Scramble up some chunks at the base of the tower. Climb the ramp to the left to a ledge, then head up for the enticing undercling. Crush the crux, then take the left side up to a ledge to clip the anchors, and do a little victory dance.

Fawkes and the Pilot

Don't Get Me Started

Leftovers

Right Line

Kundalini Express

The Luminosity

Left Line

Twilight Zone

Mephistophiles

Just End It

Harvest Moon

Crumbs

Mission To Mars

The Right Way

Cosmic Explorer

Party On

Stellar Drifter

My Place In the Universe

Contact

Tower of Power

Start Me Up

This climb shares 1/2 of its length with "

Right Line

" yet is quite different.  You see, it doesn't clip any of the bolts....

Climb the lower 1/2 of the closely bolted "

Right Line

" on perfectly good gear placements, from medium stoppers and small cams or up to 2" (Starting pro was a green Camalot and was bomber.)  At the ledge with the tree after the 3rd bolt, step up and right to a natural corner and crack and finish the pitch on 2.5-3.5" cams.  Continue to a belay on tree or go down and left on a ledge to the anchors above

Right Line

.

Follow the approach to the Main Wall of Solaris.  Don't Get Me Started begins 35 feet left of

Start Me Up

, at short face leading to a bushy ramp.

Climb the short face past a bolt, then ramble up the bushy ramp to a steep corner.  Climb the corner and the slab above to the anchors.  Lower 70' to the start.

Barely worth doing, but could be fun for a novice leader.

Starting from the anchors on "Left Side..." a 5.8 sport climb on the lower tier.

Continue up and left for the remainder of a rope length (or so) will take you past MANY gear placement opportunities, which for the first half would be larger (hand-to-fist-sized) cams in good horizontals and then normal gear higher. The grade might be 5.5 or 5.6.

You end up just below the area with the climbs Luminosity and Mission to Mars.

To be as clear as I can, I have *no objection* to someone bolting this as a logical "trail" to the top of the lower section and access to the top tier.

Follow the approach to the Lower Tier of Solaris.  Right Line starts by a double-trunk pine tree.  There is another pine tree on a ledge 20' up the route.

Climb a face past two bolts to a ledge with a tree.  Step left and climb a short pillar to the anchor.  Lower 50' to the start.

Nothing special, but a decent warm-up for the climbs on the Main Wall.

Approach: Hike up to the start of Twilight Zone, and continue 50' right along the ledge around onto the west face.  Spot a left-facing dihedral with a finger crack and a small  pine tree.  This is the route.

Climb the corner, go up a slab, then up a short headwall to the 2-bolt anchor at the top.  Belay from here, then rap the route.

Not a great route, but worth doing if you're in the area and you brought some trad gear with you.

Follow the approach to the Main Wall of Solaris.  The Luminosity starts under a big triangular roof, 85' left of Mission to Mars, and 10' left of Tower of Power.

Climb up into a right-facing corner under the big roof, turn the roof on the left, and continue up the left edge of a steep face to the anchors.  Belay from a good ledge at the top, or lower 75' to the start.

The best route on Solaris.

Follow the approach to the Lower Tier.  Left Line starts 45 feet left of Right Line.  The first bolt is just above a horizontal crack.  Climb a steep wall past three bolts, then ramble up easier, lower-angle rock to the anchors.  Lower 55' to the start.

Another warm-up for the routes on the Main Wall.

A short but sustained and fun route.

Approach: Hike up the talus to the main wall of Solaris.  Cut left and go past the route

Contact

.  Bear right up the first gully.  At the top of the gully you'll reach a ledge on the right below a steep wall.  On the left side of the ledge, spot a line of bolts heading up.  This is the route.

Climb up steep rock past 6 bolts to the anchor.  Lower off.

Two stars for continuity and interesting moves.

Approach: Go to the main tier of Solaris, traverse left past Contact, and head up a gully on the right.  Spot a ledge on the right side of the gully with a line of bolts; this is Twilight Zone.  Mephistophiles starts 10' left of Twilight Zone and goes up a left-angling crack system, with one bolt high on the route.

Climb the left-angling finger and hand crack to a stance by a bolt on the steep upper headwall.  Make several difficult moves past the bolt, gaining a flared finger and hand crack.  Continue up the flared crack to the top.

The rock on this route is still quite dirty, with lots of lichen to spice up the crux headwall.

We top-roped this route after doing Twilight Zone.  The protection on the lower part of the route looks reasonable, but the protection in the flared crack at the top looks as if it could be difficult to place.

Steep, fun climbing through an early crux leads to easier climbing above.

Pull onto the arete from the right of the arete and climb up and left onto the face and into a flare with a huge horn (sling for pro). A tiny diagonal crack protects with a purple Alien or equivalent before pulling up and left into a different crack system.  Follow discontinuous cracks up above the start to the top and to the sling on a tree- presently the sling has not links or rings, and the ledge needs to be cleaned of loose rock.  Parties below made this impossible (unsafe) during the FA.

This is a line that draws the eye as you play on

Left Line

of Solaris.  You see a starting move that looks interesting, and then you continue.  It starts about 20 feet to the left of

Left Line

.  The opening moves are a bit bouldery, since you have to pull a crux moves before getting in pro.  Link a couple other cracks as you angle towards the anchor of

Left Line

.

Follow the approach to the Main Wall of Solaris.  Mission To Mars starts behind a tree close to the rock, just right of a boulder-filled cave.  A finger crack leads up to a right-facing corner capped by a roof.

Climb the finger crack (I protected it with yellow and red Aliens); for purity, don't use the tree.  Clip the first bolt and power layback up to the second bolt (crux).  Clip the third bolt under the roof, step left, and make a hard move over the roof to the anchors.  The final move can be bypassed by stemming off the tree. Lower 35' to the start.

A short but fun route.

This route is just to the right of the second pitch of Stellar Drifter. A very tricky steep slab - worth the walk now that there are other routes.

A short interesting section of climbing with more rock on either end of it. The route is basically uncleaned, as it was done ground up, on-sight on FA.

Stand up on a 1/2 buried flake to reach up under a small roof and place a 2-2.5" cam overhead. Jam and pull the first roof (5.8+) and continue up and left to a second roof, which is much larger.  Protect under that roof on small cams (0.5, 0.75) on a long sling and pull up and left through the roof at its widest point. Very large holds make this easy enough. Place a 2-2.5" cam and pull over the roof with awkward feet and get established above (crux, 5.10- ???) and climb easier terrian with reasonable pro to a tree with a sling which resides directly above on the large, rocky ledge.  The sling has no link on it as of now, and the ledge needs cleaned of loose rock when nobody is around.

From the talus, scramble up to the left below a large Douglas fir that is visible from the road. Climb an obvious crack system in the upper south face for two pitches.

A compelling line that called me the first time I saw it. I knew I'd return to climb it someday. Although it initially was very loose, I cleaned the starting 'cave' from the ground with the help of Mark Ruocco. I then climbed it, cleaning the rest on the way up. It turns out to be great set of hard moves for the first 20 feet, followed by easier climbing through the vertical section, then some still dirty rock up at the very top.

The grade is uncertain, as it was cleaned ground-up and may have felt harder on the FA than it truly will turn out to be once clean, but this is certainly secure somewhere in the 5.11 grade. This and

Cosmic Explorer

are by far the hardest routes at Solaris, in completely different ways.

Climb up on the right wall using slopers for feet and holds on both sides for hands and stems. Gear can be placed on the left side. Convert to underclings, knee-scums, and body tension to pull the big roof (crux, 5.11?) then pull a few more semi-awkward moves to establish feet above the roof (5.10a?) and then climb the more mellow crack to the top. The last few feet are pretty lichenous, but will clean up over time. Presently the critical holds are cleaned.

This climb was cleaned ground-up and has yet to be thoroughly cleaned and scrubbed- this contributes to some ambiguity about the grade, and the final bit of climbing being still licheny (will be cleaned on rap later.)

Potential leaders who are used to sterile conditions might find themselves in a pickle if they get to this before I finish cleaning it...

You can TR after accessing the top from

Mission To Mars

, or if you set a directional using trad gear and TR from the

Mission To Mars

anchors.  But watch out down low, so you don't hit talus from the opening moves back in the cave with rope-stretch.

Follow the directions to the Main Wall of Solaris.  This is the first route you run across.  From the base of the route, it is difficult to see the second pitch, but you can see the beefy bolts for the first.

The first pitch doesn't look too inspiring.  Rossiter's site calls it 5.7.  I guess there is a 7 move in there, but the first 'pitch' is really there to get to the better climbing up above.  Clip four bolts to the anchor on a nice ledge with a bit of loose rock.

The second pitch is fun.  This was our last climb for the day, and it felt a bit hard for 9 but probably due to tiredness.  From the belay, you can clip the first bolt, then move up, clip, make a strenuous layback move, and keep going up.  Toward the end of the pitch, you pull onto a slab for a couple moves, then continue up to the anchor on a nice ledge with a great view.

It would be possible to walk off from here, but rapping the route is certainly more convenient.  We had a 70m rope and even with the long cord it took two raps to get down - the 70m would have left about 15' of downclimbing.

I wouldn't go to Solaris for this route, but if you're there it's worth getting on it.

PS.  I'm sure you can climb this in one pitch....

Follow the approach to the Main Wall of Solaris.  Tower of Power starts by a big triangular roof, 75 feet left of Mission to Mars.

Follow a line of bolts up a steep face on the right side of the big triangular roof.  Turn a small roof, step left, and climb a steep headwall (crux) to a ledge. The crux section can be climbed following the bolt line or using a crack to the right. Another short wall leads to the anchors.  Lower 80' to the start.

The climb has some reachy moves, and may be easier for taller people.

Watch out for some loose rock by the small roof.

This is one of the best routes on Solaris.

Follow the approach to the Main Wall of Solaris.  Start Me Up starts 50 feet left of the big triangular roof of The Luminosity, at a face just right of a blunt arete.

Climb a steep face past three bolts, then ramble up an easy slab to the anchors.  Lower 65' to the start.

Fawkes and the Pilot

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Solaris