This route is great. The line can be spotted from the road as a distinct dihedral with a roof/chimney at the top that runs up just past half way. The rock looks blank above that but a beautiful, direct, crack system runs almost the whole way up. This is a great easy aid route or a hardcore free climb on beautiful crack systems.
The belays are all bolted and the bolts are in great condition (thanks to the ASCA, I think). A hammer is nice for cleaning but do not nail anything on the route.
The start is a pain in the ass. On the far left side of the 3rd class ledges, locate a right angling ramp. It is somewhat obvious.
P1 (5.8+, ~200') Climb the ramp, step right, and follow short hand cracks to the bolt anchors. Pull up the haul line and throw it down to the pig. This is the worst hauling on the route (except the top).
There is a direct 5.10 variation that would make this much easier. This pitch is not so well protected but it is not too bad.
P2 (C1, ~100') Traverse far right and start aiding up the shallow right facing dihedral just after a small roof. Follow the crack system to a nice belay ledge in an acute dihedral with a bolt anchors.
This pitch could be free climbed at 5.10.
P3 (C1, ~100') The angling bolt ladder. Mostly QDs and a hook. Walk right on the ledge and stretch up to the first clip. Follow the line of bolts and drilled pins to where there are two pins next to each other.
From here we believe you do a free move then hook move to the next bolt. We decided it would be faster to do a long stick clip with the pole from the ledge's fly. We were told by a party later that the day before the pin had pulled or fell out so they hammered it back in. What ever you do here be careful as it is not a good pin at all. It is dead vertical so the fall is clean but it would be long and involve a swing.
This pitch ends on the rocker block with bolt anchors.
P4 (C1+, ~180') The Grand Dihedral. Clip two bolts and enjoy leap frogging cams up the steepening dihedral. This a beautiful pitch; long, so have plenty of carabiners and cams/nuts to take you the whole way (or back clean). Have the #2 and #3 cams for the couple of wider parts.
This is the first of the hanging belays from bolts.
P5 (C1+, ~150') Continue up the steep dihedral and decipher the step left on a hook. We used the big bros to aid the initial part of the chimney/v-slot and they worked great.
Follow the shallow dihedral system for another long pitch to an awesome ledge. There is a series of bolts along this ledge to accommodate bivies. A double portaledge is nice for comfort but one could sleep on the natural ledge. (Aahhhhh...sleep!)
P6 (C1, ~100') The beginning of the nice splitter crack system. OK stance, bolt anchors.
P7 (C1, ~100') Same stuff. Decent stance, bolt anchors.
P8 (C1+, ~100') The rock here turns into a rather broken crack system for a little ways. Watch where you place gear because some of the blocks seemed loose (although they didn't move).
Somewhat tricky; hanging belay, bolt anchors.
P9 (C1 5.7, ~130') Continue up the splitter clack system to a small roof with hand-sized pro. This can be free climbed at 5.10.
Arrive at a small ledge with the final 5.7 slabs. Belay here or run up the scary slabs. We belayed here and brought up the second to finish up the slabs.
The 5.7 slab is about thirty feet long and there are about two pro placements (red cam and red alien). Traverse right, up, back left, up to the top. It would be very scary without rock shoes. There are a couple of trees to belay off of on top.
When hauling at the top, it would be best to extend the tie-in to be over the lip. Otherwise you will only get it up with a Z-pulley and you will deepen the grooves in the lip. Be ready for the gawking tourists as the trail is only about 100 feet away.
For the meat of the route you don't need any hand-sized or larger gear (#1 cam and up) except for the 5.10 pitches and the chimney. Most of the pitches are TCUs and nuts and an occasional small hand-sized piece.
It would have been nice to leave the hand-sized pieces in the top of the pig and tag them up when needed. Be ready for the typical free move in the middle of an aid pitch.
If you know what you are doing it would be reasonable to do it in a day. You can fix lines down the rap route from the rocker block with 2 ropes. You can bivy on the rocker block but the best one is at the top of P5. There are no other good places to bivy as they are all hanging belays.
The route gets morning sun and is shaded after about 2pm or so.
—Casey Bernal
Protection
Lots of TCUs, especially red and yellow aliens. We had six of each and were pretty comfortable. You could do with less, but at least triples, and at least doubles in the other TCUs. Narrower brands are nicer because they are all pin-scarred placements.
Doubles in cams to a #3. Double set of stoppers with triples from #6 to #11. Offsets would be useful.
Big Bros 2 and 3; maybe 4 also. 2 Hooks.
Small tricams and a set of hexes to fill it up.
One portaledge. One pig. One gallon H2O/person/day. Stick clip. Belay seat.
To make a plug for a friend, it sounds like some Splitter gear 2Cams or 4Cams would be nice for this route (and aid routes in general) for the shallow and/or flaring pin scars. Check em out: www.splittergear.com.
This is not the description for the Lowe route on Angel's Landing. This is a fairly decent description of Moonlight Buttress. Except for the Big Bros and some other confusion. The Rocker Block is on Moonlight, on the third pitch. This needs to be completely revised. Maybe I will do it, but I gotta go right now.
I see, the confusion is mine. I have never heard this route referred to as the Lowe route before. The Lowe route that I know is right in the middle of Angels landing and is an awesome line.
Ok. I cannot see what the confusion is. I have commonly seen this route referred to as the "Lowe/Weiss route on Moonlight Buttress" - most people just call it Moonlight Buttress because it is the main route up the buttress. Jeff Lowe and Mark(?) Weiss were the FAs hence the official name. There is a route on Angle's Landing that is the Lowe Route. Revise away if you want but all is correct as far as I know.
We did this route a couple of weeks ago, and it was fabulous. We short-fixed, leading in two blocks of five pitches, and summitted in six and a half hours. It's a great route for speed. Since every piece is bomber, you can leapfrog and backlean to your heart's content. While leading pitch 6 I used nothing but orange tcu's, the same size for a whole freakin' pitch! Phenomenal! Anyway, I highly recommend this route, it was as good as I hoped it would be.
I would rank this route as the best I have ever climbed. The rock quality is excellent, the position is awesome, and the exposure on the final hanging belay still makes my stomach turn. :)
As far as I can remember the pitch by pitch description listed above is pretty much right on. I don't remember any hook moves, but I wasn't really looking for them either. The Big Bros that are on the gear list are not necessary, but would make aiding the chimney pitch far more enjoyable than my experience. The three pitches above the bivi ledge are stellar. The 5.12 trad climber shouldn't miss these. I can only imagine their quality and continue my jealousy. :) Every belay is equipped with at least two bomber bolts, which makes anchors and hauling easy.
For me, the rope drag on the last pitch was pretty bad. It made the 5.7 slab moves a little more exciting than they should have been. Definitely extend your hauling anchor over the lip at the top. This will make your life, and that of the rock at the lip of the cliff top, 1000% better.
The bolts on the bolt ladder are all bomb now...no manky pins. You still have an interesting section of aid/free stuff halfway through the bolt ladder.
This route can be done in 7 pitches or 7 1/2 if you dont like the slabs at the top. Climb as described to the bivy ledge. From there, its two to the top. Both are full 200' lengths. Or, you can belay on a small ledge at the bottom of the slabs and have some moral support for the last 30'.
I climbed Moonlight in early May. Some of the webbing on the anchors is in fairly poor shape. A thoughtful individual might consider replacing some of it.
By Mike Morley Administrator From: Oakland, CA Nov 4, 2004
FA: Jeff Lowe & Mike Weis - Oct. 1971 FFA: Peter Croft & Johnny Woodward - Apr. 1992
Sleeping on the "bivi" ledge without a port-a-ledge will suck. At the bare minimum take a single ledge and whoever leads the pitch up to the bivi ledge (through the thrash chimney) gets to sleep in it. The best idea is to borrow, buy, or rent a double ledge or two singles. You will enjoy your night much more. However if that isn't possible, then fix to the rocker block on day one and descend to the ground. Come back the next day and blast the route in a day.
Have fun. It really is one of the best routes I have ever climbed.
Moonlight Buttress
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