Moonlight Buttress Solo

 I arrived in Zion just after 4 and drove straight to the Big Bend parking area. I walked down the trail and found the river crossing and hiked all of my gear to the base of the route. The approach was straight forward and I found the 5.8 ramp after scrambling through some bushes. I had plenty of daylight, so I decided to scope out the first pitch and see if I would feel comfortable free soloing it in the morning, in approach shoes.

There was no anchor available on the ledge, but 15 feet up I found a stance that took two cams. I rigged my grigri and rope soloed up the beginning of the first pitch. It was a little run out, but I stopped for pro when it was available. Free climbing while rope soloing with a grigri is tough! I short roped myself time after time and was not really enjoying the sandy, slabby climbing. I remembered I had to step right to stay on route, so I traversed over and found the correct hand crack that would take me to the anchor. On the last top out move, I short roped myself again! I had to reverse the move and try to push down the cam on my grigri to allow rope to feed out.

Once I got to the anchor, I pulled all the way to the other end and fixed it with a double figure 8 with bunny ears. I rapped the single line and cleaned my gear on the way down. It was a bit strenuous because the route traversed, I was fighting against a swing around the corner. When I returned to my pack, I decided that nobody in their right mind would jug this pitch and force themselves to lead it again tomorrow just for the ethics of “In A Day” climbing. I decided to leave the rope fixed on pitch one. I grabbed my pack, and looked at the swing potential. It looked fine, so I pulled in the excess slack and tied a backup knot, and walked to the right through some nasty bushes. Just before I launched into the swing, I found a Yellow C3 tangled in the bushes. BOOTY! I grabbed it, looked up to try to decide where it was dropped from. I jumped to the right to take the swing and woah, it was WAY bigger than I thought it would be! I came crashing into the wall and had to take 4 steps to slow my momentum and regain control. I rapped down the rest of the line and found a stump to fix the bottom end of the rope. I left all of my gear, including my pack at the base, and descended the approach trail just before dusk. I made it back to the car without turning on my headlamp, barely!

I wasn't even sure if I had slept at all when my alarm went off at 4am. I sluggishly pulled myself out of bed, remembering all the trip reports that I have read in the past of people thinking “This is going to hurt.” I was thinking, this is going to be awesome! I'm super stoked, so I tried to move everything as fast as possible from here until I'm back on the ground. Despite my enthusiasm, I didn't leave the hotel until 5am. I pulled into my parking spot right next to Big Bend with my spare shoes for the river crossing already on. The river was cold, but nothing could dampen my spirits at this point. On the other side I dried my feet with a towel and changed to my approach shoes. From here, the approach was easy.

I found my pack easily, and began unpacking and putting my harness on. I attached my ascenders and pulled the slack through the rope. Just before taking off, I check the time: 6:01. I blasted off on the first pitch, or described in a better way, I began awkwardly flopping up the rope. After 20 feet, it became apparent that I am very bad at jugging. I had only practiced 3 pitches in my entire life before now. I couldn't figure out the rhythm, and I was using my arms way too much. I gasped for air as my arms swelled from exertion. After what seemed like an eternity, I made it to the first pitch anchor. I restacked the rope, and scrambled right to get to the first aid climbing pitch. I did a few free moves and reached high to sink the smallest cam I brought, a purple c3. It looked decent but not great, so I slowly committed and was happy to see it held. I stepped high in my aiders and tried to wiggle my offset cam in around the roof, it was the wrong size, so I found a different cam and began a methodigal effort of aiding the short crack. I reached the p2 anchor quickly. From here, I wanted to leave some extra rope behind before continuing to the 3^rd pitch so that if I needed to lower out when cleaning I would have no problem. I pulled up 15-20 feet of slack, then short fixed the rope and began p3. It was supposed to be a bolt ladder right off the anchor, but the only bolt I saw was 15 feet right. I busted out the free climbing moves and reached the first bolt. After clipping here, the next bolt was another 15 feet away. While I'm doing this, I see a headlamp moving to the base of the wall and I can hear the sound of jingling gear. I was no longer alone. I placed a #3 and executed a pendulum to reach the next bolt. Once there, I realized that this was the free climbing variation, and I had clearly missed the bolt ladder where I wanted to be. I left a carabiner here, and lowered out to clean the rest of my gear and get back to the anchor. This involved some shenanigans, and was a waste of 20 precious minutes.

When I returned to the anchor, the first bolt in the bolt ladder was obvious and right there! I clipped it with a draw and put the rope through for protection. I back cleaned the next 6 bolts to reach a ledge. I clipped a runner to the bolt here for protection. I worked my way across the ledge and clipped the last two bolts on my way to the anchor. I could feel myself stretching the rope and being pulled backwards as I reached the rocker blocker. I didn't know if I was going to have enough rope to fix here at the anchor. I extended the chains at the anchor with two slings, then fixed the rope and put my grigri on to rap and clean. I took all the cams and spare gear off my harness and left them at the belay while I went down to clean pitches 2 and 3. Half way down, the rope went tight. To my horror, I could not continue to rappel. I was stuck, halfway between the two anchors and in need of a solution! This would be my first major hurdle.

A thought crossed my mind to clip the rope with a locker and do a zip line type stunt to the pitch 2 anchor, but I could not unweight the grigri. Instead I attached my jumars, with the plan of down jugging the fixed rope. Once the top ascender was attached, I could unweight the grigri just enough to open it and release the rope. I was extra careful not to drop the grigri when I detached it here. Once the grigri was out, I down jumared sideways across the line with an awkward technique that put my left foot horizontal to unweight the top ascender. When I returned to the ledge, I noticed that it was light enough that I could turn off my headlamp. I passed the anchor and another climber greeted me at the first pitch belay. He asked if I was alone, and I could sense that he was hinting at wanting to pass. I said hellow and we chatted about their ascent tactics. He told me they would aid it, but short fix. I told him that they could pass if need be, while I put my pack on and tore down the anchor. I didn't need to lower out, as I could just scramble across some easy ledges to get below the 2nd pitch anchor. Knowing that I had another team right on my tail, I jugged my heart out, stopping only twice to rest from exhaustion. I reached the p2 anchor, and left a biner for a big lower out. I lowered out almost 50 feet and again jugged as fast as my body would allow. Did I mention that I'm terrible at jugging?

I reached the rocker blocker on pitch 3 after what felt like an eternity. Here is where the "good aiding" would start. I passed 3 bolts and then got into the finger crack. I sunk cam after cam into the beautiful corner and back cleaned aggressively. The leading part of aid climbing was quite easy. I already had the idea planted in my head of aiding without the rope on the later pitches; this was starting to become a more obvious and viable option to avoid any jugging in the future. When I was 3/4 done with this stellar one inch crack, I heard the fellow below me fix his rope at the rocker blocker. I was 1 move away from a free climbing anchor, so I stopped here and fixed my rope. I asked how long until he would be leading, he said one minute, so I transitioned into the cleaning/jugging phase. He asked if he should wait until I was finished cleaning, or start or if he could start. I told him to do whatever worked best for him, so he began up the pitch as I descended to clean. I passed him on the way down,only to make him to do a dance to flip my rope past him. I set up to jug at the anchor and blasted off. For a brief moment, I had some rhythm! I linked together 8 or so steps without much effort and felt as if I was getting the hang of jugging!

I had already decided that I would let Jared pass, so when I returned to my anchor I busted out some snacks and my phone to take a few photo's. As Jared was nearing me, the sun crested the mountains behind me and we were basking in the glorious sun. I was already quite warm, but I was glad to feel the ambient heat, and take in this surreal environment. I would be sitting at this anchor for a bit as I waited for Jared and his partner Dan to pass, so I figured I might as well enjoy it. Too often, I am in too much of a hurry and I forget to absorb the beauty of my surroundings.

Jared and Dan both expressed a bit of concern for the pitch 5 chimney, they asked me what I brought to get through it. I told them with a grin that I brought chimney climbing technique, and that I actually liked to climb in chimneys! Jared reached my anchor, he started to short fix. Instead I had the idea of putting him on belay while I was hanging there so he could move more quickly and not have to worry about self belaying. He was stoked on the idea and continued passed as Dan began jugging up to my anchor. Dan arrived at the belay and was working frantically to get situated so he could put Jared on belay, I told him I already had him on belay and to take his time. I passed the brake strand to Dan when he was situated and ready. Soon enough, Jared reached the anchor and Dan was able to jug. I was losing feeling in my feet from hanging for so long so I stood awkwardly in my aiders trying to get the sensation back in my feet. I was planning on linking this next pitch up to the base of the chimney, but Jared was still working on that pitch, so I decided I would continue moving by fixing at the next anchor and setting up to clean and jumar. To avoid a cluster, I rigged my anchor knots and passed Dan two locking carabiners to secure to the bolts.  Once he assured me they were locked, I began to rap and clean. Jugging was still not easy, it was both a literal and metaphorical uphill battle. I reached the anchor just as Dan was leaving, and began to restack my rope and prepare to lead the next pitch. I took another rest and tried to lighten my pack by gulping big mouthfuls of water. This next pitch, or half pitch I should say, was very casual and straight forward. Dan was still waiting for Jared to finish the pitch, so I fixed and cleaned.

The slot looked awkward to get into, but the bolt was much closer than I would have expected. I plugged a cam into the crack did a couple free moves to a stance. From here the bolt is about 10 feet above me. I already had the entire rack on a sling and I clipped it to a cam below me. I moved everything off of the back of my harness and used chimney technique for a few moves until I could reach the bolt. I had to fully extend my daisy and turn inverted to reach my rack below me. I pull up the rack and put it over my shoulder, back to aid mode. Here is where the purple link cam really shines. It fit in literally every placement, so I just attached it to my aider on one side and occasionally left an orange metolius as pro. On the last move of the pitch, I make a joke to Jared that this placement is strange because the purple link cam won't fit! He doesn't get it. I arrive at the ledge and begin the sequence of pulling up the other end of the rope, fixing, and preparing to rappel.  This ledge smells soooo badly of pee and asparagus! I can't imagine trying to bivy here! I rap to clean and return back to the ledge, this time having a little bit more success on my ascenders. It seems like I might be learning something!

Money Pitch

After a short break on the ledge, I decided to bust out a bold strategy that I had only read about in a speed climbing book. I flaked the rope on the ledge, and clipped it to my haul loop. I would do the next two pitches using only my daisies for protection. I had thought and planned this out earlier, so I deployed a 3rd daisy for redundancy. I put the purple link cam on this daisy, and it worked for literally every placement. From here I am just casually switching daisies and working the most straightforward aid pitch in the world. I call up to Jared, "If there's such thing as good aid climbing, this is it!" He laughs and assures me that good aid climbing doesn't exist. At the anchor, Jared warns me that Dan had some trouble on the next pitch and that it gets rather thin. The crack I'm looking at still looks amazing, so I continued with the reassurance that I could build an anchor if I found a section that I didn't feel comfortable with. I continue cruising up the crack on my daisy chains, keeping the rope behind me. Here I am choosing not to high step, and make smaller movements as it feels less risky. I know I'm saving tons of time by not having to jug this extra 190 feet. The second half of the pitch becomes heads up and interesting. I never felt in danger, but I'm had to place more nuts, and be more picky with my placements. There were a few times where I couldn't get 3 bomber pieces, so I'm had to settle for 2 bomber placements and one average placement. I look up and am stoked to see I'm only about 10 more placements from the anchor ahead. Dan has just finished leading the nutter pitch and Jared is leaving the belay just before I arrive. I reach the belay, and jokingly exclaim, “I didn't die! WOOOOOO!” I built an anchor with the rope and go back to the land of security. Now all I have to do is pull up the rope. I took a nice long break here to enjoy some food and water. Water never tasted so good! Only one full rope length pitch to the summit! I looked across the valley, and judging by the sun, it had to be about 5pm. I call up to Dan and Jared that we're running out of daylight!

Aiding without the rope

Reaching the top of pitch 8

The next pitch is the nutter pitch, it looks amazing for free climbing. The hardest part appears to be letting go to place protection. It goes free at 12a, If you can free this, I envy you! I'm looking forward to coming back in a year and freeing this route, just for this pitch! The nutter pitch went a bit slower, my first placement was quite the struggle to reach a bad pod. I plug and chug through this pitch, trying to hurry as it's now past 5pm and I am running out of daylight! This pitch wasn't difficult to aid, but definitely less straightforward and the placements were not as good as the last two pitches. I'm thankful to be back on the rope for this part. Near the top, I got a little too casual and tried to make the purple link cam work in a pod that was flaring and the wrong size. When I bounce tested it, the piece ripped out and whizzed past my face. That was a good reminder to put your hand in front of a marginal placement and to keep your mouth closed! I could have lost a tooth! I finish this pitch and ask Jared if I can continue past him to get a head start on the final pitch. He allows me through and I'm at the 5.10b bulge when he is ready to jug. He offers me a sip of water and jumars past me to the slab. He laughs at what is called 5.7R and says it's more like 4th class. A couple more aid moves and I'm to the slab, he wasn't kidding, there was gear at my waist for the one 5th class move, casual. I would have been upset to bring climbing shoes up just for this pitch. Maybe it's harder with rope drag if you aren't soloing.

I topped out a few seconds later and let out a whoop whoop! I ask Dan for a time check, it's 5:55! There's still daylight and I take a moment to absorb the amazing view of the sun setting in the distance. I wasn't really looking forward to jugging this last 200ft pitch, Dan had the brilliant idea of using his lockers to fix my rope. He would then toss my rope back to me after I finished cleaning.

I planed to rappel the route for the descent because I hate walking downhill. I raced down the single line rap with my grigri only stopping to clean gear. I'm done and back into the pitch 7 anchor in a few short minutes. I turn across the canyon and scream "off rappel" so it will echo back to Dan and Jared. I hear a very faint "rope" yell lets me know the rope is coming. Unsurprisingly, the rope gets snagged on something on it's way down. I'm thinking, well here comes the epic! Luckily, the rope comes free without much trouble. Darkness was coming, so I pulled out my headlamp and attached it to my helmet in preparation for the descent. I have about 9 rappels to the ground, so I want to get them over with! Fatigue is starting to set in, so I pull out prussik to backup my rappel. My rope no longer has a middle mark, so I must arduously take both ends and flake the rope through the chains for every rappel. 2 Raps bring me down to the ledge, where another party has an anchor. The guy doesn't look or sound very stoked to be here. He asks if the route gets easier and how much farther it is to the top. They are trying to do the route in a day, but hauling! I can't imagine why! His haul bag is stuck on a roof 30 feet below, so as I rappel off the anchor I flip the bag around the corner for him.He says dinner is in the haul bag and he's starving. Not wanting to chance being a few feet short, I stop early at the next free climbing belay. I'm stuck in an awkward hanging position below the roof just out of reach of the anchor. It's difficult to reach and requires me to push off in the other direction and wait for my body to swing back towards the chains. I'm happy for the prussik right here. The guy cleaning the chimney pitch sounds like he's over it and ready to bail. I hear him talking about an overcammed cam that might have to be left. A thought crosses my mind to go for the booty, but I'm way to tired. I continue with 3 more short raps to bring me back to the rocker blocker.  As I reach the rocker blocker, Dan and Jared give me a holler from there car.  They are already back, it seems like the walk off would have been a better choice. You know what they say about hindsight!

I'm starting to bonk pretty hard at this point. I am out of food, but I still have water. I'm in a constant state of thirst and desperately want to touch the ground again. As I pull the rope from above, I'm not even thinking about where it will land. It comes crashing down on my head and shoulders, I'm very thankful to be wearing a helmet! I set up what I think is the third to last rappel, little do I know, the epic is about to start. I reach the free climbing belay below the rocker blocker and set up the next rappel. As I rap, I'm looking for anchors, with my dimming headlamp but there is nothing in sight.  I get to the end of my rope and there is no anchor, the epic begins! I swing left and right, but I can't seem to find any bolts. I am forced to swing way right into a corner and down climb. When I reached the corner, there isn't much of a stance, so I'm barely standing on my toes, using fist jam to keep me there. The down climbing looks easy, but the rock doesn't look great and there are bushes everywhere. The knot in my rope ends is up against the ATC, so I have to work on a problem solving technique to keep my rope with me. Here, if I let go, the rope will swing out of reach and I'll be without a rope for the remainder of the descent. I remembered that most accidents happen on the descent, and realize the severity of the situation. I was able to untie the knot and get the rope ends through the ATC, using the prussik above the device to hold the rope ends within reach. I have to tie some kind of knot with my left hand while I'm fist jamming my right. I remember back to when I first started lead climbing 6 or 7 years ago. A mentor had taught me the alpine butterfly and how to tie it one handed. I could do it with my right hand, but never really tried with the left.  Now I had to do it left handed with a glove on!

I rose to the occasion and the knot was surprisingly simple and much easier to tie than expected. If you are reading this and don't know how to tie a one handed butterfly, I suggest you learn! It could save you from a major epic! I got it on my first try in about 2 minutes. I clipped the knot into my belay loop and began to down climb. After a few strenuous moves I was on a small ledge and looking for an exit. I couldn't see the ground! It was dark, but I figured I just needed to down climb another few feet. As I'm looked for the ground, I decided that this is all just bullshit and I'm going to build a bail anchor. I sink a bomber nut into the crack. The thought crosses my mind to just rap off this nut, but I decide one more piece for redundancy is the best plan. I equalize a tricam with the nut and leave an old locker. I begin to rap, and I'm sooooo scared!  I'm trying my best not to weight the rope fully and to rap as smoothly as I can. This rap was very nerve racking, and 5 minutes later I'm at the end of my rope again! This time I can see the ground, 40ft below.  To the left there is a down climb/traverse to escape. I start moving this way and find a safe stance to secure the rope to my harness. The exit forces me through a cactus and a prickly bush.  I resolve to just take the pain and get it over with. This gets me to a hand crack then back on terra firma! I quickly find my pack and hastily throw everything inside. It was a fun adventure, but it should have ended over an hour ago!

My legs don't want to work anymore, and I'm not looking forward to the river crossing. As I reverse the approach, I think of what I have accomplished and feel quite proud. I'm one step closer to climbing the Nose In A Day!