Remnants of a Party, 5.10, 4 Pitches

Overview/Approach

 
I have climbed most of the routes on Tunnel Wall (Cragmont) and am puzzled how Remnants of a Party escaped my attention. It is clearly the best route on the wall in terms of offering four consistently good to great pitches versus just one or two which is normally the case with its brethren.  If you like Gypsy’s Curse (the most popular route at Cragmont and a good four pitch route itself), you will like Remnants. The whole route follows the same crack/corner system for four 100’+/- pitches from 5.9-5.10 and was surprisingly clean for no more traffic than it sees. This mellow of a route is hard to find at Zion. Bryan Bird and company established Remnants of a Party. He shows the route as 5.10 in his guide listing but pitch three as 5.10+ on his included topo. It felt more like 5.10 to me.
 
There was some discussion on the internet somewhere in how the first pitch was awkward to protect. I did not see it that way. You can place a few small off-sets if you have them, but overall I thought it protected well. The one move crux comes as the left side crack/corner fizzles out and at 5’11” I had to dyno six inches or so for a nice sized hand ledge. There are probably other ways to reach it if you are more talented and the move protects well via the right side crack. It is a good pitch. The second pitch might be the purest 5.9 hand crack for that distance in the whole park. Nothing but easy jams the whole way in a solid corner protecting well from #2’s to #4’s. The third pitch is the business of the route. Some easy off-width leads into a large pod/chimney below a roof. Squeezing out of the roof is the crux, getting your right foot up high onto a face feature where I broke a foothold which will now make it easier to reach. #3’s actually protect the harder moves versus a #5 or #6. It is still helpful to have the larger gear on this pitch if you want to haul it up there. The last pitch is better than it looks popping out of a flared chimney to a ledge out right.

As for any Cragmont route, park at the second to last switchback before the tunnel. Locate the well-established climbers trail and hike east. Take a right fork when you come to it and follow that trail along the wall until it is starts to bend into a large alcove (Gypsy’ Curse, Feast of Snakes, etc.). The first pitch starts up a twin crack through a flake. The second pitch follows up a tall left facing corner that leads through a roof (pitch 3). Pitch 3 sort of has a large pod in the middle of double roofs and is easy to spot from below. This route is just two minutes uphill from Gypsy on the main wall, not in the alcove.

Route Description

Remnants of a Party, 4 Pitches, 5.10

1st Pitch- 110’- 5.10/ This is a great pitch and protects well despite what I had read from one other ascent. A few small off sets come in handy but there is quite a bit of pro the whole way. You start in the corner crack and move to an easy stem. The crux of the pitch if a bit height dependent and located approximately mid-way up. At 5’11” I had to dyno a few inches for a bomber hand ledge. Then easy climbing to the semi-hanging fixed belay.

2nd Pitch- 90’- 5.9/ Perhaps the purest 90’ of hand jamming in all of Zion. Just follow he surprisingly clean hand corner up to a fixed hanging station below the roof. Takes 2’s, 3’s and 4’s with easy crack climbing at the grade.

3rd Pitch- 100’- 5.10/ An incredibility fun crux pitch. Pull up into the off-width above and climb a few meters until in the large pod. A meter or two above the pod is the crux of the route, a squeeze off-width section utilizing features on the outside when you get them. I broke a foot hold off here that probably makes the crux move easier. Continue up to a comfortable belay ledge.

4th Pitch- 110’- 5.9/ This pitch is better than it appears. Climb easy ground until below a decent sized roof. Chimney up and out the top to a comfortable belay ledge on the right.

Climbing Sequence

Descent

Interesting enough Bryan’s guide recommends two ropes and the only two people who have added beta on-line list needing two ropes. All you need is a 60m rope for the rap. The first and last raps are a full 60m, so bring a 70m if that bothers you.

Essential Gear

Single 60m or 70m rope. The book and one other source out there suggests that you need a double rack from C4#.3 through #5. These are 100’ pitches, there is no way you could place that much gear. The only pitch you need small gear on at all is pitch one and a single rack would suffice for that pitch. I advise a single from C4 #.3 to #6 and doubles from #2 through #4.  If you wanted to bring one more piece, another #3 might be helpful on the crux pitch. A few small off-sets would be good for pitch one. We placed no wires. Half slings, half draws. The afternoon sun in May just stops at the western edge of this route, so like Gypsy’s Curse, which is recessed deep in the alcove to the left, Remnants of a Party is mostly a year-round shaded route.

Images

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