The Moonlight Buttress Free (5.12c or 5.8 C1, 11p, 1200′)

Moonlight Buttress

Route:

The Moonlight Buttress Free

5.12c (or 5.8 C1), 11p, 1200'

This route has been on my list for awhile.

Region: Utah
Elev: ~5,500 ft
Rock type: Navajo sandstone
Type: 
Date(s): March 30, 2025 (Sun)
Partner(s): Nate Beckwith

Route Overlay

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Approach

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Intro

I had climbed in Zion only once, in 2014 (click link for trip report). On this trip my partner Dow and I climbed a few moderate multipitch routes and a variety of other "cragging" routes. Ever since that trip I had my eye on a bigger route in Zion. The Moonlight Buttress was at the top of the list. 

The Moonlight Buttress is one of the most popular aid climbs in Zion, and, as a free climb, is noted as one of the most spectacular sandstone climbs in the world. The Moonlight Buttress climbs the namesake feature, a prow of rock that juts out from the wall behind it, via a crack that extends for 1000 feet from base to summit and never widens to more than an inch or two. The Moonlight Buttress is a sustained journey with pitch after pitch of difficult splitters and corners, a few enjoyable face climbing sections, fantastic exposure, and great belay ledges. 

First freed in 1992 by Peter Croft & Johnny Woodward, the route was originally rated 5.13b. That rating has since settled to 5.12c, but even this reflects the overall effort of the climb and not the single hardest moves on the route. This has been evidenced by a number of onsights over the past few years, and most recently, Alex Honnold's free solo of the route in an astonishing 1 hour and 23 minutes.

The route gets sun at around 9 AM and goes into the shade late in the afternoon. The route can be rapped entirely with a 70m rope except for the second-to-last rappel directly down the face (not following the route). A Beal Escaper, a tag line, or some creativity can help here. The quickest descent from the top is to walk off via the Angel's Landing trail.

I finally got the opportunity to climb The Moonlight Buttress in Spring 2025, with friend and climbing partner Nate Beckwith. The initial plan had been to join him in the Creek for three midweek days of climbing, but with the splitter desert weather and both of our abilities to work from the road on our Starlinks, the trip extended. I dropped a hint about The Moonlight Buttress. With several sections of 5.12, I knew The Moonlight Buttress would be a challenge for me whenever I was put on the sharp end, but the completely protectable (i.e. aidable) nature of the route made it a feasible objective. Nate had climbed the route before (four times with two free ascents together covering redpoint leads of all pitches (2013, 2015), one ascent with one fall (2011), and a 7 hr (c2c) ascent as an aid climb in 1996), but was willing to climb it again. This would be his fifth ground-up ascent. It must be a good route, eh?

Due to the difficulty of the route and the ability to access it top-down, our initial plan had been to drop a fixed rope on the route and toprope solo it to work out the crux sections, and then a couple of days later go for it from below. But then the weather looked like it was going to give us only one day, so we decided to just go for it ground-up. Roughly, Nate led the first half of the route (Pitches 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7) while I led the second half of the route (Pitches 5, 8, 9, 10, and 11). On the crux sections of my 5.12 pitches, I resorted to a bit more C1 than I would have hoped, but I free climbed when I felt inspired. We climbed in fix-and-follow method and hauled. We went by the rack posted on mountainproject. There was one other party on the route (John and Mike) who started later than us and inched up on us by the final pitch, but kindly let us keep our lead. We topped out in the daylight but hit dark midway down the Angel's Landing descent. It was a phenomenal day. I would love to come back and re-climb this route. Perhaps after dropping a fixed rope on the route to work out the crux sections.

Given our last minute change of plans, Nate and I had not gotten an early entry permit so that we could drive into the park before the shuttles started and have a car waiting for us when we finished. So we were forced to rely on the shuttle system to get us to and from the route. The first shuttle left the visitor center at 7am, and the last shuttle drove out at 7:15pm. So we ended up with a slightly later start than we would have wished (starting up the route at 8:40am) and ended up resigned to a 4.5 mile road walk back into town because we missed the last shuttle. (Fortunately, a mile into our road walk, a nice Indian couple gave us a ride - the guy had just done the road walk himself and driven back up to pick up his wife who had chosen to sit at the Zion Lodge while he walked back to town to get the car, so he was happy to relieve us of the same thing).

The following gives time stats and pitch-by-pitch photos for the climb. What a great day! Thanks Nate for doing this route a fifth time.

Time Stats

Times
Shuttle leaves Visitor Center: 7:00 am
Shuttle drops us off at Big Bend: 7:40 am
Base of route: 8:10 am
Start climbing: 8:40 am
Top of route: 7:28 pm
Begin descent: 8:10 pm
Angels Landing trailhead: 8:55 pm
Back to Visitor Center: 10:00 pm (would have been later but we hitched a ride about 1 mile into our 4.5 mile road walk)
Splits
Approach: 30 min from Big Bend, 1:10 from Visitor Center
Climb route: 10 hours 48 minutes
Descent: 45 min to road
Total time (Visitor Center to Visitor Center): 15 hours

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

2nd
Drive into Zion to a bend in the road and park in the lot on the left (Big Bend parking lot) or 500’ farther to a paved pullout on the right. The Moonlight Buttress is obvious. From Big Bend, continue on foot up the road, drop down to the river, and cross near a huge boulder on the far side. Pick up a great climber’s trail to the base of the route. Begin the route well to the left by scrambling up a 4th class passage to the first belay. The approach takes about 30 minutes.

Pitch 1

5.8, 130'
Climb a long, sandy left-facing, right-leaning corner. Near the top move right and ascend a hand crack to an obvious tree and belay ledge.

Pitch 2

5.10+, 100'
Runout, easy climbing up ledgey terrain to the right. Pull a roof (10+) on the right, and continue up an awkward lieback crack (10-) to the belay.

Pitch 3

5.11c, 50'
Traverse right and slightly down. The hardest moves, a step-down/stand-up sequence, come quickly on the pitch. A bit frightening for the second. Continue to a bolted belay on a ledge.

Pitch 4

5.10-, 90'
Head up and right on a thin flake, then traverse back left below a roof to a corner. A difficult move here leads to a stance below a bolt. Above the bolt, step left to easy terrain (straight up is 10+). Runner gear well on this pitch as it wanders significantly. A bolted belay is above on terraced ledges and the Rocker Block.

Pitch 5

5.12, 100'
This is perhaps the single hardest move on the climb: A 12b boulder problem off the Rocker Block. Lean or leap sideways off the Rocker Block to the obvious hold up and right. Several hard moves lead to a good rest at the base of the long, left-facing corner. Lieback to the anchor out right at a stance.

Pitch 6

5.12+, 100'
The enduro pitch. The crux of the route is absolutely hanging around placing gear on this sucker. Lieback to a handcrack pod. Continue to lieback through a very thin section to a flare. Jam upwards, clipping the aid anchor out left along the way (or not), switch cracks to a system on the right and continue to lieback on easier ground up to the roof to a semi-hanging bolted anchor out right - the only uncomfortable one on the route.

Pitch 7

5.12-, 100'
This is a great, wild pitch. It is also much harder than the rating would indicate. Pull into the chimney and continue up left side in past a bolt. Fun chimney climbing becomes concerning as the chimney begins to open up into a right angle corner. A strenuous move will get you from knee bar mode to jam/lieback mode. Motor up a long, gradually thinning finger crack. Climb to the Bivy Ledge and a bolted belay. Crazy exposure!

Pitch 10

5.12a, 80'
The Nutting Pitch. Tricky face climbing up the zig-zagging cracks past wedged blocks leads to cruxy, sandy locks to a no-hands knee bar rest. This whole pitch is pretty awesome, and after all the pure jamming/liebacking, the 5.12 face climbing almost feels easy. Stop at an anchor or skip the anchor and continue up the next short pitch to the top.

Pitch 11

5.10b, 110'
Continue through a sandy 5.10+ roof and on up cracks and knobs to lower angle top out. This can be combined with the previous pitch.

Descent

Walk off
Walk off via the Angel’s Landing trail. This is 2 miles of paved trail to the Grotto Picnic Area which is 1.5 miles down the road from Angel’s Landing. Alternatively, rap (see below). Walking off is much faster.

Other photos - Rest day after the climb

Mar 31 (Mon)
The day after the climb we rested. And then drove on to our next destination...Lime Kiln Canyon for some sport climbing.

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