Zion & Moonlight Buttress

It's official. Miles and I climbed Moonlight Buttress. It turned out to be an epic two day event. The first day we climbed with a guy named Brenden that we met at the climbing shop. We showed up at around 8PM on Easter Sunday and figured there would be no way that they'd be open and we were right. Except that there was a dude just hanging out in the shop. He let us in and we started talking about our plans. Before long the three of us agreed to climb the buttress. He also didn't have much aid climbing experience, but we figured that the three of us could figure it out. We spent the rest of the evening eating dinner, turbo reading John Long's Big Wall book and sorting gear before hitting the hay right around 12.

Moonlight Buttress (IV 5.9 C1). Route is in red

The next morning we were up at 5 and ready to do the buttress in a day. We had a few things to take care of before we left and were on the shuttle into the canyon at 7:15. The crux of our morning was figuring out how to get across the river that runs in between the road and the base of the climb. We ended up getting off the bus early so that we could cross a bridge, hopefully avoiding a crossing that would be too deep. We spent the next hour walking cross country to the base of the climb. Once there we realized that we were behind four people who had manned up and crossed the river. Now we were in a big traffic jam and we walked an hour for no reason. Oh well.

After everyone started up the route Brenden took off on the first pitch. Once on top he belayed Miles and I up to his spacious ledge. From there I led the second 5.10a pitch and fixed lines for Miles and Brenden to jug up. Miles then led the next C1 bolt ladder to the base of the real aid pitches. At this point we were caught in a traffic jam and it became real apparent that we weren't going to be able to climb it in a day. We decided to fix lines down to the ground and come back the next day to finish it up.

The next day Brenden had to work so Miles and I went back to the base of the climb alone and were ready to finish it up. We started by ascending 350' of ropes back to the top of the third pitch. Once there I geared up and took off on my first real aid pitch. It was so much fun. I didn't think that I would like aid climbing, but I really enjoyed it. It took me a couple hours to lead the pitch and once at top I fixed the lines for Miles and tried to get comfortable at the hanging belay.

Miles crossing the freezing cold river on the second morning

Looking down from the hanging belay at the top of pitch 4

Miles led the next pitch through a roof and chimney. Needless to say he struggled a little bit, but he still reached the top after a several hour battle. I jugged up the lines and was excited to lead the next pitch when Miles told me that he wanted it to redeem himself after getting his butt kicked by the chimney. I obliged since there was a ledge for me to stand on and I wouldn't be at a hanging belay.

Miles getting to the roof on pitch 5

The view of Angel's Landing from the top of pitch 5

Miles led this pitch in much better style and before long I joined him up at the belay. By now it was dark, yes we were very very slow, and I quickly took off on the next pitch. I led this pitch with only the light of my headlamp. I enjoyed every minute of it. I got to the top at 12:30AM. I fixed the lines and Miles was up right before 1.

We quickly packed up our gear, ate the rest of our cookies and took off for the RV. We ended up walking a total of 6 miles. 2.5 to get to the road and 3.5 on the road. We got the the RV just after 3AM and didn't hit the hay until 4. It ended up being a long 22hr. day. Needless to say we are not efficient aid climbers yet, but the only way to get better is to get after it and do it and we sure did that.

Now that it has been a couple of days and I've had some time to reflect on our experience I can't wait to do more big walls. It was so much fun getting that high up on a sheer rock face. I didn't want to climb El Cap until next fall, but I've changed my mind and now I'm going to do it this spring.

As of now we are going to be spending the next week or so in Red Rocks, just outside of Las Vegas. Stay tuned for more updates.