In March, I finished a new free line on the west face of the Watchman called Surf’s Up (1,000’, IV 5.12-). Jason Nelson and I first spotted the highlight of this potential route while climbing the Central Pillar of the Watchman—surely a crack of this grandeur had been seen before! The striking splitter on the upper buttress stares you directly in the face from the Central Pillar or the Watchman Campground. Dave Jones had mentioned seeing this crack years ago, but I could find no record of anyone attempting or climbing it.

A few years later, in late October 2016, my schedule lined up with Ethan Newman's and we made an attempt to gain the headwall crack. We began on a wide hand crack first established by Brad Quinn, which led to two more pitches that gain a large, vegetated ramp that leads to a ledge.

Fifteen to 20 years before our attempt, Brian Smoot and Garrett Kemper had attempted a similar line and made it to this point as well. Smoot and Kemper’s line of ascent was slightly left of our first three pitches. We later found out that the two pitches above Brad Quinn’s initial handcrack were climbed by Andy Anderson, Rob Duncan, and Ari Menitove in March 2014, but they had also descended from the vegetated ramp.

Ethan and I continued the route seven more pitches from the top of the lower buttress. The headwall crack that we had spotted features a continuous splitter for 260 feet. It's remarkable that it is just barely a climbable size, right down to the belay ledge, barely wide enough for your fingertips at times. The middle of the crack opens to various sizes of splitter hands, high on the Watchman—second to none.

We returned two more times in October and November to finish establishing the route and freed all but the crux 20 feet of tips crack. In March 2017, I redpointed this crux pitch at 5.12-.

Dave Jones and Brian Smoot’s Cradle to Grave (10 pitches, IV 5.11 C2), also on the west face of the Watchman, had been on my to-do list for a long time, as this acclaimed duo has quite the reputation in Zion for quality routes. Armed with my friend Alan Thorne’s motivation to climb wide cracks, we finally headed up to give it a try on April 26. The route is quite wide and fun, with no shortage of Zion adventure climbing. Alan took the 5.11- OW in style, and I was able to redpoint the route’s one section of aid, on the eighth pitch, on my second try (5.11+ R). This pitch hosts some very fun corner climbing, and the last 15 feet are a bit run-out without small wires or a red ball nut—exciting pieces for Zion sandstone, even in the best placements.

– Steffan Gregory