UKC

Dave Birkett climbed Zion's Moonlight Buttress (V 5.12d; 1,200 feet) last autumn, one of his most satisfying climbs of 2007. When Birkett heard that the American climber, Alex Honnold, 22, had soloed Moonlight Buttress he could hardly believe it. He spent last night reliving the climb and imagining doing it without a rope. He found it hard to comprehend.

"It's an unbelievable ascent. I remember one pitch and it wasn't even the crux, rattley finger jams with nothing but big air below you. There's one pitch with an off-width body sized pod, I just can't imagine soloing that. I find this more impressive than the big granite solos in Yosemite because the sandstone in Zion is sometimes, well, sandy and insecure. Sometimes you have to change directions in the crack and rely on laybacking by your tips. Honnold's solo is one of the most impressive I've ever heard of - pitches of E4, E5 and E6 all stacked on top of each other "

Also see:

UKC Forum: Classic US Big Wall Free-Soloed: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=294991

UKC News courtesy of Climbing.com: http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/older.html?month=04&year=2008#n43568

Alpinist report: http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web08s/newswire-alex-honnold-solo-moonlight

In reply to UKC News:

great to get a viewpoint from another top climber on this achievement.....the mind boggles.

In reply to Morgan Woods:

Insane. made me feel ill looking at the Photos. Dont know how people hold a solo together for so long. One pitch is fine but 8 pitches at 5.12 or above.

urghhh....

In reply to UKC News:

I find it hard to comprehend too. We did it in 98 and although we aided all the hard bits we did try freeing as much as we could.
I can't imagine soloing up the pod which Dave describes. I had a shocker in there, 800ft off the deck! I came out of it with holes in the knees of my kex and bleeding elbows.

The Ent

In reply to UKC News:

There's my viewpoint from a crap climber

The Ent

In reply to Enty:

Stop that Ents, there is no such thing as a crap climber. We all choose our own level and commitment.

In reply to UKC News:

This guy is an outrageously good climber - so smooth, so in control and incredible mental state.

I was on the top couple of pitches of the Rostrum when Alex soloed the route after us (after having done Astroman that morning...). I couldn't quite believe it when I saw this guy start off the big ledge up the 5.11c pitch with no rope! When he finally caught up to us, he just hung around in the middle of the offwidth pitch (yup, he just put in a kneebar, crossed his arms and starts chatting away to us!) and had a really nice chat about climbing, the route, the crux.... just the usual climbing banter really.

He then sets off on the overhanging hands and fists pitch above, offering down beta as he climbs! Never seen anything like it, I doubt I will again.

His solo of Moonlight Buttress doesn't even suprise me in some ways. Nice unassuming chap as well.

(Oh and did I mention he was climbing these offwidths in shorts and t-shirts?)

In reply to Tom Randall - Lattice Training:

bloody hell!

great story.

In reply to UKC News:

Insanely awesome. Or is that awesomely insane.

Totally inspiring!!!

In reply to Tom Randall - Lattice Training: Great story. What an amazing ascent.

In reply to Tom Randall - Lattice Training:

thanks for sharing the story...

are there any pics of his ascents on the net?