Shune's is a classic Zion climb featuring cracks of various sizes from fingers to offwidth. Its often referred to as the "Astroman of Zion," although significantly easier to climb and descend from compared to Astroman. The approach is about as plush as they come, with a 10 minute walk from the road. We climbed the route in a group of three, taking our time and enjoying having the entire wall to ourselves on this fine day a few days before Thanksgiving.
route overview (photo source)
Routes climbed:
| Name | Grade (YDS) | # Pitches | Quality (1-5) | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shune's Buttress | 5.11+ | 8 original (6 with linking) | 5 | trad |
Peaks/Towers climbed
| Peak | Elevation | Topographic Prominence | Summit Coordinates (lat/lon) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Arch Mountain | 5,934 ft | 243 ft | 37.25506, -112.94913 |
Gear
- 70m rope
- 70m tagline (or second rope) for raps
- cams: double .4-.5, triple .75-3, single 4, 5
- 10 alpine draws
- small to medium nuts
Total Stats
1.8 miles
1,600 ft gain/loss
After getting off the Zion Shuttle Bus at The Grotto, we took a well defined trail east for a few hundred feet before splitting off at a climber's trail which headed south straight towards Shune's. The start of the route could be identified as a left facing corner just left of a prominent prow, with a wide crack for the first couple bodylengths which abruptly thins to fingers and ringlocks.
Note: The original route consists of 8 total pitches. We linked pitches twice, making it 6 pitches for us. The pitch breakdown below goes by these linked pitches.
The following pitch descriptions (in blue) are taken directly from Mountain Project, with my remarks below each one.
P1 (5.11+)
Climb the wide pod to the long section of sustained 1-1.5" crack. Ledge halfway up with anchors on the left, but you can continue to the ledge, about 160' up. The last 20' of the pitch are classic Zion funky climbing, hard 5.11. Belay on ledge with fixed nut and bolt with rap slings.
This was a link-up of the original first two pitches. After the initial wide pod, the difficulty kicked up pretty much immediately with crisp ringlocks in a glassy corner followed by some funky face moves when the corner closed up. My legs were vibrating as I slammed purple camalots into the crack and tried to move as efficiently as possible. It was an awesome pitch, but I wished that I had warmed up on something easier first.
looking up pitch 1
P2 (5.9 or 5.10)
Two options: Climb a groove/chimney/funky thing for 60' to another ledge at 5.9 or step right to a drilled pin and climb the nice 5.10 finger and thin hands crack to the same ledge
We all climbed the second option which looked significantly more appealing from the belay. Some easy climbing through a chossy ledge brought us to an awesome splitter. This would've been a nice pitch to warm up on before the previous one!
P3 (5.10++)
Get yer offwidth skills and groveling gloves on for this one, and leave your helmet behind so you don't get it stuck. Chimney up the obvious corner until it starts to pinch down—don't clip the bolt in the bowels, instead place a #4 Camalot (old) up above your head and try and figure out how to slide out to the outside of the bombay and switch to stacks and fist jams. After this the pitch gets way easier: sustained hands and big hands. Three belay options: short pitch on drilled pin anchors on right; longer pitch on hanging stance with bolts on left (150') or simul-climb the last 30 feet of easier chimney to chockstone belay off of bolts (215') at top of chimney where the sort-of tower meets the main cliff.
Tom led up this one, performing amazingly well on the bombay portion of the offwidth about 40 ft off the ground. I was less graceful, with my long legs getting stuck below me and my torso slipping out at the same time, resulting in a violent pinwheel out of the crack. Thankfully the only thing injured was my pride. After the crux, the angle and difficulty eased considerably with wide hands and fists continuing up the corner. Tom had run out of big gear at this point, and ended up running out about 50 ft of 5.8 corner.
looking up pitch 3
view towards Angels Landing
P4 (5.11-)
Clip a bolt up and left of anchor and continue face climbing up and left on positive holds to obvious bolted belay near arete. 40' long—not much gear after bolt, but way easier to anchor.
There were decently tricky and funky moves, with wildly different beta for taller and shorter people. A medium sized nut protected the crux leftward moves well. A deluxe hand traverse finished up the leftward moves before the terrain eased up.
P5 (5.11+)
One of the best pitches anywhere! Downclimb from anchor about 10' then step left around arete and span out to the finger crack on the face. Backclean your gear for about 15 feet; not too hard, mostly fingers with some feet. Crank up the steepening finger to big finger to tight hands crack through the roof, with the occasional face hold. Go for another 50' over the roof to an alcove with a bolt and add a #1 or #2 camalot for the anchor. About 100' long.
This was the money pitch in terms of splitters. An easy downclimb and leftward traverse around an arete brought me to the base of the crack, where my jaw proceeded to drop. Amazingly satisfying jams brought me over the thin hands roof, then widening hands and easing difficulty up to the anchors. This pitch was significantly easier and more secure than the very first pitch.
Vitaly in splitter heaven
P6 (5.9)
Handcracks and face holds forever on this left-trending, 165' pitch. Watch out for bad rock; climb carefully. Belay off of as many small scrub oaks and manzanitas as you can tie off, and sit off the edge, belaying off your harness.
The rock quality somewhat deteriorated here, but not enough to detract significantly from enjoyment. We followed jugs and easy cracks left along the line of least resistance and belayed off a pine tree on a giant obvious ledge. The first rappel chains could be seen about 40 ft climber's right of our belay.
It was still early, and my mountaineering brain wanted to do the optional scramble to the summit of Red Arch Mountain. Shune's did not end on the summit, but rather at about 5,400 ft elevation along Red Arch Mountain's northeast ridge. We unroped and spent about 30 minutes carefully scrambling to the summit on bad choss which exploded from under our feet. A few shrubs provided something to grab onto (with various degrees of trust) as we gingerly made our way up a series of class 3-low 5th class ledges. We initially headed straight up west, but as the terrain grew steeper and chossier it was better to head south along a series of low angle slabs until we were directly south of the summit, then heading north up a gully between the true summit and a bump further west. Rock quality continued to get worse as we ascended, but the views got better.
chossy slab land
summit of Red Arch Mountain
We reversed our scramble route gingerly back to the rap anchor, breaking several ledges in the process. We did a total of 4 raps with 2 ropes.
Rap 1: Down to a rap station on the face, about 200 ft down
Rap 2: 140 ft down to the pitch 4 belay
Rap 3: 200 ft down to the big ledge on top of pitch 1
Rap 4: down to the ground
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