing corner high above, clip a rusty 3/8" bolt and then execute a tough mantle. The fall is not so good but the reward is that you can now clip a fourth bolt (back to button heads again), and then run it WAY out to the final bolt. It might be a good idea to locate this before launching out from the last one. After clipping run it WAY out one last time on thankfully larger holds. You might be able to arrange a few small cams in horizontals when things seem to be getting R+++ish. Ultimately move up into the aforementioned corner and belay from two 3/8" bolts. You're done! High five!

Rap diagonally down to Rock Warrior (Sandstone Samurai is not equipped for rappel).

Aside from the obvious excitement, I think this is a great route that has interesting climbing (especially on the first, fourth, and fifth pitches) and generally good rock (though you should tread lightly on the latter part of P5 and most of P2). Most of the hardest climbing is reasonably well-protected, but you'll frequently find yourself way out from (sometimes marginal) gear on 5.9 and 5.10- ground. You need to be careful not to fall if a hold crunches off here or there - a distinct possibility. Nevertheless, this thing is a wild ride and worth the effort. Plus, you'll never have to wait in line. Oct 12, 2013

[Hide Comment] Great outing and a heady adventure. Josh made it look easier, but I would not argue with 11a for the first pitch. If you are seriously considering this route, you'll likely have the necessary skill sets to make the pro on most pitches manageable. The hardware on this route is likely 25 years old. Not sure how much of it would hold up under some of the possible falls, especially on the last pitch. Even with new hardware, though, the last pitch is serious. As is, a potential nightmare. If I can develop my bolt replacement skills, I'll definitely put this up there on the list of routes that need care.
Oct 13, 2013

[Hide Comment] Nice going, Josh. I remember, back around 1990 or so, being camped out at Black Velvet with a Norwegian friend. We did a couple of the classics, and then he left the area. I found a Canadian guy to climb with, and we set off for Rock Warrior. We were too far left, and instead mistakenly got on SS, which was not in our guidebook. At the P1 belay, I knew we weren't on RW after all, but the climbing beyond that didn't look all that hard so I led another pitch, and then the next 3. I enjoyed the route immensely, and credit all my previous climbing of sparsely-bolted/mostly trad face routes on my home turf of Lumpy Ridge and the South Platte with giving me the ability and psych to on-sight it, no problems.
At the climbing shop-on Charleston?-later that day, we inquired about what we might have climbed. The guy asked us about the route, and then told us we had just done the 2nd known ascent of SS.
I climbed for about 30 years (done now, at age 62), at most of the great places in this country and a few others in Europe, and I have to say that the day on SS still stands out in my memory as one of the VERY best combinations of positive holds and JUST enough pro to not panic that I ever experienced. kudos to PVB!!
Tim Hansen, Longmont Co. (formerly of Estes Park) Oct 14, 2013

[Hide Comment] Great story Tim. I've been slowly working my way left on the Black Velvet Wall during yearly trips to Red Rock. Last time we were there, we debated between Rock Warrior or Fiddler. We ended up climbing Fiddler, which was great. All the while teams were having their epics on Prince of Darkness. Can't wait to skip by that one and hit up Rock Warrior and one day...one day...SANDSTONE SAMURAI! Amazing looking blank wall. Wow. Nov 5, 2014

[Hide Comment] This is an awesome route. Not simply for the seriousness, but the climbing is great. I thought pitches 5, 1, and 2 were the best, in that order. 3 and 4 are good, but weren't particularly memorable except that they protected fairly well.

I removed the tat from anchors 2, 3, and 4, but the hardware is in desperate need of an upgrade. The two bolts on pitch two are worthless. Nov 11, 2014

[Hide Comment] Got on this last Sunday as my first route on Black Velvet and was surprised to find that almost all of the hardware had been upgraded. A great route and not nearly as serious as expected. To me, X has always meant that the most probable outcome of falling would be death, broken bones for R. By that standard, the route is not X.

Actually, both my partner and I felt that the safety ratings, pitch by pitch, were a bit backwards. On P3, for example, there really isn't any gear besides a small nut a few feet off the belay until you gain the crack, which is about 40' off the belay. If you were to blow the moves gaining the crack you'd probably nail your belayer. P5, on the other hand, hardly even warranted an R. Pitch two is also not that bad. The bolt high up on the pitch is trash (one of the only bad bolts left), but there's lots of gear below and slightly above it. Also, it's totally contrived to not clip the bolt to the left of the belay that Josh has marked as "off route". The path of least resistance leads within five or so feet of it, so it seemed a bit silly to not clip it. If it actually doesn't belong to SS it should probably be removed.

Josh's gear description was pretty much right on, except that I would have wanted a few more slings: the pitches are long and you'll likely be placing/equalizing every piece you come across since you don't know when your next pro will come. Also, ballnuts were quite handy.

Overall, the route is definitely a worthwhile venture: it's exciting mentally and the climbing itself is actually really good, plus the position of the route is awesome. I thought that P1, P4, and P5 were best, not necessarily in that order. It might be best to do this climb in the warmer months, or when it's not windy. We had ~20mph winds all day and the belays were miserably cold. If you've been seriously considering this route I'd say go get on it: it probably won't be as scary as you're expecting, and you can bail off any of the anchors easily. If you get on it and are left wanting something really scary, come on down to Cochise ;). Mar 19, 2016

[Hide Comment] Fun outing, with mostly new bolts.

To the saint who decides to update the remainders:

P3: One 1/4" Leeper, end of pitch
P3 anchor: One old 3/8" and one old 1/4"
P4 anchor: Two new 1/2" and one old 3/8" bolt (half pulled, but hammered down). It'd be great to see this bolt gone...
P5: The first two bolts are doubled up, with old 1/4" bolts located just six inches out from each of the new ones. Removing the old hardware would make this clean sweep of stone much more aesthetic (who wants anchor options every 10ft anyways?).

And one final note:
The z-pin at the start to P5 is in an awkward spot and offers no real pro, given it's proximity to the anchor. Due to it's positioning, I found it hard not to imagine life as a eunuch when pulling the moves off the belay. Element of historical value? Definitely. Unnecessary objective hazard? Yes to that too. If the pin can be pulled without damage to the surrounding area, the start of this pitch will have a more natural feel, and no more ballsy footsie as you try to avoid stepping (or falling) onto it.

We had the good fortune of doing the route on a day with only a couple other parties in the canyon, and none of them on BV Wall. A real treat! Feb 4, 2020

[Hide Comment] Finally got on this hell of a route yesterday and man...was it incredible!

It sure lived up to the hype. Serious and definitely run out. Even with a hearty rack of micro cams, nuts and brassies, I still found a few forty foot runouts on pitches 1,2 and 5. Pitch 5 had some friable rock and I broke off a few pieces. My partner led pitches 3 and 4 and found those to be a little more protected.

I'll keep with tradition and not spill too many details. This is an Adventure Punks route, so you should climb it in a similar style. All I know is...Paul Van Betten was a BAMF.

Interesting and comical note...some guys were on Fiddler on the Roof while we climbed Sandstone Samurai. They thought we were on Prince of Darkness. Hilarious! I think there were nine or ten bolts on Sandstone Samurai...POD often has 12-14 per pitch. Nov 18, 2022

[Hide Comment] It’s not that bad, the scariest bit is getting to the first bolt, after that as long as you’re comfortable being 20-50 feet out on 5.9 terrain with a few 5.10 moves you’ll be fine. We counted a total of 12 bolts. 4 on pitch 1, 3 on pitch 2 and 5 on pitch 5. Mar 21, 2024

[Hide Comment] This route requires some mental fortitude to get it done but I never felt like I would die if I fell on any pitch. Feels like a very solid R rating though.

I will say that based on some comments we anticipated being able to rap w/ a single 80. You CAN NOT rap the route w/ an 80m!
We could not even get onto Rock Warrior w/ an 80m w/o shenanigans. I’d highly recommend 2 ropes to rap RW or straight down SS.

P1: fun climbing on great stone, the best rock on the route by far. We felt the most dangerous part was getting to the first bolt then 11- pg-13 from there to the top.

P2: this by far felt like the most dangerous pitch of the route. 2 new bolts but very spaced. Then 30+ feet to a good gear placement. Every piece of gear I found after that was trash (including the 1/4” w/ leaper). If you fell after clipping the last bolt I think you’d rip the bolt + gear and go for a very long ride. X rated? Don’t think so but very R!

P3&P4: both take good gear most of the way but by far the most dangerous part is getting off the belay to the first piece w/o whipping onto the belay.

P5: fun, committing climbing on good rock followed by shit rock. All 5 bolts are new. This felt like maybe not quite R but I wouldn’t want to test that either….

All in all a very engaging climb and deserves respect but for sure not a death route. May 6, 2024

[Hide Comment] I’ll add my two cents, it’s hard not to after climbing such a spectacular route …

• We rapped the route with an 80m without issue. Currently, it is equipped with good slings, carabiners, rings etc. but you’ll know if that’s still true or not when you’re on it. The first rap is to the ends, the rest are roomy.

• We placed ballnuts on every pitch. I felt pitch 1 and 5 were the most dangerous, and the moment before clipping bolt 1 felt the most real. I don’t own one, but I would’ve paid top dollar for one of those goofy panic draw things in that moment.

•When in doubt about route-finding, follow the shoe rubber. It’s really visible!

•The final pitch is much harder than the rest of the climb. I’d say it has three separate at least 11- sequences, with the final mantle being the most challenging move on the route and maybe more like 11. Thankfully, they all protect rather well, but then the rock quality deteriorates and the runouts get real again. A wild pitch!!! Mar 9, 2025