One of Zion's sheer-walled peaks with a surprisingly reasonable 4th class route to the top
Mount Kinesava as seen on the approach. According to Paiute legend, Kinesava was a mysterious spirit with changeable moods. Clouds rolled in and out as we climbed the mountain - quite a fitting atmosphere. It was believed that Kinesava would often roll rocks off the mountain or light fires on the tops of surrounding peaks.
Mount Kinesava's east face has plenty of fun 3rd & 4th class scrambling. Unfortunately the rock is terribly loose.
View east towards The Watchman from the east face of Mount Kinesava.
Amazing view up Zion Canyon from near Mount Kinesava's upper plateau. The prominent peak in the center is The East Temple and the pointy one to the right is Bridge Mountain.
After finding our way up the steep east face of the mountain we popped out onto a large, stunning plateau. Ascending the white summit cone entails several hundred feet of fun scrambling.
View of the The West Temple from Mount Kinesava, and my favorite picture of the trip. The West Temple is the highest peak along Zion Canyon and can be seen from many places in the park. It boasts the highest vertcial sandstone wall in North America. The easiest route to the summit is the southwest ridge which can be seen on the righthand side of the photo. It involves lots of extremely exposed 3rd to low 5th class scrambling, plenty of routefinding, and a short 5.6 crux near the top. This view prompted me to climb The West Temple during my next pilgrimage to Zion.
Sometimes we go to great lengths in Zion to try to avoid the extreme exposure. Often that means squeezing behind small trees and large bushes, getting scratched and cut in the process. Here Dominic is wedging himself up an awkward crack because the face of that rock has some major air under it.
Evening light on The Watchman and Johnson Mountain. Bridge Mountain and "G2" are the pointy summits on the far left.