Sheer Lunacy (Free)

Sheer Lunacy is a great, fairly mellow "big" wall climb in Zion, located just left of the much more popular Moonlight Buttress. It offers enjoyable climbing on every pitch and the cruxes are fairly brief; though it's just as long as its neighbor, it is much less tiring of a day.

P1: Begin as for Moonlight Buttress by climbing a long 5.7/5.8 groove system to a ledge with a tree. Belay here.

P2: Instead of moving right and into Moonlight's 5.10c pitch, head straight up a vegetated, right-facing corner. Actually, head up a flake system on the right wall of the corner and step back left into the corner fairly high up. Be very careful of loose rock here - some sandy, hollow flakes could take out your belay and ruin the afternoon. Once back in the corner follow it with increasing ease up into a chimney system. Trend left to gain a huge ledge system with trees and bushes - this ledge is very obvious from the road. Belay on this ledge. 180', 5.10.

P3: A short pitch continues traversing left and then up a 25' high 5.6 flake past some drilled pins and then moves left around the corner to a single bolt belay in an alcove. The bolt can be backed up with a 0.75 Camalot sized piece or so. 50', 5.6.

P4: The Primo Crack. Some topos indicate 5.12b, but way easier! Chimney up the alcove and undercling out the roof at the top to gain the nice, featured left-facing corner. Make sure to back-clean your gear in the alcove as the crack at the lip could create serious rope snafus! Lieback, jam, and face climb up the corner past a thin section to a belay. 120', 5.11c.

P5: The Second Crack... and almost as hard. Climb up the left-facing corner above the belay with occasional sandy and less-than-obvious gear placements. This section is kinda spicy, but holds and gear do keep coming. Save a bunch of long runners and move left on a ledge to the Shroud of Elvis. I'm not sure how this got it's name because I don't think Elvis is that great and this section of climbing is fucking awesome. Spectacular, exposed 5.9 up a steep flake with good stances and gear. Again, long runners or rope drag hell. Continue left around a corner and belay at a trio of drilled angles. 180', 5.11b PG13.

P6: The Face Crack to the Hidden Crack. Climb up the low-angle crack that splits the face above. A bolt and good gear lead to a small ledge and then a wide crack in a corner. This is the Hidden Crack and holds and gear abound if you look carefully. Belay at the top of Toquerville Tower. 100', 5.9.

P7: The crux pitch. The 5.13 version heads straight up from the top of the tower, but most will probably move the belay down and right to an exposed ledge below a single bolt. Crux number one comes moving up off the ledge and is much more difficult for those with large fingers. Continue up jams and face holds to a bolt. Clip this and foot traverse left along an improbable ledge back to the main crack system. A good stance here precedes the true crux, which, ironically, is much easier for the tall. So there's some difficulty for everybody. A bolt protects a cool lieback move to a providential face hold, then a hand jam, gear, and one more hard move past a bulge and a drilled pin. Catch your breath and continue up the Sharp Crack - a beautiful splitter on the left wall - to a belay on a small ledge. 100', 5.12b.

P8: The Sharper Crack. Continue up a crack and flare to a stretch of sandy rock with an optional lunge for a tree limb which makes for a dramatic top-out. 60', 5.11a.

Descend the Angel's Landing trail.

2 each blue Aliens to #1 Camalot. 1 each #2 and #3 Camalots. 2 sets of wires - especially a set of offsets! One 60m rope. Forget all the beta out there that says RP's, triple TCU's, or wide gear - completely unnecessary.