Rain Man do not DO NOT use the guide book descent for Solar Slab. Look up alternate descents on the internet. my friend (colt45) got benighted on the descent and is very experienced. (over 50 multi-pitch climbs to his name).
Todd Swains red rock guide book sux. he almost got us killed on eagle dance.
Have fun Though!!!
CA trip with diversion near Vegas.
basically, they got so confused by the descent description that they were still trying to get down when it got dark. once it got dark they didn't feel like it was safe to try to figure out how to get down with exposed cliff faces and huge drops around them. So they spent the night spooning with in their shorts and tshirts. luckily they had 2 space bankets or else mike thinks they might have froze for the night. it was may but in the desert it gets really really cold at night. they were in such bad shape and the directions in the guidebook were so poor, it took them 8 hours or so to get down the next day and they didn't even go back to the campground. they imediately went to a hotel and checked in.
later mike was doing some research online about other red rocks climbs and he found warnings about the descent in the guidebook for solar slab was really bad and lists of other better options. you could also just ask at desert rock sports. those guys seem to know what they are talking about.
you might want to do jonny vegas as an approach to solar slab rather than the solar slab gully. i hear it is much better. i did the gully a long time ago and it wasn't that fun.
later mike was doing some research online about other red rocks climbs and he found warnings about the descent in the guidebook for solar slab was really bad and lists of other better options. you could also just ask at desert rock sports. those guys seem to know what they are talking about.
you might want to do jonny vegas as an approach to solar slab rather than the solar slab gully. i hear it is much better. i did the gully a long time ago and it wasn't that fun.
Back from the Dead!
Well, Solar has been slabbed 
I rode all day Saturday from S.F. to L.V. up through Yosemite and over the Sierras, then down through Bishop and across Death Valley. The total ride (on a motorcycle) was about 12 hours, but at LEAST 30-45 minutes of that was a misdirection due to crap-assed signage in Yosemite where I was supposed to make a turn. The scenery was spectacular to say the least. The ride though the mountains and then Death Valley was made even better by the fact that the roads were almost MADE for sport bikes. I even got a nice stretch of 125-130 mph rolling through Death Valley at 6pm or so with miles of sand, cactus and straight road.
Up for an alpine start at 3:45, but misdirected AGAIN getting to the guy's house, we arrived at the dirt path to Solar at 5:30am. We hiked in the 1.5-2 miles as the sun rose on the canyon and set the mood for the climb.
Solar itself was exactly as I expected; long, a scramble on some pitches and pretty technical footwork that I thought was a few grades harder than the rated 5.6 on others. I loved the 180-190' pitches. Looking back and see nothing but air brought a smile to my face and sunshine to my soul. I think Solar is about 1400' of actual climbing, with an additional 200' scramble to reach the start of the decent.
The decent SUCKED! We down-climbed some 1400 feet and rapped about 220' more over 3 raps. I was not expecting so a harrowing decent. In many places, one slip of the foot would have sent me tumbling a couple hundred feet. 3.5 hours AFTER we finished climbing, we were finally on the valley floor. Wow....what a workout getting down. The whole experience was awesome, the climb was a blast, the decent was an adventure and the weekend on a whole was one I won't forget. All told, from the start of the hike in, to the end of the hike out, the "climb" took just under 11 hours.
Special thanks to J.H. for his help in getting me in touch with his friend (who is a recent Cincy transplant to Vegas, strong climber and all around nice guy). Both are good guys. It's kind of funny to see how some of you react to J.H. when, if you got to know him and met his friends, you'd be much less harsh.
At any rate, Solar Slab was my first step into the world of multi-pitch trad climbs. I am looking forward to starting to climb Trad to expand my bag-o-tricks and open even more doors and experiences.
I rode all day Saturday from S.F. to L.V. up through Yosemite and over the Sierras, then down through Bishop and across Death Valley. The total ride (on a motorcycle) was about 12 hours, but at LEAST 30-45 minutes of that was a misdirection due to crap-assed signage in Yosemite where I was supposed to make a turn. The scenery was spectacular to say the least. The ride though the mountains and then Death Valley was made even better by the fact that the roads were almost MADE for sport bikes.
I even got a nice stretch of 125-130 mph rolling through Death Valley at 6pm or so with miles of sand, cactus and straight road.Up for an alpine start at 3:45, but misdirected AGAIN getting to the guy's house, we arrived at the dirt path to Solar at 5:30am. We hiked in the 1.5-2 miles as the sun rose on the canyon and set the mood for the climb.
Solar itself was exactly as I expected; long, a scramble on some pitches and pretty technical footwork that I thought was a few grades harder than the rated 5.6 on others. I loved the 180-190' pitches. Looking back and see nothing but air brought a smile to my face and sunshine to my soul. I think Solar is about 1400' of actual climbing, with an additional 200' scramble to reach the start of the decent.
The decent SUCKED! We down-climbed some 1400 feet and rapped about 220' more over 3 raps. I was not expecting so a harrowing decent. In many places, one slip of the foot would have sent me tumbling a couple hundred feet. 3.5 hours AFTER we finished climbing, we were finally on the valley floor. Wow....what a workout getting down. The whole experience was awesome, the climb was a blast, the decent was an adventure and the weekend on a whole was one I won't forget. All told, from the start of the hike in, to the end of the hike out, the "climb" took just under 11 hours.
Special thanks to J.H. for his help in getting me in touch with his friend (who is a recent Cincy transplant to Vegas, strong climber and all around nice guy). Both are good guys. It's kind of funny to see how some of you react to J.H. when, if you got to know him and met his friends, you'd be much less harsh.
At any rate, Solar Slab was my first step into the world of multi-pitch trad climbs. I am looking forward to starting to climb Trad to expand my bag-o-tricks and open even more doors and experiences.
Last edited by Rain Man on Mon Nov 03, 2003 5:05 am, edited 2 times in total.
"I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself."
D. H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence
No. I took 395 through Bishop down to Lone Pine, then hopped on 136/190 for the ride through Death Valley and into Pahrump, then on to Vegas. The decent to the valley was MADE for a sport bike. Howver, since I was traveling alone, on a seldom traveled stretch of road, I chose to exhibit caution, rather than exhuberance, through the turns so as to keep the shiney side up. I had already had one low-side last Thursday on a ride through the hills north of Santa Cruz, I didn't need another.
Last edited by Rain Man on Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself."
D. H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence
Was the descent you did the Swain one?
I've had some fun experiences with that guide book. Finding Tunnel Vision was a bitch (luckily someone chalked 'TV' on the rock - the book wasn't much help.) The top of the last pitch was, er, ambiguous. (I'm still not sure where the 'official' belay would have been. Squat in the hueco?) And the book claimed a '15 minute' descent. It think it was the best way down, but with the rap and much, much weird scrambling, it was more like an hour and a half back to the car. Bah!
I've had some fun experiences with that guide book. Finding Tunnel Vision was a bitch (luckily someone chalked 'TV' on the rock - the book wasn't much help.) The top of the last pitch was, er, ambiguous. (I'm still not sure where the 'official' belay would have been. Squat in the hueco?) And the book claimed a '15 minute' descent. It think it was the best way down, but with the rap and much, much weird scrambling, it was more like an hour and a half back to the car. Bah!
Bacon is meat candy.
I didn't use a guidebook (mistake?). The guy I climbed with had done the route before a couple years back, so I assumed (mother of all f*&k-ups) he knew the easiest way down. The decent was ambiguous at best, with a lot of route finding to get down. The only clues we were heading in a direction that MIGHT get us off the mountain were the 3 places with rap slings set up. I guess if we would have tried to rap off on another route we could have gotten down pretty fast, but we down-climbed through the gulch way up and to the right (while facing the rock) of Solar. I would love to see the path you used to get back to your car in 1.5 hours. Like I said, our decent easily took 3.5-4 hours to the car.
"I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself."
D. H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence