Intro

Moses is one of the tallest and most imposing desert towers in Utah. It is also located in one of the most beautiful and remote areas of the western United States: Canyonlands National Park. Climbing in this incredible and dramatic setting is an experience that is hard to beat. I had climbed the Dunn Route (5.11-, 4-5p) in 2014, and had always wanted to return to climb Primrose Dihedrals (5.11+, 7p).

Primrose Dihedrals a true classic, and is one of the best and longest free climbs in the desert, offering spectacular, steep and varied climbing up a long and continuous corner system. The smooth and mostly solid sandstone of Primrose Dihedrals offers sustained climbing and excellent protection. Depending on the variation and your style of climbing (or ethics!), the route can be as hard as 5.11d, or as easy as 5.10+ A0. Either way, the climbing is exquisite and the position is spectacular and exposed. Each pitch feels different, but the climbing consists mostly of finger and hand cracks. Some belays are uncomfortable, but it is possible to link some pitches together. This climb gets a lot of morning sun.

Moses is located in Taylor Canyon, in the heart of Canyonlands National Park. To reach Moses, you will need to go down some interesting and exposed dirt roads. Although it would be possible to reach the parking area with a 2WD car, a high clearance 4x4 vehicle is highly recommended, especially if the road has not been recently graded or happens to be muddy. We chose to take a motorbike. We lucked out that the road had been recently graded, making it pretty easy and fun with zero wipeouts. The main crux was descending the steep north-facing switchbacks from the Mineral Bottom Parking lot, as these were covered in a layer of ice. My RAV4 could not have made it down safely, although it could have handled the rest of the road fine.

It was a sunny, calm day with perfect condtions. We had the route to ourselves. Nate did all of the leading except one pitch. Moses is worth climbing just for the summit and surroundings, but Primrose Dihedrals had a lot of good climbing as well. Coupled with the motorbike ride, it was a spectacular and memorable adventure. Hard to beat.

This page gives a route overlay and pitch-by-pitch photos from the day.

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

14 miles of rough road + 1 mile of 2nd on trail.

The road up Taylor Canyon can be rough depending on the last flash flood, but is generally passable by 2WD cars with modest clearance or short enough wheelbase. We chose to take a motorbike. It was 14 motorbike miles from where we parked our car at Mineral Bottom Parking area (just above the steep swithbacks) to where we hit the foot trail up to Moses. We lucked out that the road had recently been graded. The sketchiest part was ice on the steep switchbacks; a few times the bike lost traction and we were sliding down with a steep dropoff on one side (I think perhaps my RAV4 would have been even more terrifying, without the ability to bail out to narrow strips of traction on the sides).

To get to the normal start walk around the right side of the spire. To do the alternate start walk around the left side of the spire, passing the base of Pale Fire to the notch east of Moses.

Pitch 1

5.11+ or 5.8

Normal start (5.11+): Climb an inverted V slot (5.11+) to a 2 bolt belay at about the level of the notch to the east.
Alternative start (5.8): Climb down a few feet and then up onto an exposed ledge which leads around the corner to the west. Follow this ledge to the belay bolts (5.8).

Pitch 2

5.10

Work up to the left edge of a roof, and fire up a beautiful finger crack to a roof (5.10). Continue up via liebacks and jamming (5.10). Head left before the crack ends to a belay under a roof.

Pitch 3

5.10-

This pitch is very short and actually starts about 10' below the previous belay. If the second traverses left at the correct spot while following the previous pitch, the leader can simply lower the rack down (otherwise, downclimb from the belay, 5.7 or so). From here, stem and hand traverse left to a thin crack, and climb this (5.10-) for only about 30' to a huge sloping ledge with 3 bolts. This ledge is only a little bit higher than the previous belay. From here the upper section of the route is visible and awe inspiring.

Pitch 4

5.10

Follow a straight in crack to a pod, then up a right facing dihedral (5.10 hands and then fist) to a 2 bolt belay. This pitch looks tough from below, but a convenient foothold off to the right at one roof makes it easier than one might think.

Pitch 5

5.11+ or A0

Continue up a weird 5.9 crack to the base of the ear (large cam may be useful), optional hanging belay here with tricky pro. Most climbers continue and I would recommend that. Lieback or offwidth the ear (5.11+), or aid up using 6 bolts to the right of the corner. After the last bolt you used to have to free climb 15-20' to the top of the ear. The crack here is over 6", but halfway up this section look for a smaller crack inside that offers some protection. [A new bolt in this section has eliminated this sporting runout]

Pitch 6

5.8 or 5.10

Chimney behind a large flake and head straight up (5.8) to a 2 bolt belay. Alternatively, you can follow 1 or 2 bolts above the belay (5.10 face).

Pitch 7

5.8

This is the same as the last pitch on the Dunn Route. Face climb past 2 bolts to the top. You can easily combine P6 & P7.

Top

Woo hoo! What a cool summit.

Video: 360 from the summit. If you jack up the volume and listen closely you can hear a three-part echo from Nate's holler.

Video: Yeah, this place is pretty f*ck'n cool.

Descent

5 single rope rappels

From the summit you can make a short rap back down to the shoulder, then rap the North Face (Pale Fire) in 4 raps easily with a 70m rope.

Then motorbike 14 miles back to the car. We were a bit concerned about the icy "Hill of Doom" (the steep icy switchbacks just below the trailhead) but it all worked out.