Prodigal Sun was the other Wall on our shortlist for Zion adventure, and it had been a coin flip that meant we set our sights on Moonlight Buttress first (directissima line and fame of the route just trumping more interesting aid and a shadier orientation). Anyway, with MB under our belts, the wise words of our friend Mike came to mind: “This is America – you can do both!” (although on that occasion he was taking about climbing and beer!)

MB had been climbed at a fair pace (Huba-Huba as Bill would term it) and we decided to take a bit of the pressure off by fixing a couple of pitches on PS, after a lazy start and showers (top-tip – there are no showers at either of the NP campgrounds but they’re available at Zion Outfitters in Springdale $4 for 5mins – I tried my luck with the technique that had worked after NA Wall: “I don’t suppose showers are free if you’ve just done Moonlight Buttress?” The lad behind the counter replied: “Wow, that’s cool! I’d be happy to pay for one of your showers myself.”… and it was all we could do to talk him out of it. What a nice young man!)

Another time-eating faff was that our campsite reservation ran out that night so we’d need to find somewhere to sleep after (hopefully) coming down off PS, but by dint of good fortune and the Recreation.gov app we managed to snaffle the last remaining spot in the whole park!

Back to the Wilderness Permits office. “Hello, could we have a permit for Prodigal Sun tomorrow please?” “No” came the somewhat abrupt response, from a different Ranger than our previous encounter, “there’s 30 to 70% chance of rain, so you can’t climb tomorrow”. That didn’t tally completely with the extensive weather forecast trawl I’d made (and anyway, surely that translates to  “there’s 30 to 70% chance of no rain”. I refreshed my research (new favourite weather app Windy allows you to compare 6 different weather models on one screen) and prepared to present our case, first fixing my most winning smile and hamming up the English accent: a) of the 6 forecasts, none are showing significant rain before 3pm and most think it’ll be dry until 6pm; b) we did MB yesterday and were done by 6; c) we’re going to fix some pitches so we’ll be even faster: d) we’ll take an extra zip-line in case we do get caught out and need to bail; and e)… PLEASE can we have a permit (winning smile). To my very great surprise, and to her great credit, the Ranger bought into the plan and gave us a permit. Yeah! Time to go fixing!

Accompanied by the Condors again…

By the time we’d got organised and on the shuttle bus it was mid-afternoon so we only got a couple of pitches fixed, but that was 200ft down and only 800 to go.

Another 4.30am start, this time with the bu@@eration of having to strike camp, still saw us at the foot of the route before 6,

and jugging the 200ft to the start of pitch 3. SuperTopo has this down as the C2 crux, which wasn’t entirely ideal in the dark, but needs must, and it’s actually quite comforting operating in a tiny bubble of torchlight, free from any extraneous distraction. Anyway, there was only one slightly marginal placement, followed by a hook move, and then a romp to the belay.

Pitch 4, up the “Wrinkles”, was confusing, with talk of a “mandatory free sequence” and “pendulums” bearing little resemblance to what was happening on the rock. In the end it all came together for a very satisfying C2 pitch.

5 & 6 were steadier, and Bill got the P7 bolt-ladder with a couple of long reaches (poor choosing!)

That left me with P8 up a slanting corner with a fun pendulum into a parallel corner system. Tricky very long reach required near the end, of a pretty marginal placement (maybe a tiny wire in the back of a blown pin scar?) had me deploying the clip stick in the interests of speed.

All that remained was for Bill to lead us onto Angel’s Landing via an easy but grungy chimney and sandy slab. Topped out before 5pm and chatting with the hoards on the trail: “You came up there!?” Barely a cloud in the sky all day, and not a drop of rain.

Newly installed in yet another campsite, a leisurely repast of chip’n’dip and avocado, followed by pasta in a four-cheese sauce was washed down by modest quantities of beer. As we turned in for a well-earned kip, on the dot of 9, the heavens opened (and stayed open for much of the night!) By daybreak I’d had a useful reminder of the importance of pegging out your tent, even if you’ve had a busy day and the packed earth seems inpenetrable – my inflatable mat was afloat in my own personal sea. Thirty minutes later, with a boot full of soggy gear, we were bidding farewell (or hopefully au revoir) to a very damp-looking Zion – climbing on wet sandstone is not to be recommended and this was going to be out of action for a good couple of days.

Two walls in the Goldilocks interval, between intolerable heat and the eventual arrival of the much anticipated rain, was more than we could reasonably have dreamed of. With “Walls” ticked off the to-do list it was time to head to Moab for some “Towers”!