This route is pretty darn cool. It takes the arete between Soler and Hollywood and Vine.
Climb up the face left of Soler to a first bolt and commit to Soler Eclipse. Technical face and arete climbing leads to the first crux - a reachy lieback move to a great hold over the obvious roof. Immediately afterwards there is another difficult crux that involves a "I wish my shoes had C4 rubber" move. This brings you to the first (hanging) belay (hidden from view until now).
Continue up on easier (5.10a) climbing to the top - follow the bolts: there are some sucker holds that will lead you right and into bad rock at one point.
Excellent pitch.
Protection
P1: 12 bolts to an anchor. P2: Less than 12 bolts to an anchor.
The first pitch is Marvelous !!! It is full of "Thoughtfull" and "Figure it Out" moves,solid holds,and Fat Bolts. in ALL of the Right Places.Yes 5.11b but Full-on PG!!!
The 2nd Pitch, though technically much easier, 5.10a, is a Huge Contrast. It is quite "run out" and You need to depend on flakes that "bend" and threaten to pull off. There are only 2-3 bolts on the whole pitch and they are of lesser quality. 5.10a, Yes, but 5.10a R!!! USER BEWARE!!!!
Soooo, just do the 1st pitch,enjoy it fully, and rap !!!!
On 4/29/08 all of the old 1" buttonheads with angle iron hangers were yanked and replace with 3/8" X 4" stainless steel 5-piece bolts and new hangers. The ARI donated the bolts, Frank Sanders donated the hangers, and Scott Fitzgerald did the replacement work--a big thanks to all involved! In Frank's post above he commented that the second pitch is only protected by 2-3 bolts, by which he meant decent bolts, because the entire pitch was sport-bolted, although most of the hardware was junk. I believe the bolt count is: P1- 12 bolts, P2-7 or 8 bolts. The entire route is now safely equipped with modern equipment, and is a damn fine line!
Thank you Scott Fitzgerald for the retro fit. I did not remember the hangers being junk but I did get help from Dingus and he may have supplied angle iron hangers. Angle iron is way stronger than any whipper you can take on them. So despite the fears everyone has about them they have caught tons of whippers and have never to my knowledge failed. The bolts had to be 5/16ths buttonheads which despite the lack of knowledge about them (everyone thinks a buttonhead is 1/4 inch) they are really strong if placed in solid rock. But it does not matter now. I am glad you fixed it up. I did a couple of others out there that have that Dennis had set up with angle iron hangers. Astro Glide and Team Ropin'. If you guys want to replace them I would work with Frank to get the hardware. I think ARI will supply them as well. At least they did a few years ago.
Glad it is thought of as a good climb, we felt it was and spent the whole day and part of the night drilling it up. Is it still considered 5.11R or is it now just PG-13?
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