The Zar Wall is a magnificent piece of route-finding on one of Mount Charleston’s proudest walls. Weaving a clever and devious line through a myriad of natural features – cracks, corners and generously featured faces – the Zar has a traditional climbing feel despite only requiring 18 quickdraws.
Mount Charleston is the Las Vegas sport climbing Mecca, home to thousands of high quality mountain limestone routes. Unlike the razor sharp pockets of Wild Iris, Charleston is defined by crimpy chert bands and edging intensive face climbs on remarkably grippy rock. 98% of the routes are single pitch, but many a towering wall exists too. Unfortunately, these larger walls are plagued with the same perils as all other alpine walls on porous rock – vegetation, loose and hollow rock, choss defined ledges and natural overhead artillery fire. But for the multi-pitch enthusiast, any wall long enough to strain a neck must be climbed – helmets in tow, harness full of courage, detriments be damned. When Jordan Mabrey and I racked up for The Zar Wall, a nine pitch 5.11c stalking the plumb line of a nearly 1000 foot University Wall, we hadn’t the faintest clue what to expect. But what’s adventure without mystery?
The Zar Wall was established ground-up and solo by Chad Umbel as a memorial route for the late Zachary Zarlenga. Using only 100 feet of previously established terrain, The Zar weaves a remarkably natural line through many terraced roofs and disjointed weaknesses to create a fully bolted sport climb with the essence of a traditional climb. As a barely 5.11 trad climber with little sport climbing fitness, I was lucky to have a secret weapon on this mission. Jordan’s 5.13 fingers would unlock the 5.11 cruxes, while I tested my abilities leading more consecutive 5.10 pitches than ever before. For my wiry biceps and bony fingers The Zar is stacked – four pitches of 5.10, three pitches of 5.11, and one each at 5.9 and 5.8. Let the games begin.
The first pitch is a 210 foot rope-stretcher, extending upon the already existing and excellent first pitch of Breaking Yolanda, a 5.9 right facing flake with pumpy laybacking on bulletproof chert. Two interesting 5.10a pitches follow, the second with an extremely airy and memorable rightward traverse over the first of many large roofs. I led these first three pitches, setting Jordan up for two long and consecutive 5.11 leads. The first, pitch four, was the most interesting of the entire route, beginning with a traversing downclimb skirting another roof to a subtle groove of shallow stemming. With much margin Jordan rope gunned efficiently while I moaned like a weasel. But that weasel, moaning be damned, managed to free the pitch – my fifth ever clean 5.11a. From the pitch four anchors a continuous corner system soars to the summit, with the 5.11c crux pitch at eye level. Luckily, Jordan remained on the sharp end.
Watching Jordan struggle more than anticipated to decipher a cryptic overlap on non-existent edges, my confidence in free-climbing The Zar instantly diminished. And when I got to the lip and saw just how minuscule this sea of bizarre side pulls and dimply feet really were, I knew the game was over. A few futile lurches to breach the overhang ended in 20 feet of hand lining before larger edges appeared for reasonable 5.10 free climbing. My consolation prize was an onsight lead of pitch six, a bolted 5.10d off-width and stem corner that played heavily to crack climbing proficiency, and two more leads of rambling 5.8 slab and bulging 5.10b chert pinching. Sitting below the ninth and final pitch of The Zar, 800 feet up the University Wall on a beautiful mid-summer afternoon, I was fully satisfied by six onsight leads up to 5.10+, one clean 5.11a follow, and only 20 feet of aiding on a pitch which represented my next level of ambition. Above lied one last 5.11c, and I was excited to watch my rope gun battle.
Pitch nine is a truly brilliant piece of climbing. A massive square cut roof void of face holds, impenetrable by all motile life besides lizards and spiders, defends the final 100 foot summit headwall. But in nothing short of miraculous fate, one sturdy pine wraps through and around the lip. In the words of Annie Ashenfelter, who added the Zar to Mountain Project – “make like a money, because this tree is on!” Clipping two bolts over the roof Jordan jungled up tree limbs, stemmed onto the face, and proceeded through another impressive onsight of tenuous slab climbing. Had this pitch been ground level I would’ve had a chance – the holds are there – but the top of the University Wall is nowhere to crimp into the sharpest half pad mono-pocket of your life. Two moves of aid gave way to larger edges and progressively easier terrain. The view from the top of the wall was spectacular, augmented by great company and the shocking speed with which we climbed – five hours to the summit, eight hours car-to-car. Jordan is uber strong, I climb 5.10 well enough, clipping bolts is much smoother than placing traditional protection, and were both qualified to zip down eight rappels in short order. However, today was also my first time block leading with modern “fix and follow” tactics. I believe this was the silver bullet, both to efficiency and reserving strength for consecutive difficult leads. Simply put, it was revolutionary. I thought we’d be descending by twilight. Instead we enjoyed an early dinner.
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I’ve never climbed in El Potrero Chico, but our journey up The Zar Wall seems a comparative microcosm. Blasting up a nearly thousand foot wall with solely quickdraws is exhilarating, a novel experience I’d never had before. Compared to my mainstay diet of alpine trad climbing, multi-pitch sport climbing is akin to flying. Pitches whiz by faster than swallows. Belay changeovers are seamless. And while I relish the mental component of placing traditional protection, route finding, and managing risk – the backbone of traditional climbing – the lightheartedness of clipping bolts was a surprisingly pleasant reprieve. Furthermore, on tastefully bolted routes like The Zar Wall, adventure is wholeheartedly preserved. While the route is rarely dangerous, honest bolt spacing necessitates a sturdy head. The cruxes can not be aided through, raising commitment. And because the route attacks the easiest possible line dictated by natural features – corners, cracks and ledges linked by face holds – it never feels contrived. Simply put, The Zar is a wonderful adventure on excellent rock I look forward to repeating, hopefully redpointing, in the future.
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DISCLAIMER
Ski mountaineering, rock climbing, ice climbing and all other forms of mountain recreation are inherently dangerous. Should you decide to attempt anything you read about in this article, you are doing so at your own risk! This article is written to the best possible level of accuracy and detail, but I am only human – information could be presented wrong. Furthermore, conditions in the mountains are subject to change at any time. Ten Thousand Too Far and Brandon Wanthal are not liable for any actions or repercussions acted upon or suffered from the result of this article’s reading.
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