North America, United States, Utah, Zion National Park, Zion Canyon, Johnson Mountain, West Face, Mojo Rising

Publication Year: 2001.

Johnson Mountain, West Face, Mojo Rising. Located on the left-hand side of Johnson Mountain, Mojo Rising (IV/V 5.10 A1, 9 pitches, 3 bolts) was first climbed in April by Dave Littman and I. It climbs the obvious and vertical crack system that terminates at the tallest and northernmost summit. The approach is somewhat steep and strenuous. Mojo begins in a recess below the large roof on the northwest face. The A1 rating comes from the two baby angle placements on pitch 5. This is a quality clean crack system that will go free if attempted by a solid 5.11 climber.

The next party will want to bring a kit for the descent. The second rappel involved an impromptu idea: we spanned the top of a chimney with a couple of rocks, tied them off and rapped from them. This is not recommended. The remainder of the descent has good fixed gear (mostly stoppers and pins). As with most new routes in Zion, a 60-meter rope is mandatory.

We hiked our gear up and fixed one pitch on day one. On day two, we fixed four more pitches. We summited on day three and returned to the ground by sunset. An efficient party could do the route in a day, no problemo.

Bryan Bird, unajfiliated