Ascent Notes for: Black Orpheus - 5.10a popular Average Rating : 4.32/5

Best route I've done in a long time. Led every pitch and completed after sundown.

A 1.5 hour approach is well rewarded with some good crack climbing high on the route. The 8th pitch is real straight forward and the 5.8R and 5.9 bulge Supertopo describes is total BS; more like 5.6G and 5.8 one move wonder. The finger crack/lieback on pitch 10 is definitely a step up from 5.6 though. I would also say that pitch 2 may be a little sand bag as well, which was a good thing.

....first three pitches were alright, nothing spectacular, pitch 2 was the best....pitch 3 not so much....if competent, you can put the ropes away for pitches 4-7...would go a lot faster....the Falcon Guide and Supertopo are quite conflicting on this section...but all the ground is easy...most of it is exposed..... last pitches were fantastic...definitely worth the trip up there...we actually set up a hanging belay on those two bolts used to help on the crux move on the pitch above that spectacular corner pitch....that is not a 5.10a move....a lot easier than it looks actually....another nice pitch though...and again, finger crack pitch above those 5.9 pitches is probably more like a 5.7 than 5.6...beautiful position pitch...the descent is fast and furious....I don't get the alpine IV rating on this route considering the easy descent (only two double rope raps with an easy walkoff)....all alpine ratings in the desert are a grade or two higher than what we would rate them in the Canadian Rockies....10 hrs car to car I think...first time partners climbing together, but we moved fairly fast....I can see how folks get benighted as the days get shorter....but you do not have to park in the park (which closes at 6:pm), so you can get a very early start with headlamps from the old campground on the main road outside the park, you could take off, say 2 hours before the sun comes up....

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This route is sort of mediocre...but it is a fun way to start the Eagle Wall routes (i.e. Lev 29 or Eagle Dance). You can simul the route in a few hours.

Swapped leads with Kostas. I got the crux pitch, though I thought the pitch right before it was more difficult.

Good fun.

We totally epic'ed on this route due to insane and hypothermia-inducing 50+ mph winds that picked up in the afternoon on the mid to upper pitches and which eventually knocked our radios out, tangled our ropes beyond all get out, and forced us and the parties behind us to finish in the dark with no headlamps (I was afraid if I tried to remove my pack in the dark to retrieve it, the hurricane-force wind would literally rip it right out of my numb hands). The route is probably great under normal conditions; we chose to descend via the 3 raps down to Eagle Wall walk-off area later in the night vs. Solar Slab descent due to possibility of ropes getting stuck in the Slab. This route has a fairly long approach and about 700 ft of 4th-5th class climbing just to get to the route base. Once you are on, you are committed as there is no way to rap off. Kudos to my brother and partner hobbs024 for redpointing that day--he is my hero!

I would call this 5.9+ and not 5.10a. Fun Climb. We were surprised no one was on the route on a weekend. Crux was way easier than the previous thin-hands pitch.

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