Intro

Nate and I climbed Shune's Buttress in April 2025, at the end of a 6-week climbing roadtrip. [Funny story: I had left my home in Estes Park on what I planned to just be three days in the Creek before returning home. It ended up being a six week climbing road trip. Our first stop after sandstone splitters in Indian Creek was the uber-classic Moonlight Buttress in Zion. Then we climbed the steep limestone of Lime Kiln Canyon; the renowned overhanging limestone at Clear Light Cave; big routes in Red Rocks like Rainbow Wall and Resolution Arete and Texas Hold'Em as well as several days of sport climbing in Calico Hills and Calico Basin to get strong. On the drive back to Colorado, we bookended the trip with another stop in Zion and waded/hiked The Narrows and climbed Shune's Buttress (this page).]

In an effort to work off my debt to Nate of pitches led vs. pitches followed, I offered to lead the entire route. We climbed in fix and follow method, so I got a nice break at the top of every pitch while Nate enjoyed toprope soloing all day. Since there is a necessary double rope rappel (the first rappel), we brought a tag line and hauled a pack with extra water, food, and light long sleeve shirts. It was warm enough we did not need a belay puffy and we were comfortable in t-shirts. We had the route to ourselves.

What an fun last climb to our amazing six-week roadtrip!

Time Stats

Times

Shuttle leaves Visitor Center: 8:50 am
Shuttle drops us off at the Grotto: 9:13 am
Base of route: 9:36 am
Start climbing: 10:02 am
Top of route: 3:42 pm
Begin rappels: 4:13 pm
Base of route: 5:05 pm
Grotto: 5:37 pm
Back to Visitor Center: 6:00 pm

Splits

Approach: 23 min from the Grotto, 46 from Visitor Center
Climb route: 5 hours 40 minutes
Rappels: 52 min
Total time (Visitor Center to Visitor Center): 9 hours 10 minutes

Our Rack

This was our rack:
2 black, 2 blue, 2 yellow, 2 purple, 2 green Totems (roughly equivalent to camalot sizes #0.2 to #0.75)
2 red aliens (roughly equivalent to #0.5 camalot)
1 #0.75, 3 #1, 3 #2, 3 #3, 2 #4, 1 #5 camalot
Set of nuts
8 alpine draws

This was a good rack for the route if you plan to link pitches 3 and 4. If not linking those pitches, you can drop a couple of the large cams (ie. just bring 2 #3, 1 #4). I appreciated having the #5 camalot in a few sections, although it would be possible to protect safely without it, if you have double #4. I never placed both black totems on any pitch and I only placed one nut on the entire route. It was nice to have several cams in the purple totem / red alien / #0.5 camalot as well as #1 and #2 camalot sizes for Pitch 7.

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

Bus + 2nd

Get off the bus at the Grotto picnic area. Walk east and north through the picnic area for a couple of hundred yards until you intersect a creek which descends just to the north of Red Arch Mountain. Follow a trail east up the creek (starts on the south side of the creek), taking a right fork at some point (the left seems to lead to water tanks), and eventually reaching the base of the buttress. Make a final scramble and you are at the base of the route. Approach time from bus stop: about 20 minutes.

Pitch 1

5.11+ (original start) or 5.11- (right variation)

Two options.

The original and more obvious line climbs a beautiful left-facing corner. Climb the wide pod to the long section of sustained 1-1.5" crack. There is a ledge on the left halfway up with anchors, but continue upward to a higher ledge with a bolted anchor. The last 20' of the pitch are classic Zion funky climbing.

A variation and slightly easier pitch added later climbs a crack 100 feet to the right of the original start. This variation starts in a crack right on the prow that begins below a small roof. It ends on the same ledge as the original line described above.

We climbed the left/original/harder/better option.

Pitch 2

5.9 or 5.10

Two options. Climb the groove/chimney/funky thing (5.9) or climb the finger and hand crack in the black face to the right (5.10).

We climbed the 5.10 option.

Pitch 3

5.10+

Be prepared for some offwidth and groveling, and leave your helmet behind so you don't get it stuck. Chimney up the obvious corner until it starts to pinch down—don't clip the bolt in the bowels, instead place a #4 or #5 Camalot up above your head and try and figure out how to slide out to the outside of the bombay and switch to stacks and fist jams.

This is a short pitch that ends at drilled pin anchors on the right. This pitch can be easily linked with the next pitch if you have enough big cams.

Pitch 4

5.10

Continue up. An initial wide section leads to sustained big hands and fists and hands. Belay on bolts on left.

This pitch can easily be linked with the previous or with the next. For a 215-foot megapitch, link Pitches 3, 4, & 5.

Pitch 5

5.9

Chimney to chockstone and belay off of bolts at top of chimney where the sort-of tower meets the main cliff.

Pitch 6

5.11-

Clip a bolt up and left of anchor and continue face climbing up and left (or possibly down first and then left) to the arete, and then climb jugs on the arete to a bolted belay near arete. 40' long—not much gear after bolt, but way easier to anchor.

Pitch 7

5.11

On the Indian Creek five star scale, this pitch gets at least five stars--non stop action, full-on exposure, and just enough rests to allow you to savor the experience. Downclimb from anchor about 10' then step left around arete and span out to the finger crack on the face. Backclean your gear for about 15 feet; mostly fingers with some feet. Crank up the steepening finger to big finger to tight hands crack through the roof, with the occasional face hold. Go for another 50' over the roof to a hanging belay at a pod; there is a bolt at this belay which is backed up with hand sized pieces. About 100' long. Rack: omit the nuts and pieces bigger than a #3 Camelot (you can place one on the pitch but even that is not needed); bring everything else. The pitch eats #0.3, #0.5, #1, and #2 especially.

Pitch 8

5.9

Handcracks and face holds forever on this fun, left-trending, 165' pitch. The rock is a tad friable at times. The rock at the top does not lend itself to any great belay anchors, so you can try to find better rock above or belay off the upper rappel anchor around the corner to the right.

Top

Enjoy the view!

Descent

Rappel

Note: In April 2025, we rappelled with two ropes. As of December 2025, you can rappel the route from the top with a single 70. The overlay is updated to reflect this. Also see my 2025 trip report for details.

We made 6 rappels, with only the first being a double-rope rappel and the rest being single-rope rappels with a single 70 (some were rope-stretchers, where a 60 would have come short). The 1st two raps do not go down the route. Here's what we did:

From the top of the route, walk right/south 20' to a rap station (we actually belayed here for the final pitch due to lack of other good belay anchors).
R1: Double rope. Rap straight down from here for about 150' to a bolted station on the face.
R2: Single 70m rope. About 110' angling climbers' left to the anchor at the top of P6 (the 5.11- traverse pitch). You can also go to the top of P5 (the top of the tower) but going to the one atop P6 will reduce the chance of the rope getting stuck in the chimney.
R3: Single 70m rope. Directly down to the anchor (hanging) on the left face.
R4: Single 70 rope. Slightly climbers left and over the arete to an anchor on some other route.
R5: Single 70 rope. Down to the anchor at end of P1.
R6: Single 70 rope. It's a stretcher but you can get to easy terrain at the base of the route.

Intro

Sean and I were on day seven of climbing, having already ticked off some great days in Red Rocks and Zion. With rain forecast to start the next day, we’d both decided to head home for the holidays and were inclined to delay a rest day one more time. For our final day, we settled on Shune’s Buttress. Sean hadn’t climbed it before, and it’s one of my favorite routes in Zion—less sandy than most. While browsing Mountain Project, we noticed the Shune-lite variation and liked the idea of leaving the larger cams in the car. It also sounded fun to me to get on a few new pitches.

We planned to start at first light since Sean needed to drive back to Salt Lake City to catch an early flight the next morning. But when we arrived at the park entrance, the gate was closed. A quick check of the NPS website revealed that the shuttle was running for the holidays (it hadn’t been operating since early December). We drove back to the Visitor Center, made use of the extra time by walking to a nearby coffee shop, and then caught the shuttle.

We climbed the route in fix-and-follow style. I took the first block (Pitches 1–4), which included the 5.11+ corner on the first pitch and a couple of the Shune-lite face pitches. Sean led the second block (Pitches 5–7), which included another Shune-lite face pitch and the classic 5.11 headwall splitter. We climbed the route in about four and a half hours, rappelled quickly—appreciating that it’s now possible to rappel from the top with a single 70-meter rope—and caught the shuttle back to the Visitor Center. Round trip time from the Visitor Center was under 7 hours.

Although the route stays mostly in the shade, it was unusually warm for December (a high of 70°F in Springdale), making the cooler climbing quite comfortable.

What a fun way to end a week of climbing. Hopefully Sean and I can team up for more adventures in the future.

Time Stats

Times

Shuttle leaves Visitor Center: 8:10 am
Shuttle drops us off at the Grotto: 8:31 am
Base of route: 8:46 am
Start climbing: 9:00 am
Top of route: 1:32 pm
Begin rappels: 1:39 pm
Base of route: 2:13 pm
Grotto: 2:41 pm
Back to Visitor Center: 3:07 pm

Splits

Approach: 15 min from the Grotto, 36 from Visitor Center
Climb route: 4 hours 32 minutes
Rappels: 34 min
Total time (Visitor Center to Visitor Center): 6 hours 57 minutes

Our Rack

The rack we brought. We eliminated the large cams because we were doing the Shune-lite variation. All sizes are BD.
- doubles .2
- doubles .3
- doubles .4
- quads .5
- triples .75
- triples 1
- triples 2
- doubles 3
- set of offset nuts
- dozen alpine draws
We also had:
- 70 8.5 lead line (you can rap the route with a single 70)
- fix-and-follow setup

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

2nd

From the Grotto picnic area, walk east and north through the picnic area for a couple of hundred yards until you intersect a creek which descends just to the north of Red Arch Mountain. Follow a trail east up the creek (starts on the south side of the creek), taking a right fork at some point (the left seems to lead to water tanks), and eventually reaching the base of the buttress. Make a final scramble and you are at the base of the route. Approach time from bus stop: 15-20 minutes.

Pitch 1

5.11+ (original start) or 5.11- (right variation)

Shune's Buttress

Pitch 2

5.9 or 5.10

Shune's Buttress

Two options. Climb the groove/chimney/funky thing (5.9) or climb the finger and hand crack in the black face to the right (5.10).

We climbed the 5.10 option.

Pitch 3

5.10

Shune-lite

Instead of groveling into the chimney, move the belay to the rap anchor far to the left on the ledge. Climb left around the arete up a ramp-like feature, mostly clipping bolts. Place the occasional cam where you can, climb up to a ledge, place a small cam or two, then climb to the next ledge to two bolts. This is a short pitch.

Pitch 4

5.11

Shune-lite

Bust a bouldery sequence off the belay, clipping a few bolts until a thin crack appears. Using both the crack and face holds, continue upward and then slightly right, clipping one more bolt on the way to another series of ledges and a bolted anchor.

Pitch 5

5.10+

Shune-lite

Face climb up and right off the anchor, heading towards the arete. Climb up the arete, sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right, until the bolts and holds lead you back left to where the headwall crack starts to appear. Climb up the thin crack, placing mostly fingers to tips sized cams, until the crack becomes a flake with a small bush in it and bolts reappear.

From the last few bolts, you have some options. You can climb to the anchor at the end of the original Shune’s Buttress traverse pitch. Or you can head up and left to the start of the headwall crack and build a belay at the start of the crack for a good view of the coming action.

Pitch 6

5.11

Shune's Buttress P7

Pitch 7

5.9

Shune's Buttress P8

Top

Enjoy the view!

Descent

Rappel

Rap with a single 70. See topo for rap locations. There are several options but rapping the Shune-lite variation are the cleanest rappels.

Root Canal, Drive Home for Christmas

After climbing Shune-lite, Sean drove to Salt Lake to catch a flight home for the holidays, while I drove to Las Vegas hoping to see a dentist the next day—my tooth pain had become unbearable. On Christmas Eve I ended up needing a root canal. The endodontist wasn’t even scheduled to work that day, but kindly came in after hearing about my “need to get home for Christmas” situation. Still, with a 21-hour, 1,400-mile drive ahead of me, the procedure pushed my travel plans back by a full day.

I’d hoped to arrive at my parents’ place in BC late on Christmas Day, but instead I found myself driving deep into the night. Another delay came when I needed to stop at my storage locker in Leavenworth, Washington to pick up some items—Highway 2 was washed out from recent rains, adding several hours to the drive. My parents offered me a hotel on Christmas Eve, and Jenny let me stay at her empty place in Leavenworth on Christmas night before the final push north.

The driving conditions were challenging: dark, rainy, mostly one-lane highways, and only a single working headlight thanks to a deer strike back in August. Since my car is my home, the plan was to leave it at the shop while I stayed with my parents—but first, I still had to get there.

At last, I rolled in, and it was worth every mile. Seeing my parents felt grounding in the best way, and they had a warm, cozy room ready for me. I collapsed into bed, exhausted and relieved, happy to postpone Christmas until the next day. I would be there for the month of January—working on a few projects, spending time with my parents, maybe perusing Craigslist for a used van (if I’m going to live in my vehicle, a van feels warranted), and settling into a slower pace of life for a bit… before starting it all over again.