Plan B, Mt. Moroni IV 5.12b

Zion National Park, Utah, USA

Currently 0.0/5

Avg time to climb route: 1 day

Approach time: 30 minutes

Descent time: 3 hours

Number of pitches: 9

Height of route: 1000'

Overview

FA: Joe French, Eric Draper, and Bryan Bird 11/98. FFA: Cameron Tague and Jeff Hollenbaugh, 1999.

Plan B climbs a series of dramatic roofs connected by beautiful splitters ranging from ring locks to fists. One of the more popular 5.12 routes in Zion. This aesthetic line was originally aided all clean and later free climbed in excellent style. Scope the route and approach from the paved pullout below the Practice Cliffs across the river.
In early November of 1998 Eric and I made a feeble attempt to climb a bigger and much thinner project. After a couple of pitches I quickly realized that I might be the wrong guy for the job. Eric was bummed but we decided to shift our focus to another project that I had been scoping for a couple of years. We went back to town and found Joe and the game was on. Originally I wanted to call it the Parliament Wall because of the P-Funk lyric that talks about “tearing roof of the mother, tear the roof off the sucker, tear roof off the mother sucker.” Being an alternate to the original line, the name Plan B was more fitting.

Approach: start on the south face approach (pg 52) but traverse east around the corner and up-canyon. Follow the base of the wall until under the unmistakable Pitch 5 roof.

Rack: see topo.
Descent: rap the route with two ropes.

Climber Beta on Plan B