High-spin states in Zr-86 up to 30(+) and 27(-) were observed via the Ni-58
(S-32,4p) reaction at 135 MeV beam energy using the combined GAMMASPHERE an
d MICROBALL systems. Calculations performed with the configuration-dependen
t shell-correction approach show that these states are built from six g(9/2
) neutrons and at most four protons excited from the P-1/2,P-3/2,f(5/2) sub
shells to the g(9/2) subshell at small deformation. The highest observed st
ates at 27(-) and 30(+) are interpreted as band-terminating states with the
latter having the highest spin available in the valence space for Zr-86.