Zion canyon.
Dave gearing up at the base of the climb.
Casting off with a good twelve hours of climbing ahead of us before returning to the horizontal world.
The entire route: Prodigal Sun (IV+, 5.8, C2) 10 pitches. The arrow indicates the location of the bottom climber in the inset close-up.
Dave leading pitch 2.
Me leading pitch 3, looking down. One of the great things about Zion is that you can't drive into the park. Consequently, it has the sort of feeling of solitude and remoteness from the city that every National Park should have. Few tourists seem even to leave the shuttle, and when they do, they stick to the one or two main trails in the park, or the Narrows, and do not venture close to most of the walls, which tend to be increasingly intimidating the nearer you get. So the solitude and peace on a climb like this is unparalleled. It's just the silence of massive objects, the faint white noise of the river, and, every so often, the utterly incongruent gobble of a wild turkey somewhere in the bushes down below.
Dave on a ledge.
Me on a ledge.
A panorama from halfway up. Because no one enjoys hauling a lot of heavy gear up any climb, it is best to fix a few pitches the evening you arrive, then get up fairly early the next morning and go for the top in one push. That is plenty do-able for a strong pair, but it means a long day of steady moving--and hoping that the weather holds. If you are pushing a liesurely pace, you will top out after dark--probably late enough to miss the last shuttle back to camp. That means a 5 mile hike after a long day of climbing, with about 30 pounds of gear on your back, and finally getting to sleep at 2 AM.
Dave at camp, headed for the river, the morning after climbing.
Hiking the Narrows.
The Narrows.
We met some new friends in the Narrows--Megan, Angie, and Melissa.
A waterfall.
The Narrows.
A little free climbing the last day...
...and a lot of relaxing by the river. Dave the bridge troll.
Stitched-together panorama of our view from the climb. A couple Zion classics in this shot: "Touchstone" is the short tower across canyon in the middle of the shot. "Moonlight Buttress" is the farthest prominent arete on the wall downcanyon to the left.