On October 30, Matt Mower and I made what is likely the first ascent of Castle Dome. From the West Rim, we rappelled into the saddle between the West Rim and Castle Dome. We eventually reached the southeast corner, where one can look down onto Zion Lodge. From there, we climbed around the corner and up to the summit. The level of difficulty is similar to the south face on Twin Brothers (up to 5.5). Mostly it’s a scramble on loose, sandy, white sandstone. We rappelled north from the summit cap, downclimbed a bit, and then made three double raps to the saddle.

On November 12, Courtney Purcell (author of Zion National Park: Summit Routes), Aron Ralston, and I reclimbed the south face on Castle Dome, this time approaching by descending Behunin Canyon. From the canyon we scrambled up cliffs to the south from just before the first rappel point in the canyon. From there one can hike across to the ramp that hugs the blank east face of Castle Dome and the start of our south face route. This probably will become the normal approach and has since been repeated. We downclimbed back to Behunin Canyon.

On November 13, Purcell, Ralston, and I did the first ascent of a formation in the Court of the Patriarchs. This is the highest in a cluster of peaks that make up the tail end of the southeast side of the Court, east of the Sentinel. The last pitch, the crux, is similar to the Mace in Sedona: There is a chasm between you and the summit peak (5.8+ or 5.9 R). The R rating is given because the only protection is a tied-off, downward-facing piton in bad sandstone, where a fall would send you tumbling into the chasm. The summit is similar to Ancient Art in the Fisher Towers: Only one person can stand on it at a time. The views are spectacular. We called this summit Magic Rabbit Peak and the route Pork Green Chile.

On November 30, Purcell and I did the first ascent of a peak that Courtney calls Red Tooth. This peak is northeast of Bridge Mountain, on the edge of the cliffs above the east entry tunnel road. Access is the same as Bridge Mountain. We climbed four roped pitches with two cruxes of 5.8+ to 5.9 R. We used tied-off knifeblades for protection on delicate face climbing. There are four summits. Our route climbs the face on the south side to the first summit. The highest summit is then reached by traversing north across the top in the direction of East Temple as the crow flies.

– Dan Sith