Cat In The Hat notes
Many people seem to get confused about where they are on this
climb. Happened to Ann and I the first time we were on it. The second time we ran
into a party that had also gotten off route at about the same place. See rec.climbing
for several trip reports in this vein.
The Swain topo is confusing with regard to the first belay. It
shows a tree on a ledge, close to the end of the first pitch, and indicates a
belay above that ("on a sloping terrace"). Instead of the tree, you will see a
three bolt belay / rap station on that ledge (the second set of bolts you
encounter on the first pitch). Belay at the bolts, and climb a short (60 ft), 3d
class section over the sloping terrace, up and to the right, to the base of a
short black wall. You have now reached the "official" first belay as
shown on the topo. Belay either at the base of the short black wall, or on the ledge
above it. From there, both the topo and the description are accurate.
Also, watch out for the rope getting stuck on rappel. Lucky
for us, on the first trip a couple of climbers who were rapping down after us got
our rope unstuck, and the second time we only had to spend about 10 minutes to get it
free (on the second rap) and did not have to climb back up. Again, see rec.climbing for some
similar stories.
All in all, a great route.
Solar Slab Gully notes
On a 95 degree day in May 2001, my dad and I went up to the Solar Slab Terrace,
via Solar Slab Gully (5.3 *). We were pretty beat up
from our trip to Mt. Whitney, and we wanted something really, really easy. Luckily, I
was able to set up most of the belays in the shade, which made the climb really
enjoyable. The route can and should be rapped with a single rope (this is not true
for the Solar Slab rappels above the terrace). A single 50 m willsuffice if you are
willing to downclimb the last 10 feet to the ground. Predictably, our rope got stuck,
but we retrieved it pretty easily. One of the rap stations does not have chains, and
the bolts were "equalized" with a loop of perlon cord that was showing wear
from the rope being pulled through. I left my chalk bag biner there.
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