Desert Shield 

Great route to escape C1, C2 classics barbecue on ledge on tower where chimney ends (pitch3), so bring sausages and beer. Last pitch thin crack and a bit free climbing. Rappelling no problem. strategy: fix to pitch4 (3 ropes), start very early next morning and push it in 1 day.

Anyone know if offset aliens are mandatory? How many? What sizes?

Well I'll answer my own question. Did it last weekend with no offset aliens with no problem. Offset nuts (lots of them) work fine. Superb climbing that felt a step harder than Lunar X.

Pitch 2 can be aided past the bolts on straight forward hooks. It is pretty fun hooking with good bolts for pro, of course it also an excellent free pitch.

Thinking about a solo ascent this spring and what kind ofbig gear do you need after the bolt ladder on the head wall?? Anything bigger than a #1 Camalot?? Beta would bemuch appreciated. Thanks...M.N.

Regarding big gear on the headwall, I would reccomend a single set of camalots. They aren't necesary but you can get a few bomber placements which I was plenty happy to have.

Please dont hook on the P.2 5.11 sport pitch please. We would all like to have a chance to free this pitch.

Thats just sillyness.

Just did this route yesterday-excellent free climbing down low and great aiding up high on the exposed headwall...no need to fix a rope for the decent to ptich 4.
We used:
2x blue alien - #4 C4 (nothing bigger)
c3's
many offset brass
no normal stoppers
hybrid aliens
aluminum offsets
assorted hooks
no camhooks
2x 60m ropes
rivet hangers
--May want to bring new webbing for anchors--

On the last hard aid pitch you hook left not right. The Supertopo topo also shows it going right. Unless I was out of my mind and on a different route, you hook (one move) left.

Did all but the last pitch last weekend (Oct 09)...really fun free and aid as everyone says. Lots to add, though.

Approach: Maybe 5 minutes with a daypack, or on the way down, but schlepping huge pigs up that sandy trail took at least 20 minutes I think. Maybe I just really don't like hiking. Okay, I just really don't like hiking.

Rack (idealized): 3-4 sets offset stoppers (mostly #3-7); 2 sets offset cams (mostly the smaller sizes); 2-3 sets normal cams up to BD .75 or so; doubles #1-4 (not sure if we used the second #4 actually); set of hooks (talon, cliffhanger, grappling). No normal stoppers, no cam hooks (this is desert C, eh?), no tricams, no rivet hangers.

P1: carry a single #2 camalot. You can walk this up the 5.7 ramp, pull it, then it protects the little "5.8" move up higher too. Go light!

P2: pretty full value if you're not in free climbing shape!

Bivy ledge after P3: has one biohazard bolt and one good. Charcoal grill, with charcoal up there currently.

P4: We took a crack system off the left side of the bivy ledge, to the right of the crack shown in the supertopo. Probably 5.9 and links up with P4 anchor. Can link this with P5 in one loooong pitch with 60m ropes.

P6: carry a grappling hook, a gray alien (or orange tcu), and a bunch of draws/biners. Enjoy the security of bolts!

P7: jugged it.

P8: excitement! Bring the full arsenal. I only brought one set of the hand-sized pieces and wished I had both. Very sustained, I thought...don't leave too much small stuff down low. Jesse - agree that the primary crack switching hook move is to the left (the bat hole). That said, I think I hooked every possible direction on the pitch at some point. There's a small stance at the top of this pitch for the belay.

Here is a trip report from a one day solo of the route... lots of fun...
www.supertopo.com/tr/The-slowest-solo-push-on-record-Desert->>>

just attempted this route, and I have no realistic explanation of why I am still here, unharmed. The "5.7 R" start to the second pitch is not cool. I found it to be more like 5.10 x dirty slab. ( keep in mind I can climb 5.12 cracks, but I'm probably the worst slab climber I know ) moving on, I traversed right and placed 2 mediocre-at-best cams in a flake so I would have some chance of not hitting the ground. I was 6 inches away from the first bolt, my foot slipped on the dirt, and I fell, both cams blew the rock apart, resulting in a 25 ft ledge fall to my side / head. Landing a foot away from my belayer. I got up, drank a beer, and went home, untouched. A woman on the bus said a prayer for my friend and I, maybe someone was listening, I dont know. but do yourself a favor and just bring a stick clip. Keep in mind I climb in zion a lot, and I am very familiar with the inherent risks of the poor-quality rock. So please consider my warning, and not disregard it as another gym rat trying to go big. I love climbing, but no hobby is worth dying or getting disabled over. Just be safe and enjoy this excellent route.

Might have something to do with this:

"Pitch 2 can be aided past the bolts on straight forward hooks. It is pretty fun hooking with good bolts for pro, of course it also an excellent free pitch."-AC

Getting to the first bolt is not hard or scary. (pretty standard affair in Zion.) If possible Please dont hook between bolts, this is really fun free pitch in it own right.

I don’t think that your opinion is too far off from how most climbers would feel about that section, but I just thought I would offer my own. Who knows, if it helps someone else to not hit the ground, I would consider that a good thing. At least I didn’t try and hook it :)

Regarding pitch #2

The pitch starts to the left of the belay up a layback with some gear and then makes easy moves to the first bolt. the "slab" moves are clean and the climbing is not harder than 5.7. the previously described epic above was as a result of climbing to the right of the belay, off route, placing crappy gear (which is probablly all you get over there), and then traversing in on mossy, sandy, uncleaned and unclimbed terrain.

Please do not hook on this pitch. It goes at 10+/11- and is only one or two thin moves. hooking could damage the thin patina holds. Bring a cheater stick if you do not think you can bust the free moves.

I did the first 5 pitches for a nice half day free climbing outing. There are some stellar pitches up there and it gets morning shade.

The grill at the bivy needs some lovin. It has a baseball sized hole in the bottom that will quickly get bigger, and that leaks charcoal. Three options.
1) Bring a new grill to attach. The existing one is just a coleman camp stove with all of the innards taken out. If you bring a new one you will need to put chains or steel cable on the sides to suspend it. Basically, you can remove the old one and have a single biner from which you would need to hang the new one. The old one has chains on it that can't be removed thus the new one would need to be pre-rigged. See the photo of the guy next to the grill on this page for ideas.
2) Bring a small regular grill that won't be attached to the wall and just leave it on the ledge. There is enough room.
3) Bring a solid flat 12" x 8" or so piece of metal to cover the hole.

Luke M's rack beta is spot on. We brought a sky/talon/bat hook combo and used all of them multiple times.

Climbed to the bivy then fixed to P5 anchors on day 1. Single fixed 60m rap back to the bivy from there. The bivy is frickin sweet!

Day 2 we climbed P6 to the top. I took my climbing shoes but did not need them for the top pitches. I free climbed a few times and was comfortable in my approach shoes. The 5.6 at the end is on a ledge... Approach shoes felt very comfortable to me here as well. We didn't use offset cams, though they may have been useful in smaller sizes. Used lots of small and med offset nuts on C3 pitches. Non-offset nuts are useless up there. Took a talon and a BD grappling hook... used them for sequential moves at one point on P8. The C3 pitches are amazing!

Followed the Supertopo descent and it worked great. The swing over to P4 anchors from P6 anchors was a little tough, but a little creativity helped.