North America, United States, Utah, Zion National Park, Idiodyssey

Publication Year: 2003.

IdiOdyssey. In April James Garrett and I climbed a new route (V 5.10 A2+) via a crack system on the 1,000' wall left of Swoop Gimp. This route, which I began with Brian Cabe, climbs the first two and a half pitches of Swoop Gimp, then branches left via a bolt ladder (placed during a previous party’s attempt) to a narrow ledge. One more pitch took us to another ledge, below a steep, improbable-looking corner; from there we descended.

Returning with James, I found the spectacular corner much easier than it looked and continued to a sling belay. The next two pitches, mostly free, followed an ever-widening face crack to a large, brushy ledge. Luckily, a 1.5" crack ran parallel to an offwidth section of the main crack, allowing us to avoid the offwidth. From the brushy ledge we traversed 40' left to another face crack, which we followed, mostly with aid, for two and a half pitches to the top.

Brian Smoot