Home - Destinations - People - Partners - Forum - Photos - What's New
 ADVANCED
Moonlight Buttress

Show routes:
Select route...
Looney Tunes 
Lunar Ecstasy 
Moonlight Buttress (Clean Aid), The 
Moonlight Buttress (Free), The 
Sheer Lunacy 

Moonlight Buttress

Submitted By: Casey Bernal on Jun 5, 2002
Administrators: Andrew Gram, Perin Blanchard
Views: 44,873 page views

Add Route  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event 

Discussions available in the
Southern Utah Deserts
Message Forum
  Print a Mini-Guide - Includes Routes!

BETA PHOTO

Description 

Moonlight Buttress is the obvious buttress on the left just after Angel's Landing. It resembles a huge pillar resting against the wall. The wall faces almost due east.

The most common route on the wall is the The Moonlight Buttress (Clean Aid) that takes a line straight up the middle (the Grand Dihedral is obvious from the road).

At the base, be careful as the 3rd class ledges are easy to climb on but a tumble down could be serious.

There is a ledge after P5 of the Lowe/Weiss route that makes a great bivy if you have a portaledge. The descent is a casual hike down a paved path. Once you top out, hike straight back and you cannot miss the path. The path is most exciting (yes, seriously) path I have ever been on. Try to save some daylight to enjoy the hike down. It would be worthy of hiking by itself. The descent is about 3 miles down.

—Casey Bernal


Getting There 

You can take the shuttle to the Big Bend stop (same as Prodigal Sun), or if you have a cool driver they will drop you off right in front of the trailhead. From the shuttle stop, jog up the road about 100 yards to the trailhead. There are trail markers posted to follow. To cross the creek, look for a wide area with islands, and you can cross with only getting your ankles wet. The approach takes maybe 30 minutes.


Descent 

The Angel's Landing trail.


The Classics

Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Moonlight Buttress:
The Moonlight Buttress (Clean Aid)   5.8 C1     Trad, Aid, 10 pitches, 1200 feet, Grade V   
Lunar Ecstasy   5.10 C2+     Aid, 9 pitches, Grade V   
Sheer Lunacy   5.11 C1     Trad, Aid, Grade IV   
The Moonlight Buttress (Free)   5.12d     Trad, 10 pitches, 1200 feet   
Browse More Classics in Moonlight Buttress

Featured Route For Moonlight Buttress
Leading the crux pitch, somewhere near the pod, April 2003.

The Moonlight Buttress (Free) 5.12d  UT : Zion National Park : Moonlight Buttress
The Moonlight Buttress, as it is most commonly referred to, is one of the most popular aid climbs in Zion, and, as a free climb, is perhaps the most spectacular, and arguably longest and hardest, sandstone climb in the world. This stunning route tackles the namesake feature, a proud prow of rock that juts out from the wall behind it, via a singular, peerless crack that extends for 1200 feet from base to summit and never widens to more than an i...[more]   Browse More Classics in UT


Photos of Moonlight Buttress Slideshow Add Photo
Moonlight

Moonlight

climbers on moonlight butress,photo taken from top of angels landing maybe lunar ecstacy?

climbers on moonlight butress,photo taken from top...

Unknown Party on Moonlight. Photo: Doug Davis

Unknown Party on Moonlight. Photo: Doug Davis

Unknown Party on Moonlight. Photo: Doug Davis.

Unknown Party on Moonlight. Photo: Doug Davis.

Moonlight Buttress

Moonlight Buttress

Moonlight Buttress

Moonlight Buttress

moonlight buttress area topo

BETA PHOTO: moonlight buttress area topo

Watch out!

Watch out!


Comments on Moonlight Buttress Add Comment
Show which comments
By Tony B
From: Boulder, CO
May 20, 2003

I wrote a trip report from this route 5 years ago that can be found at http://naclassics.com/climbs/moonlite/tb_598.pdf The facts stated therein hold. The opinions expressed about certain things may have expired.