.zion1. (Kung Fu Theater, Chastity Crack, Locksmith Dihedral)

After dropping Kyle off in Vegas, I drove up to Zion and met my good friend Alex in the afternoon. I've been climbing with Alex since we met in Mexico in the winter of 2017. We've thrown down some serious mileage on big routes in the [redacted], Zion and desert tower linkups. In addition to being an astute stone technician, Alex is an accomplished guitarist and drummer. We share a love of prog-metal and jam out to Opeth and Between the Buried and Me on the way to climbs.

I often describe the ideal climbing partner as someone who not only climbs hard routes safely and efficiently with a good attitude, but also is someone with whom you can tolerate being benighted on a ledge in a thunderstorm. From personal experience, Alex fulfills all of these criteria, and is a straight-up good dude to boot.

(From our Triple Nipple link up of North Face, Ministry and Coyote Calling)

We hopped on Smashmouth, a classic four-pitch 5.11c fingers and face. Since Alex had done it twice before, he kindly let me link the two money pitches into an incredible 140' burn. Splitter greys and purples led to a crux face move at the very end of the link.

After surprisingly cold conditions in Josh, it was nice to get some warm sun.

We also found a ridiculously good-looking bolted arete called "The Greatest and Best Pitch in the World." Wild exposure weaving back and forth across the ginsu blade for 150' with plenteous holds to keep it 5.10a (a for airy!).

The arete was guarded by an excellent splitter 5.11c fingercrack off the ground.

The Kung Fu Theater continued to dazzle with "Enter the Dragon," an engaging 5.11a arete with killer views. I didn't expect such good face climbing in Zion!

On our third day, we embarked on a linkup of Chastity Crack (5.11c 300') and Locksmith Dihedral (5.12a 400'). A strenuous approach in the snow necessitated top-shelf healthy caloric intake.

Chastity Crack started with a pleasant handcrack. The second pitch offered some face climbing through a roof.

The money pitch featured a delightful 5.11c move switching from one splitter finger crack to another, and then rewarded us with a steep handcrack with excellent exposure.

The position was stupendous and each pitch had excellent movement on good stone.

We then embarked upon a mildly unrighteous 45-minute bushwhack over to Locksmith, passing a gorgeous amphitheater with a dry lakebed.

Locksmith Dihedral was a bit of a sandbox at the start. I had to blow off the face holds and cracks before I placed gear. A delicate 5.11a roof move led to a blue-collar flaring thrutchsterpiece that generated more heat than light. I have no photos of P2, but Alex styled the excellent, long 5.11+ thin dihedral. Proud onsight material with some tricky gear placements. After following it, I glanced up at the 5.12a wide roof on the next pitch and began to reevaluate my life choices.

Sandy face climbing in a dihedral led to a cool tunnel-through squeeze move and into a chimney. The chimney slowly narrowed to the point of spitting me out into an offwidth roof. I placed a #6 on some crispy flakes and then can-openered my legs perpendicular to the crack, inching up on heel-toe cams until I could reach out of the abyss and into a fist jam. A thuggish pullup surmounted the roof, but then a steep fingercrack corner remained. I was elated to finally reach the anchor and attain the onsight. Alex fired up the last 5.11a pitch, classic Zion funkery with everything from pockets to tips cracks to a sandy mantel. This pitch was surprisingly fun and way better than it looked. Two double-rope raps brought us back to our packs ... well, almost. Some shenanigans were required to get the tag line to the ground.

A moderately unrighteous descent down snow, mud and sketchy rock glissades in the wash rounded out a full-value day. Impending rain sent us packing to St. George for a much-needed rest day, my third in thirteen days of climbing. The plan is to hit some water-impermeable limestone crags in the area as Zion dries, then return to the "sandstone Yosemite."