Moonlight Buttress Rope Solo Winter Ascent
Climbing the Nose on El Capitan had always been such a powerful goal of mine. So in September of this past year, after a successful ascent, I was left wondering what to do next.
I decided to take three months off of climbing and did what any regular 27 year old male would do; went out to the bars, dated women, focused on work and socialized with non climbing friends. It was a good change of pace and I enjoyed the subtleties of showering everyday, not driving 6-7 hours each weekend, a routine fitness schedule, female companionship, good food and sleeping in a bed.
Then in Mid November, something hit me. I lost all of my energy, was vomiting and over 103 fever. I went to the ER, then to my Doctor for bloodwork – my results were abnormal. I was bed ridden and missed two and a half weeks of work. I slowly got my energy back, started working again, and then was hit with the same sickness. This time it lasted a week and a half. I was worried something was seriously wrong. There were nights that my fever was so high and my shivering was so bad that I needed meditate just so I could separate my mind from my body. I was scared, depressed and lost. I rested and patiently waited. I slowly began to regain my strength got my blood retested (it was back to normal) and was finally feeling normal again.
Being sick reinvigorated my craving for adventure. I realized how precious the time is that we spend and how quickly it can be taken from us. I wanted more than anything to just “get out there and climb.” I thought long and hard about what was next to climb and I decided that the next logical progression from big wall climbing was big wall soloing. Solo wall climbing is the epitome of self-reliance and at that point I felt like I needed to climb but I also needed to be alone. Climbing has always been one of the rare times that all my worries leave me and I am truly in the moment. I wanted to feel that again.
At 8pm on February 3rd, after work and feeling like shit, I decided to drive out to Zion to attempt a Rope Solo Winter Ascent of Moonlight Buttress.
Moonlight Buttress
I drove through the night, arrived at camp at 3 am and bivied for 3 hours. Got permits, packed my haul bag and set off for the base of the climb. The virgin river was low, but my pack was so heavy that I had to shuttle loads to the base.
I climbed and fixed the first three pitches by dark and rappelled down to the base to eat and sleep.
I woke up early in the morning and jugged up to pitch 3 and began to climb pitches 4-7.
Pitch 4 Looking Up
Pitch 4 Looking Down
Pitch 5 Looking Down
A Shot From The Road
A Shot From The Road Zoomed In
I arrived at the top of pitch 7 (linking 6 and 7 with a 70 meter rope) by nightfall and decided set up my ledge, eat and rest for the night.
I started to see storm clouds accumulate and I got a little nervous. I didn’t bring much bivy gear and it would not be smart aiding/free climbing wet sandstone. I decided to fix a line to the top. I linked the last two pitches, topped out at midnight and rappelled back to the ledge to sleep.
Summit Anchors
Celebratory Fruit Cup
I woke up in the morning happy although it was cold at night.
I packed up the ledge and the haul bag (somehow in the process I lost the porta-ledge cover, so I had to shove the ledge in the haul bag). I then jugged to the top.
I was happy to make the summit and the next morning I was able to relax and celebrate. What an amazing process. I was so happy to have completed the project.
Summit Shot
My Topo
Preparation:
Back in September I had no idea how to solo aid climb. So I casually browsed internet forums, asked peers for advice and email corresponded to numerous climbers. I finally had enough information to give it a shot. Sometime in late October, I went out to Joshua Tree and rope soloed Equinox. I felt like I had my systems down and I was ready to try a wall. After my whole “sickness ordeal,” I felt like I was ready to go! The night before I was planning to head out to Zion in February, I realized that I had no idea how to set up a ledge solo. I went to the local gym and attempted to set up and take down the ledge. It was pretty ugly. I was hanging upside down, contorting my body, reaching long – until I finally got the hang of it. I felt like I may possibly be able to set it up alone.
Notes on the climb:
- Solo Aid climbing is a lot of work.
- I often forgot to eat lunch because I was rushing to beat the sunset; but aid climbing in the night and setting up the ledge wasn’t too bad.
- I probably overpacked gear. I thought that I would sew up each pitch, but ended up back cleaning a fair amount.
- I used an unmodified Gri-Gri, it worked well for aid.
- Face climbing with a Gri-Gri is a little heady, you need to pay out however much slack you expect to climb and make sure not to fall.
- Bed bath and beyond makes awesome rope bags if you two of them ($4 total) and reinforce with a hanger to keep the lip open.
- Twisti lock carabineers work great to back up your lead climb and jugging. You don’t need to “screw” them shut each time.
- Disclaimer – The content here is designed for information & education purposes only and the content is not intended for medical advice.
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