Moonlight Buttress 5.12d or 5.9 C1

Currently 5.0/5

Moonlight Buttress Area

Zion National Park, Utah, USA

Trip Report

Moonlight Buttress Rope Solo Winter Ascent February 4-6 2012

Wednesday February 15, 2012 12:54pm


	My TOPO Credit: JSpencerV

Below is a blog entry of my Moonlight Buttress Rope Solo in February:

http://jspencerv.blogspot.com/2012/02/moonlight-buttress-ropesolo-winter.html

Special thanks Mark Hudon, John Mac and Zak Tourville for putting up with my questions on how to rope solo walls!

Trip Report Views: 2,260

JSpencerV

About the Author
JSpencerV is a trad climber from Santa Monica, CA.

Comments

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Comment on this Trip Report

Dirka

Trad climber

Feb 15, 2012 - 01:48pm PT

Sorry about the sickness.

Great TR and a proud accomplishment!

SteveW

Trad climber

The state of confusion

Feb 15, 2012 - 02:09pm PT

Nice job--thanks for sharing!!!!

(Did they ever figure out what was wrong with you)?
Hope you don't suffer from it again!

JSpencerV

Trad climber

Santa Monica, CA

Author's Reply

Feb 15, 2012 - 10:26pm PT

Thanks for the support. They didn't figure out what was wrong- thought maybe it was just a really bad virus twice - which it could have been. But everything is normal now, which is good.

mike m

Trad climber

black hills

Feb 15, 2012 - 11:18pm PT

Nice job. Looks like a great route. Did you have to free climb much?

PAUL SOUZA

Trad climber

Central Valley, CA

Feb 15, 2012 - 11:30pm PT

Nice man! Congrats!

Was this your second wall?

JSpencerV

Trad climber

Santa Monica, CA

Author's Reply

Feb 15, 2012 - 11:45pm PT

Mike-the first pitch was some dirty 5.8 free climbing, but wasn't too bad. Along the route, I pulled a few easy free moves in between aid to gain extra ground. The final pitch was 5.7 for about 15 feet, so I paid out a bunch of slack and topped out, it was a little heady with the rope drag, darkness and poor fall potential; but not very hard. Mostly aid.

Paul-I've done NW face Half Dome, The Prow, The Nose, Lost Arrow Tip, 1/2 of Mount Watkins (bailed because bolt ladder was missing two bolts) and Moonlight Buttress before with partners. This was my first solo wall.

enjoimx

Trad climber

Kirkwood, ca

Feb 16, 2012 - 12:31am PT

Very cool...good report.

Crazy random sickness!!

neebee

Social climber

calif/texas

Feb 16, 2012 - 02:30am PT

hey there say, JSpencerV... thank you so very much for sharing your trip report...

:) nice to jump on late, like this, and find a new one...

edit: ooops, not to be rude, but i will have to read it later,
on the blog, as i am in the middle of a large project that needs to be getting done soon... :)

John Mac

Trad climber

Littleton, CO

Feb 16, 2012 - 07:52am PT

Well done. Love the Rope bags!

RP3

Big Wall climber

Temporarily Chapel Hill

Feb 16, 2012 - 07:54am PT

Very well done! What a spectacular adventure!

Prod

Trad climber

Feb 17, 2012 - 04:17pm PT

Sweet!

Prod.

Mark Hudon

Trad climber

Hood River, OR

Feb 17, 2012 - 09:04pm PT

So cool!

Glad I could help!

What's next?

JSpencerV

Trad climber

Santa Monica, CA

Author's Reply

Feb 20, 2012 - 01:54pm PT

I'm not sure what's next..we shall see.

Ezra Ellis

Trad climber

WA, & NC & Idaho

Feb 20, 2012 - 12:35pm PT

Very cool, thanks!

Mark Hudon

Trad climber

Hood River, OR

Feb 20, 2012 - 01:18pm PT

Ah, practicing my "Digging a Hole Motivational Program" by announcing your route ahead of time, eh?

thekidcormier

Gym climber

squamish, b.c.

Feb 20, 2012 - 01:49pm PT

Nice one dude!

JSpencerV

Trad climber

Santa Monica, CA

Author's Reply

Feb 20, 2012 - 01:56pm PT

Mark- Haha. I am now keeping my next route top secret!

Tony Bird

climber

Northridge, CA

Feb 20, 2012 - 03:25pm PT

winter? winter? is there a winter going on?

Roxy

Trad climber

CA Central Coast

Feb 20, 2012 - 04:56pm PT

awesome shots!!! Well done dude!

ydpl8s

Trad climber

Santa Monica, California

Feb 23, 2012 - 11:01am PT

Jared, your old patient Scott Mossman here, glad to see how you are getting it done! Save your pennies, sounds like you're ready for Patagonia.

mooch

Trad climber

Old Climbers' Home (Adopted)

Feb 23, 2012 - 02:51pm PT

Way to getter dun Jared!! Good seeing you in Ouray....wished we'd hit up Scottish Gullies with you. We were only able to get down to Grad School and New Funtier. Punters. :/

...bailed because bolt ladder was missing two bolts

Not to sound condescending bro but why didn't you "paste with haste"? Fill that hole and gun fer it!!

JSpencerV

Trad climber

Santa Monica, CA

Author's Reply

Feb 23, 2012 - 10:50pm PT

Scott: Good to hear from you - hope things are well

Mooch: Great seeing you in ouray as well; such a fun trip. Funny story on mount watkins. My climbing partner had to duct tape his talon in the blown out bolt holes (there was still bolt remnants which made it more shallow) and was top stepping to reach the next bolt and was taking a lot of exciting 15 foot whippers. Still couldn't make it past; so he tried to pendulum to a 5.11 arete and still took more whippers. Then tried a tension traverse; that didn't work out. In lieu of a bolt kit, one year later, we came up with an idea (half jokingly)that may have worked:

I could stand on his shoulders while he is topped stepped on his aiders to get an extra 6 feet higher - Then make the mantle exit move and clip the anchors!

Riley Wyna

Trad climber

A crack near you

Feb 23, 2012 - 11:01pm PT

It's so amazing eh?

Tim and I climbed it in October. Just beautiful..what else can ya say. Is there any route that compares to this anywhere?

I hadn't looked at topo so, for some reason, we went right on top instead of left.
Ended up with a nice extra 5 mile workout with a giant haul bag and an even nicer back country bivy.

What I wish we would have done was hang out on the top pitch and then rap the next day and free climb on TR as we went down.

Congrats on the Solo!