A good new warm up for the area. The blunt arete to the right of Climb-It Change. Climb up jumbled terrain to the tree at the base of the arete. Climb the arete up to a blank section. Either go up via a dynamic move or traverse right a couple moves to easier passage upward. Find your way over the top and clip the chains.

Global Shmarming

Exfoliation

Climb It Change

White Powdery Substance

Emotional Rescue

Snake Run

Egypt Air

Bump

Barracuda

Lean On Me

Back to Nature

Nature Boy Rick Flare

Crocodile Tears

Radical by Nature

Deferred Prosecution

Derelicte

Blow

Derelicte My Bolts

Free Radical

Immodest Monkey

Pharcide

Flying Flesh

Raven's Perch

Throwable Pipe Memorial

Little League Drop-Out

Hillbilly Elegy

Twist Off

Desparete Dancing

Modest Mouse

Old Man Lightning

Blow Me

The Original Route

The start was originally a trad climb with sketchy gear that continues straight up past hard to protect choss. That route has since been disregarded(but props to Ren T. for getting the F.A.) Climb It Change uses the same steep, flaring layaway crack system in the start, but then traverses right into the overhanging face using underclings, a sidepull, and a hard to reel-in edge system. After the crux, punch it past a sinker pocket, some small edges and pods, and a layaway pinch to gain the chains. Pretty sick climb with classic movement. The route was originally bolted by Matt Grecco, with a direct start that has seen no success to date. The alternate start was bolted later.(Edit: Direct start was removed and 5th bolt moved to improve the flow of Climb It Change.)

Another shorty with an entertaining crux on knobs. Kinda lichenous. One of the easiest routes here, but still challenging.

Climb easy terrain to a cruxy bulge mantle to slabby stance. A technical crux requiring precise footwork and underclinging gets you up off the stance and onto the arete. More thoughtful climbing to the chains.

Gorgeous line with perfect rock but an impossible crux off the ground disappoints. If you stick clip the first bolt you can pull past the impossible move and climb the beautiful crack/bulge at 11+.

The S shaped crack, and trad test piece of the area. 5.10 to the ledge, then the crux past the flaring slot. Climb up into the slot until it feels impossible to continue, place two bomber blue TCUs in the crack, then surf out left of the slot to a crimp. Slap and sidepull the left side of the slot feature until you find some finishing holds. No second. This route was established before I learned to remove all choss, so beware if you dare.

Obvious aesthetic arete with scoops in it. Climb fun 5.10 to the arete, aggressively slap and delicately layaway the arete until you can lunge for the ledge. The beta on the arete is devious, but when unlocked, gives the feeling of levitation. Continue up the overhang past a couple more bolts to the anchor. Got the first clean TR burn the day an Egypt Air plane went down in the Atlantic.

Slab climb over a boulder up to a crack below the first bolt. Surmount the awkward ledge before clipping the second bolt and then moving into the crux. Finish with a fun traverse move and some easier climbing to the chains.

Barricuda is an alternate and easier finish to Free Radical. Climb Free Radical but skip right of the thin black water streak and finish on the final steep arete crux of Pharside. Wanders in a big arc through lots of engaging climbing with rests between each crux.

Lean or Stem your way to clipping the first bolt, then enjoy big holds up a moderate arete.

Back to Nature is the direct start to Nature Boy Rick Flare. It's the aesthetic shallow corner behind a small fir tree. Neato technical pulls and footwork lead to the Rick Flare dihedral above. You can link this start to Free Radical for a more sustained climb.

Rick Flare is the flaring dihedral to crack that starts 25 feet off the deck. Originally a pure trad climb, but was later bolted due to the need for another good warm-up. As a trad climb, one had to solo to the start of the dihedral(9+), and then place gear in the flaring crack - fairly bold. For this reason it was rarely, if ever, climbed. Now it is well bolted, and will be one of the best and most popular routes at the crag. Excellent varied climbing, and the best warm-up in this area of the cliff.

A couple bolts up a 5.9 slab lead to a rounded, slightly overhanging arete with increasingly small holds. Criticized for my aggressive cleaning and a small bead of glue behind the first small crimp. If you can overlook this, and you can crank tiny holds, take a ride on the back of this sting ray.

To be radical by nature start on back to nature. After the third bolt continue straight up into free radical.  Make sure to bring two runners for the first two bolts on free radicals face.

After a recent re-bolting effort, this climb will feel more enjoyable...if you're solid on 5.11. Nothing can be done about the ledge below the final headstone....so be sure you have an attentive belay. Start up an interesting slab with 2 bolts. Continue along the right side of the formation until reaching a finger rail that traverses across it from right to left. Take the left arete to the ledge. Finish up the cruxy and beautifully colored headstone past 2 more bolts to the anchor. Deferred Prosecution is what you get when you car camp around Flagstaff during fire season.

Derelicte climbs up a short dihedral with a ceiling, then curves out left up an angling, lazer cut crack with an initial jug opening.  Crank past shallow tips locks using perfectly faint smears. Joins Twist Off at the last bolt. A straight up variation - Derelicte My Bolts  11d/12a - was recently added. An interesting boulder problem with a less sustained finish.

Best warm-up at the cliff. Starts off boulder, or pre-clip first draw and do the sequential direct start. Climbs up to and across juggy rail, past the dihedral, then up past the last bolt to a pocket and some popcorn nuggets. Jugs to top. A direct two bolt variation(without chains) climbs up the dihedral to join the original line - Blow Me 11d.

This climb is the direct finish of Derelicte. Climb up the mini-dihedral to the lid. A hard to read, techy bouldering crux gets you over the little roof and into an easy finish up the seam to the right.

Free Radical shares the start of Pharside, then traverses left after the 2nd bolt and climbs an arc through the beautiful, colorful face, then finishes with an amazing crux at a thin black water streak. This is one of the best and most beautiful routes at Solitude. Lots of varied climbing on good rock and holds, with a four star crux guarding the chains. A good variation to Free Radical avoids the final crux by continuing the arc all the way back into the finishing arete of Pharside - Barracuda 12b.

Shares the first 4 bolts of Modest Mouse and then busts right into a couple harder cruxes. Not a single easy move on this climb. Only 2 ascents to date.

A cruxy boulder problem start with a high first bolt leads to a seam crack with huecos in it. Finishes up the pretty arete with grass growing on the top. Three moments of difficulty with good rests between. A couple holds up high feel a little crumbly, otherwise good.

First route I bolted at Solitude. Vertical dihedral with technical stemming, and a long pull off a knob to a hidden hold near the top. Stout. Named after the big hunk of skin that flew off my knuckle when the wrench slipped off the bolt head.

This is a great traditional pitch with a variety of good crack moves and good protection, however the anchors are guarded by a perplexing and reachy 5.11 crux involving a hard to see toe divot and a sharp, gravel-filled pinkie jam at the lip...with gear at your feet. Top out before bothering to clip the anchor, then get them more easily from above. For people shorter than 5'8" this crux may feel impossible, and is not recommended. A shorter 5.9 variation of this crack line escapes right with a wide stem to the big ledge and an anchor.

Somewhat thrutchy, short, one move wonder, on good rock.

Very short two bolt route on a pretty arete. Could be bouldered, but it would be frightening. David said he would buy dinner for anyone who would. Insecure smearing and arete pinches offer good climbing. The mossy dihedral to the left does not come into play due to the direction of pulls.

A slab boulder problem allows access to a blunt arete feature with a right angling seam on the right side. Power-tech your way up the feature to a tricky transition into the mini-dihedral and to the chains.

Climbs up a few face moves to another dihedral with great rock and unique features. Technical stemming leads to a bizarre sequence of non-holds and a faithful smear. One more interesting sequence to the  anchor. Like all the other routes up here, you get a lot of value in a short distance.

Crimp flake, slap for slopey arete, smeardance to a stance. Crimp miniscule, fingernail nonholds and once again slap for the rounded arete. More smear dancing to the anchor. This one may never get sent. Open project.

Beautiful open book with near perfect rock. Great technical climbing. Short but continuous. A two bolt variation, Immodest Monkey 13a, finishes up right.

Oh yeah I stole this name from the Verm! Us older guys are always trying to stay relevant somehow. I've always wanted to bolt a route at Solitude that just felt easy. Most other attempts resulted in a stiff 5.11. Not this time. A little dihedral crux off the ground brings you to fun, straight forward climbing on big holds. I hope Old Man Lightning sends his project. If not, there's always this line. There’s a lightening bolt hold at the start and the line does have a lightening bolt shape to it.... 

The direct start to Blow. Climb up the crack to a difficult sequence that brings you to the midway point of Blow, then finish with the crux of Blow. A bit reachy getting into the crux at the second bolt so not recommended for the very short. David named this one.

This line originally had 3 rotten star drives and homemade hangers. Don't know if it was freed or aided. Regardless, after leading it and wiggling each piece in it's rotten hole, I retrobolted it. Sustained, bouldery slab climbing up pretty face to featured crack. Quality challenge.

The Solitude Wall features mostly well-bolted, dacite sport routes with a few cracks and some scattered bouldering. This lower cliff band faces Northwest and can be seen from HWY 180 at Shultz Pass Rd. It's a beautiful, secluded, shady and wind protected area with a twenty-five minute approach. Conditions are best from late spring to late fall. Fall days are best for attempting the harder routes, but summer mornings are still good. The single pitch routes are vertical and technical, from 35 to 70 feet long, and all are equipped with anchors. Most routes are 5.11 or 5.12 and have a reputation for being harder than they really are, as the cruxes are bouldery, and the moves often depend on minuscule foot jibs.  

  The short, compact nature of routes like Modest Mouse(12c), Immodest Monkey(13a), and Derelicte(12b) may deter some climbers who favor the height and exposure of Higher Solitude, but what they lack in length is made up for in bomber rock that gets right to the point, much like the Energizer Wall at the Pit. These hard, short routes of Lower Solitude are comparable in length to the crux sections of Main Wall routes at Higher Solitude. 

  There are a couple good trad climbs also. Snake Run(12a), put up around 2000, is still unrepeated. Good boulder problems such as Slackline(v3+ slab), BTBP(v7), Brick Toss(stout v4), and Hot Coffee(v5) can be found along the base of the wall and scattered within the gully below and above.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Solitude Wall