Overall, Moonlight is a great short wall.  The line is super clean, the belays are all pretty bomber, and the scenery is amazing.  Zion is a beautiful place and the Moonlight Buttress formation offers spectacular views across the canyon.  I would highly recommend it as a second wall or as a warm up to the big stone.

Since I hadn’t heard from my partner, I figured I was going solo, which was just fine with me.  I needed some time to think and was looking forward to some time to myself and some good hard climbing.  I think that God often gives us bookends to mark the periods in our lives.  Touchstone two years ago was the beginning of a lot of things that have been significant in my life since then.  Returning Zion would give me a chance to sort through the lessons of the past year and pray and think and believe.

Anyway, the trip started as I intently peered at the weather reports on the net.  As it turned out, mother nature may have decided to make up for the cold spell two years ago and sent unseasonably warm weather this time around.  I hopped into the car in LA and made tracks for the park.  After an uneventful night in the campground I headed over to the ranger station to get my climbing permit and see if there was any available beta.  The backcountry rangers don’t know too much about climbing, but they do have access to a little black book which contains topos and beta from past climbers.  Pretty darn good idea – way better info than in the Bjornstadt book.

Day 0: Rope Fixing
Armed with the best the NPS had to offer I headed out to scope the route and haul gear.  I am officially the worst route finder in the world and it took me a while to find what is probably the most obvious line in the canyon.  Duh.  Once I tracked it down I separated my gear into two loads and made my way to the base of the climb.  The approach to the base takes you across the river (if you use the direct route).  During the winter the water is super cold but the flow is really mellow, so the crossing is pretty easy.  After a couple of trips I managed to get everything to the base.

The first pitch was the scariest of the climb, believe it or not.  First, you have to get the bags pretty high up the third class ledges, even if you’re using a 60m rope (which I was, thankfully).  Then, the sort of free, sort of aid first pitch is pretty indistinct.  It looks like you can go up a couple of cracks, and the Bjornstadt guide shows a 5.8 ramp off to the left.  It looked to me like the easiest way up was a crack system off the left side of the face but not as far over as the manky ramp.  I headed up, traversing back and forth to follow the line of least resistance.  The crux of the pitch was an airy free traverse from the flat top of a column to the base a thin 5.7ish (yeah, right) crack.  The pitch takes you across a face and up about ten feet of pretty sharp huecos.  I hate doing free moves with all my aid gear, especially when soloing.  Between aiders hanging down to trip on, the gri-gri getting hung up, the back up knot short-roping you, and all the gear jingling and jangling and hooking it seems like there’s always something conspiring against you.  By the end of the climb I was talking to my rack, just to make sure everybody was ready to go before making any free moves.  “Everybody ready?  All systems go?”  Fortunately they never talked back. . .

Anyway, having passed the crux I headed up to the first anchor.  I decided to fix the first pitch and leave most of the bag and the rack up top.  Then I rapped down, hiked back across the river, cracked open a beer and hung out with some climbers as I prepared for launching early the next morning.  They turned out to be pretty cool and kept exhorting me to BE CAREFUL.  Soloing is dangerous.  Hmmm.  Anyway, as I fell asleep I struggled with the role of climbing in my life and the shifting nature of priorities, relationships, and religion. In short, I had the classic pre-wall jitters.

Day 1: Great Climbing and Reflection
Four o’clock in the morning came all too soon and I made some coffee and oatmeal and savored my last hot meal for a while.  I trudged over to the base in the dark, crossed the oh-so-cold river to the base and jugged up in the gathering light.  Dawn was beautiful even as nervous as I was.  I got the bag repacked, my anchor reset, and generally got set for the second pitch.  “No reason to delay?” I asked myself hopefully.  Nope.  Off I go. . .

Number two wanders up some fourth class ledges to hook up with a straightforward crack.  Don’t go up the crack on the left, directly above the anchor, it leads to nowhere.  The second pitch is pretty easy.  The third pitch is the obligatory rivet ladder.  The topo I picked up at the visitor center called the manky rivets “fuked.”  I’m not sure exactly the derivation, but the rivets sucked.  No, really.  Someone should get on out there with a bolt kit, soon.  Bouncie bouncie on the rivets, some sticking halfway out of the rock.  Fortunately they all held and I made it to the base of the fourth, whew.

It’s pretty easy to bail from here and I’d be lying if I told you that I didn’t contemplate heading on home. But one of my greatest strengths as a climber is a serious case of pig-headedness and I headed up the fourth pitch, which is really a combination of the fourth and most of what used to be the fifth.  This is one of the best pitches of climbing that I’ve ever seen.  It is to finger cracks what Reed’s Direct is to hand cracks.  A couple of bolts to a perfectly parallel finger crack.  I wish I could climb 5.12 because this would be an absolutely delicious pitch; but I don’t and I off I sped on aid.  And so began the back-cleaning game.  I had arrogantly brought only three yellow TCU’s, two red TCU’s, and a miserable 1 orange TCU.  What was I thinking?  It’s entirely unclear at this juncture.  But I was stuck with my little rack of finger sized cams and 200 feet of finger crack.  Cam, backclean, cam, backclean, nut.  Repeat.  The upside was that the placements were entirely bomber.  By the time I got to the top of the pitch I had ten to fifteen foot run-outs between placements.  All of the placements.  It got to be so that it was a treat to leave a cam; a little added bonus I allowed myself, like eating Ben and Jerry’s or something.

Anyway, I made it to the top of the fourth pitch and set up the first of the hanging belays on the route.  Here I had an interesting decision.  The fifth pitch was long and I had to make it up before dark.  This turned out to be the inflection point of the route, from a timing perspective.  If I made the top of five I could probably make it off in two days.  But I didn’t relish climbing in the dark.  Well, wall climbing is all about calculated risks, so off I took on the fifth pitch.  As good as the fourth pitch was, the fifth pitch was bad.  Bad, bad, bad.  It starts off with a continuation of the finger crack; then traverses around a corner and into 30 or 40 feet of manky nightmare chimney; then 100 feet of battling awkwardness until finally a roof to a fantastic belay.  I got there at 4:00, about 45 minutes before it got dark.

This belay is awesome!  A ten foot slanted ledge with bomber bolts all the way across and one bolt placed sky high and just right for hanging a ledge.  I got the bags hauled (easy, despite the chimney) and the bivy set up in the darkening sky.  I had brought my A5 double ledge and I was reclining in style as the sun set.  I had some cold Chef B and a short discussion with the ledge, in which it informed me that I had the wrong side set to the wall, could I please turn it around?  Soon I set about to the task of the wall – some good hard thinkin’ and prayin’.  The fact that it was pitch black by, oh, 5:30 gave me lots of time.  I popped on the walkman, read a bit of my journal and watched Orion rise across the desert sky.  Author’s aside: I never know constellations actually rise, like the sun and moon.  With no moon and no lights from any town to speak of the sky was as beautiful as I’ve ever seen.  Anyway, somewhere while reading my journal I realized that it was my ex’s birthday, that night.  Ha!  How fitting.  After lots of internal machinations I finally drifted off to sleep with my Ki quite a bit closer to center and my mind appreciating the beauty of God’s creation and subtleness of His plan for my life.

Day 2: Topping Out
I had been dreaming of the next pitch for a couple of days.  The beta I pulled off the internet informed me that pitch 6 was the “orange TCU” pitch. With my one orange TCU I figured this was going to be a challenge.  Apparently you can run 6 and 7 together, but with my skimpy rack I wasn’t about to attempt it.  I headed up and managed to place a few yellow aliens and a few nuts to start.  Then came the encore performance of the back cleaning game.  As it turned out, the crack is super clean and has an occasional slightly larger cam or nut placement.  I fired in my lone orange five times, and cleaned it five times.  Soon I was at the belay and reorganizing.  Pitch 7 is a joy and a nightmare all rolled into one.  It continues the finger sized cam placements of 4 and 6 and I kept up the backcleaning game.  But I was in a groove and started smelling the top in a big way.  I wouldn’t have minded staying another night on the wall, but how cool would it be to get off?  Place, clean; place, clean.  Yee-haw, top of seven and only two to go.  It’s noon and summit fever is raging.

Pitch 8 is a blur.  The placements are a little smaller than the past 400 feet, but generally pretty bomber.  What I remember most about this pitch is the belay – it’s great, in this weird rock that looks like it might have had acne as a teenager.  The topo that I got from the visitor center calls it the “swiss cheese” belay.  It’s 2:30 and I decided that spending the night here was not an option.  One pitch and plenty of time.

The vast majority of placements throughout the route were good despite the sandstone.  Pitch 9 was the exception that proves the rule.  There are several loose placements here (although nothing terribly exciting that you can’t get around), and I climbed with slightly less abandon than had characterized the my approach to the earlier sections of the route.  The fantastic route ends with the requisite silly run out face climbing.  “All systems go boys?  Green light.”  Before I knew it I was on top.  Yee-haw, I screamed, and the canyon screamed back.  What an amazing feeling!  For a brief instant, the angst that I had been carrying around for two months dropped away and I felt like I was, literally and figuratively, on top of the world.

I set up an anchor from a couple of trees and got the haul ready.  The key piece of beta on this pitch is to extend the haul over the edge.  By doing this you make the haul pretty easy – I managed to get the bags up without rapping down to free them.  As it grew dark I organized the rack and gear and dragged the pig up to a flat spot on top of the column.  I could see the descent and I settled down for some Trader Joe’s chili and a good night’s sleep back in the realm of the horizontal.

Day 3: Descent
The descent from this route is cake (of course, my last descent was from the top of Washington’s Column, across the death slabs, so just about anything would have seemed easy).  You hook up with the West Rim trail, which is a wide, semi-paved joy.  I slept until the sun woke me up, had some bagels and bean dip, packed the pig and headed down.  The trick to getting down fast is dropping off the trail as soon as it gets to the valley floor and recrossing the river, which I did.  I hit the road for the glory walk back to the car, although there weren’t many tourons to impress.  Ha!

At the end of the day Moonlight Butress was an awesome wall.  The super clean line was really fun to climb (for the most part : - ) and the solitude and reflection winter in the desert offered were just what my soul needed.  Back to the grind and a bit of ice climbing, it appears.

Pitch By Pitch Beta:
The following is taken from a post by Brent Ware.  Italics and mistakes are mine.

River crossing: It can be done at least up to 200 cf(s/m? the ranger wasn't clear on the units), at knee height or so. Sandals are nice for this.  During the winter there is no issue – the water only comes up to maybe your knees.  Spring might be a different story.

It's pretty obvious how to get to the base. Try to get your bags up to the highest third class ledges. You can haul from the obvious lower ledge with the climber-made stone wall with a 60m rope, but with a 50m you'll have to get the bags higher. In any case, it makes for easier hauling to get the bags up. I didn't; should have.  I echo Brent’s view – get the bags as high as you can get them!  I never found the stone wall, but I would have liked to get the pig higher.  As it turned out, my 60m barely stretched to where I left them.

PITCH 1
5.8+, 120' of climbing, 200' of hauling. Go way left, casual third class up ledges to a friction slab in a corner, rope up and start climbing there. Drop the haul line back down to your bags and haul straight up. Two good bolts and a bomber big nut placement. Big stance belay. Easy haul, if you rig the haul over the edge.  The free moves are pretty easy.  I went up the middle crack and traversed around, which I don’t recommend.  Do the ramp.

PITCH 2
C1, maybe 5.10ish (estimated). Take the second crack right of the belay, which starts under a small roof. There is about 15 feet of third class scrambling to get to the base of the right crack. The first crack (shown in the Bjornstadt guide) leads nowhere. Couple of easy free moves at the end. Two good bolts here, big stance. Okay haul.  Tough to get back to the belay if you’re soloing.  Lower out the bags or they’ll go bouncing across the face.

PITCH 3
C1, 5.6. Bolt ladder with some free moves on big ledges.  Semi-manky pins and bolts on the ladder.  Drilled pins and good bolts at the belay.  Stance belay on a 27" TV-sized loose block held in place with chains. Okay haul.  The rivets on the ladder are as scary as I’ve ever climbed on and the loose block is a carbon copy of the old death block from the Nose.  I hauled and set up my anchor on the ledge next to the death block rather than on top of it.

PITCH 4
C1+. The yellow Alien pitch. Straight-up crack in the dihedral. Lots of yellow Aliens and TCUs.  Finger sized cams all the way up, with an occasional good nut placement. This is the crux of the route, absolutely wonderful climbing.  Belay 2/3s of the way up the dihedral below the roofs on the left side, not the right as shown in the B. guide. At least one good bolt here, sling belay. 50m pitch. Easy haul.   The airiest belay of the route – 200 feet of finger crack below you.

PITCH 5
C1+. Awkward aid in a chimney/overhanging corner. Varying sizes, yellow and orange TCUs, .5 camalot seemed to be very handy. This is p6 in the B. guide; apparently the p4 belay has been moved higher, and p5 and p6 combined into one long pitch.   This pitch sucks, no two ways about it.  A few good moves lead you into the chimney, where the less-than-fun groveling begins.   Lots of good bolts at the belay, very comfy belay ledge, okay bivy for one, less-than-okay for two.  The belay is awesome if you brought your ledge – there’s a bolt placed high enough to hang it from and the sloping rock ledge provides a perfect place to get organized.  Plan to spend the night here!

PITCH 6
 C1. The orange TCU pitch. 100' pitch to two star drives, a .5 camalot crack, and an okay stance. Easy haul. This could be combined with the next pitch using a 60m rope, barely. No way you could make it with a 50m.  The NPS topo shows 6 and 7 as a combined pitch, but I still doubt that it would go.  Fine belay, fun climbing.

PITCH 7
C1. Orange and yellow TCUs and nuts. 100' pitch to one good bolt, two star drives, and a bomber big nut placement. Big loose blocks sitting on the stance. A decent bolt about halfway up (an old anchor); at this point I looked down and it looked like I had free-climbed this pitch, 20' runouts between pro. Easy haul.  Ditto.  Some backcleaning and lots of finger sized cams

PITCH 8
C1+. The offset pitch. HB offsets and green Alien size. A very nice belay station, lots of new bolts. Sling belay. Easy haul.  I placed quite a few small nuts and cams at the beginning of this pitch, but it gets wider toward the end and into some more finger sized pieces.  Shorter, maybe 80’.

PITCH 9
This pitch starts with medium sized cams and larger nuts in chossy, grainy placements.  I had more pieces pop when I bounce-tested them on this pitch than on all the other pitches combined.  After some choss, move through a pod with a few mandatory 5.9 free moves to some more chossy aid.  Then up and over a small lip to the 5.7 slabby run-out.  I got in maybe two pieces of marginal pro – move straight up, then traverse right on a footrail, then hook up and left to top out.  Kind of lousy haul, make sure to extend your anchor over the edge; two trees can be used an anchor.
 

EOD RECOMMENDED RACK

1 blue alien
2 green aliens / blue metolius
4 yellow aliens / metolius
4 orange metolius / ?aliens
3 red aliens / metolius
2 #0.5 camalots
2 #0.75 camalots
2 #1 camalots
2 #2 camalots
1 #3 camalot
2-3 sets of nuts, especially larger sizes

Standard slings, biners, quickdraws, etc.  I brought my hammer to use for cleaning and was very glad I did.  I think maybe metolius cams stuck better in the sandstone than aliens (although I am an alien fanatic in granite).  No pins, heads, etc. necessary or even possible; I brought my hooks but was never tempted to use them.  In general, there is not much fixed gear on the route, very few bolts except for the ladders on 3 and the beginning of 4 and at the anchors.  Looks like at least one new 3/8 inch bolt in just about every anchor.