Beta for Moonlight Buttress, Zion


Cross river at southern tip of small island just north of MLB. Walk a diagonal route towards Angels Landing. No deeper than 2.5 feet! (in June)
 
200' ropes recommended.
 
I did the 5.8/9 first pitch in guide tennies, but wished for rock shoes. It's 15-20 feet of slab/corner moves from your last 2.5 Friend to some tiny nuts and more iffy moves to a traverse. Then crank up a nice set of double cracks to anchor. Pull up haul line and rethrow around bushes. Best to get pig as high as possible (takes 2 up 4th class ledges). This first pitch has been a buzz kill for a lot of parties. Have 2nd use tagline to help pig over ledge system. Awkward haul, rig over edge. New 3/8" Bolts. Bomber big nut placement.
 
Pitch 2: Don't take the crack out of the belay. Traverse right on ledges to another crack/roof. Will need a #2-#3 Lowe Ball or Leeper Cam hook to get past roof. Easy nutting to good ledge. Good bivy for 1. Awkward haul. New 3/8" bolt anchor.
 
Pitch 3: Bolt ladder with some new 3/8" bolts along the way. Funky free take some medium cams and nuts for the end. Take a big cam for the last bit to prevent a pendy for the 2nd. New 3/8" bolt anchor. Easy haul. Use tagline to lower pig.
 
Pitch 4: Awesome and long! Lots of tcu's and nuts w/ occasional small friends. Pass intermediate belay (scary looking) to belay 2/3 of way up on the LEFT. At least 1 new bolt and gear belay. Easy haul.
 
Pitch 5: Roof/Chimney. First continue up crack, pass roof (#8 hex used here) to awkward chimney. Pass this one to your partner! Thrash on small to medium gear (take a cliffhanger for a pocket below the bad bolt) until it opens up a bit to allow yellow alien and orange tcu crack jumarring. There was fixed gear here as of 6/97. Use fixed stoppers and camalots for pro. Ends at bivy ledge. New Bolts. Easy haul. Bivy on Pitch 6 is narrow and slightly downsloping. Ok for 1, take a ledge or sit all night.
 
Pitch 6: Splitter Crack. Climb awesome finger cracks for 165'. Pass intermediate belay. Anchors a little iffy (star drives, fp-but can place bomber nut). Easy haul.
 
Pitch 7: More of the same with a little variation. Belay below small roof. Possible stretch to rim w/ 200' ropes. Easy haul.
 
Pitch 8: Big Nut Pitch. Steep and quick thru roof. Use all your big stoppers on this one. Final slab is easy and protectable with gear. medium/large friend at base, medium tcu in middle, 1.5 friend at top. Don't go straight up the slab, but sidewinder it to find the path of least resistance. Belay from sturdy pine. Possible to back up with another sturdy pine 30' further back. Go back over the edge to haul. Wait for 2nd to help pig past final overhang before slab as it will hang on the edge.
 
Easy walk off...follow trail to the right until you reach a paved trail. Go left to saddle junction where Angel's landing trail gets technical. Turn right and follow trail for 45 minutes to ground. It's great to stash some water here for use while you either wait for your partner to walk to the Angel's Landing parking lot to get the car or until you can convince a tourist to give your smelly corpse a lift.
 
Go to Bit and Spur in Springdale and buy yourself a beer.
 
We didn't use tricams, but take yellow aliens and orange metolius tcu's they're the ticket for 85% of the route. HB offsets were good too.
 
Have fun!
Rex "Madbolter" Pieper
 
P.S. I wouldn't recommend the retreat route from the top of pitch 3. Talked with party that used it in June and it was a SCARRRRYYYY tale.