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Southwest 2014
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After we'd belayed everyone up the chimney (which went faster than last year but which still involved about forty minutes of time), we continued on. The next section was across a traverse, almost on the level. This part is mostly in the bushes, but there was one stretch that led across some slightly exposed slickrock.
Brian after the climb
Side scrambling
A framed canyon view
While hiking along the traverse, one gets a good view of the next big part of the route: a climb up a large sloping ramp of terrain (sloping up to the left). This large ramp leads upward to a narrow upper gully that in turn leads to a ridgecrest not far below the summit.
The next phase
Traversing along
Traversing along
Absolute distances are short on this climb, and the walk from the chimney to the lower end of the big ramp took at most twenty minutes. A very short distance up through some trees led to the next "technical" bit: a 13-foot-ish high bit of rock, divided into two big steps: one about ten feet high, and the other about three feet high. This particular step is not at all exposed, and looks easier than it is. The grain of the rock here is downsloping, and so all of the holds are a bit downsloping and/or rounded. The trickiest moves are the first or second, just a foot or two above the ground. If you can get past that, the rest is a trivial.

Again I opted to go first, and with a bit of pseudo-finesse I managed to smear and mantle my way past the first difficult bit. Again, I set up a hand line to ferry packs and so that anyone who wanted a bit of something extra on which to grab, got something extra upon which to grab. Twenty-five minutes of pack-ferrying and scramble-assisting and we were all at the top of this tricky little step.
courtesy BConnell
courtesy JInnes
courtesy PChen
Traverse section
Final climbing step
The Waiting View
courtesy JInnes
courtesy JInnes
A reassurring handline
Up the third climbing section
Top of 3rd section
courtesy PChen
Jenn up the 3rd climbing bit
The Pine and the Canyon
Next came the main part of the ascending ramp system I mentioned earlier. A large section of this ramp consists of downsloping steps (or rather, downsloping ledges, but they function essentially as steps). These ledgey features go on for quite a while, and has led to this part being called "The Endless Staircase". At times the terrain feels a bit airy, but the traction always feels very positive and nothing here is harder than class 3 scrambling - assuming you go the right way. We kept an eye out for faint old markings to help out, in that regard.
courtesy JInnes
Staircase approaches
Starting up the Staircase
Up the Staircase
courtesy PChen
The Endless Staircase
Up the Staircase
Endless Staircase
courtesy PChen
Up the Staircase
Another Staircase shot
The Endless Staircase, while not quite exactly endless, is long. And steep. The positive aspect of this, though, is that we gained elevation very quickly. From the slopey step to the top of the endless staircase, we gained six hundred feet. At the top of the Endless Staircase, the route winds around and to the top of an outcrop of white Navajo sandstone. Under a large pine tree, we stopped for a food break. This was the exact spot where we turned around on our 2013 climb.
courtesy RHanel
courtesy JInnes
Old indicators
East Face, Lady Mountain
Snack Break
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[ Return to "The Checklist Edition" Home page | Introduction | Day 1 : South Kaibab to Clear Creek Trail | Day 2 : Clear Creek Tr to Cottonwood Camp | Day 3 : Cottonwood Camp to North Rim | The North Rim | Drive to Zion | Lady Mountain Redux | The Subway | Angel's Landing | Zion in Flood | Valley of Fire | Wind-up and Return | The "Short Report" | GPS Data ]


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