shapp Posted April 17, 2009 Posted April 17, 2009 (edited) Trip: Smiff Roxs - Solar Date: 4/16/2009 Trip Report: Had some climby climby at smiff roxs weekend befor last. Hit up Solar. Looked at it since about 1994 but never climbed it due to the scramble/walk off described in Watts (1992). However, we spied some chains at the top of the final crack pitch from the ground while clipping the bolted routes up with the kids at the base. So the more mature and hairy males decided to go climb the nice looking cracks above now that it is easy to get down. Climbed the Phonecall from Satan for the first pitch, then the short 5.8 finger crack (holey shit that is a hard 5.8, couldn't get my fingers in it), then the 5.9 final finger/rattly hands crack to the top. Very fun, surprised you don't see more folks on it. Forget the #3 cams for the final crack, it is more like 1, 1.5 and 2 inch cams. Seems a little harder than most of the other 5.9 cracks at smith. More like 5.9 at Index. Shapp The photographers at the bottom didn't get any photos of the last pitch climbing Edited April 20, 2009 by shapp Quote
ivan Posted April 17, 2009 Posted April 17, 2009 wow barefoot kid ascent! Thats Burly! especially in smiffistan! Quote
shapp Posted April 17, 2009 Author Posted April 17, 2009 (edited) Uncle shapp got her climbing shoes but she prefers the bare feet. Obviously not my kid, I am not near that agro. Shapp Edited April 17, 2009 by shapp Quote
jlag Posted April 17, 2009 Posted April 17, 2009 NICE WORK SHAPPY!! It doesn't see much traffic but is a really cool over-all climb. Your right, that little 5.8 thin crack(more like 5.9 but short) inbetween is a bit spicey. The upper pitch is really fun and gets wide up top. The other variation is to go up Caffeine Free(just left of Phone), go past those anchors. Clip the first 4/5 bolts of the 11a(easy 5.8 moves), move right up a crack and then up to the ledge all in one pitch. Then you avoid the thin spicey crack. That way you can go up in just 2 pitches. JL Quote
fgw Posted April 17, 2009 Posted April 17, 2009 a cool route IMHO (3/4 stars). "traditional" start is a short 5.8 traverse from the gully on the right (nice too). "holey shit that is a hard 5.8, couldn't get my fingers in it)" I recall saying the same thing on that section...harder than any of the .9 crack above I thought. Quote
shapp Posted April 17, 2009 Author Posted April 17, 2009 (edited) I would like to do the 5.8 "finger" crack again. I think the best way is to climb a couple moves to the only good hand hold, throw in a 0 and 00 tcu, move back down and climb the face to the right past the thin crack. Edited April 20, 2009 by shapp Quote
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