The Silverback  5.12+

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Type:  Trad, 5 pitches, 700 feet, Grade IV Consensus:  5.12+ [details] FA:  Flyin' Brian McCray, Nov 08 Season:  west facing- spring and fall Submitted By:  bheller on Apr 19, 2010 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (4) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

Silverback.

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Seasonal Raptor Closures MORE INFO >>> The following cliffs will be closed to climbing beginning March 1, 2012: Angels Landing, Cable Mountain, The Great White Throne (beyond single- and double-pitched climbs), Isaac (in Court of the Patriarchs), The Sentinel, Mountain of the Sun, North Twin Brother, Tunnel Wall, The East Temple, Mount Spry, The Streaked Wall, Mount Kinesava, and the Middle Fork of Taylor Creek. All other cliffs will remain open to climbing. See www.nps.gov/zion/parknews/2012-climbing-closures-announced.h>>> for more info This information is a public crowdsourcing effort between the Access Fund, and Mountain Project. You should confirm closures, restrictions, and/or related dates. Keeping climbing areas open and conserving the climbing environment

Dios Mio Man! 

What a route! Excellent. At only 700 feet, this is one big little wall.

Pitch 1: Munge Tower- a sandbox down low leads to a descent 5.9 squeeze chimney. Two thirds of the way up, you reach a ledge with an alternate belay...skip it using your trusty 70m rope- continue up, sliding a purple #5 BD up the 5.9 ow all the way to the top of the tower. A single set of cams with nuts are all you need for this pitch. 2 bolt belay.

Pitch 2: The Leaning Corner- bring up the second, and move your belay left 40 feet to the quickclip anchors (placed way too high). Above you expect 85 feet of varied, technical climbing with 5 kokamos (bolts). 2 blue metolius, #1,2-#2,2-#3,#4 BD. End at quickclips- bad stance 5.11+

Pitch 3: The Flare linked with Burts Bolts Flake- traverse right 12ft to the improbable bolted face (5.10) continuing past 5 bolts until you reach The Flare- it accepts big fingers to tight hands sized gear in the back, it also has a couple of bolts. Place long runners to avoid rope drag on the bolts and cams. Pull the roof/tight squeeze at the top of The Flare and skip the alternate belay at the quickclips, instead continue up the amazing, stepped, bolted flake that offers hands galore and overhangs just slightly. Savor the Flavor! No nuts needed, no piece bigger than a #3 camalot, or smaller than a. 75 BD. Belay in the above alcove, skipping the quickclip anchor- opting for the second set of bolts a little deeper in the alcove. 5.11-

Pitch 4: The Siverback- Who knows why Flyin' Brian named this pitch and this route this? I think its cuz' the Silverback would kick the Monkeyfinger's ass. Overhanging hands up a flare leads to a shallow corner with technical climbing and a few decent stances. I found a red Metolius Mastercam to be a key piece to protect a square pod in the corner. Work your way up to the offwidth, slithering up inch by inch. A few Kokamos(bolts) help you remember you are sipping suds on the beach. Bring a single run of cams from smallest to your big toys- (#4, #5, and #6 Camalots). An absolute classic pitch. 5.12-

Pitch 5: Killer Fingers-You did save some gas right? Time to style the offset finger crack. Sequential locks (thumbs up or thumbs down?) and just enough face holds help you eek through the pods that are spaced out about every 4-5 feet. The incredible thing is that these pods are natural and this pitch was never nailed! A couple of permanently fixed nuts and three kokamos help with protection on this pitch. Pulling the 4 foot roof, deciphering a dangling mantle while gripping the donut hold is about as exposed as climbing gets- its unreal! Bring your smallest cams, nuts and #1, #2, and #3 camalot. A few pods along the crack take larger cams (up to #3 camalot) but really those offset nuts are your friend here.

Location 

This route is located on The Temple of Sinewava, 100 feet left of the start of Monkeyfinger. It is the obvious plumb splitter crack system you see when you walk toward the Temple of Sinewava from the bus stop.
Start on the wide/sandy right side of the Munge Tower.
Rappel entire route with 1 70m rope. But use care on the steep upper pitches to clip in to the wall while rappelling, and reel in your second rappeller to the station- dont want to be lost in space!

Protection 

Doubles of small to med offset nuts
Metolius: 1-00, 2-0, 2-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5
Black Diamond: #.75, 2#1, 2#2, 2#3, 1#4, 1#5, 1#6
14 alpine draws & 4 regular draws- Lots of bolts on this one!
1-70m rope

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A decent topo