Has anyone done this? Any beta will be greatly appreciated!

Hey Shiho,
you should come with us this weekend! bail on that party.I will be back from portland on friday and we are kickin it out of SLC by 3:00pm or so.

Everything in Zion is crappy, this one is a heap of crap not worth the effort, climb the spires in front, exciting.

I think this is what locals think.

Rob

We did this route as a wall about ten years ago. It was dirty in places but really a pretty neat climb. I know locals and others do it as a day route now, a little more cleaned up and nowhere too hard. As we aided parts, that comment about "too hard" should be taken in that context. Ledges are good, getting through the jungles would be alot easier without a haul bag.
We didn't have much info --- went off the write-up from the first ascent in the AAJ --- but didn't think route finding was tricky, pretty straighforward in fact. The funny rods that Rowell made for the f.a. were handy in places. And we had a few pins, made a handful of placements but all for belay stations.

Thanks Andrew! How's the aid section? What do I need? (I'll probably ask you more questions when I'm committed to do the route.)

Maybe 8-10 pins, mix of angles and also mix of l.a.'s, with a couple long ones. Nothing huge, and no rurps, maybe a couple knife blades.
Drop me a note anytime. I'll talk with my son and refresh my memory, maybe he'll recall other details. It was a good climb --- there were ten massive bighorn rams hanging around on the summit when we went through. They did not approve of our visit at all! We wondered how they got up there, as the last rap clears some very technical ground. I'm sure they have their own great route.

Sounds like a good trip! I won't be climbing the route till the days get longer; I'll definitely email you and ask you more beta when spring comes.

Did a very early ascent of the route back in '77.
We free climbed the lower stuff up to the jungle in the late afternoon, fixed to the ground, jugged up in the AM, lugged a pack that the second jugged with (bitch to jug with)
Spent a night on the big ledge and finished the next day.

Andrew's route info sounds good. We were trying to do a clean ascent and started pounding about two pitches out of the jungle (take all of this with a grain of salt, too long ago) We didn't have anything but hexes, stoppers and pins. It's what, A2 with pins and some 5.10 stuff down on the 2nd or 3rd pitch ? I seem to recall a somewhat dicey long final pitch on sandy stuff.

My only advice, make sure you know the descent.
Casual if you do, trouble if you don't. We were climbing blind (no info except what my partner had remembered reading somewhere) and went off the wrong way... Worked out ok but was a bit testy. We came out down and into a thing called the Grotto or something like that on the NW side. The PS told us they had rescued some guys off that descent a couple weeks previous and had been told it wouldn't go without a rescue. It went, just off a #8 stopper (decent) and a small tree tied off and sketchy down climb to get the last gear and barely reach.... I believe the correct descent is off the SE side ?
We turned R, beautiful hanging garden raps but quite a few of them.

Enjoy... This is not the type of climbing for which Zion has attracted so many climbers though. But I thought it was quite cool. But I was also into softer Sedona rock so...

Are there any routes up the GWT that go free? Preferably ones that summit.

Diagonal on the South Face. Real fast route, no aid necessary even though the FAer gave it that grade. Just a huge slab climb like Led by Sheep. There are always big horns on the summit plateaus and these southeastern slabs are how they reach them.

The South Face Diagonal goes all free at 5.9, most of the route is much easier though.

The sketchy bolts have all been replaced. It's 6 or 7 pitches of slab...fun climbing in a beautiful and remote area.

Jersey Dave and I did the Beckey in about 03. We had a topo drawn by Andy's son Dan. I was amazed at how good Dan's notes were.

I thought the route it was hard (upper headwall). I remember doing a fair amount of 5.10 out of aiders on the upper headwall. Hauling through the jungles was not too cool either. Overall, this is an amazing route with a 10/10 on the adventure scale. Go get some sand in your ears.

Thanks for the bolt replacement on the S Diagonal route Brian. That is a great climb but when I did it bolts were coming out in my fingers. I walked around the top a little and found an old summit register located near the original rappel route. The last entry was over 10 years old and was none other than Mr Carson who posted previously in the thread. There were a bunch of great history in that register, one early entry scribed in pencil reading S. Roper and H. Daly. I was surprised at how many ascents this route received in the 70's and early 80's, it seems kinda obscure now. anyone who climbs this sucker be sure to find the register, its in a yellow painted gutter downspout with caps on each end, "offical" NPS rig.

I like where this thread is going. Can't wait to get on the top of GWT!

Nate, is there any chance that I can get a hold of the topo?