Lizard Head

Route: Southwest Chimney, Left Variation
Posted On: 9/15/2024, By: bsiegs
Info: The first 20ft of the first pitch is by far the chossiest part of the climb. We opted to belay at the midway station at the ledge halfway up the full first pitch. There is some old cord with a quicklink here, but it was pretty sun-bleached so I used my own sling instead. Was happy with the decision to split up the first pitch. If you only have a single rack, I'd recommend breaking it up, otherwise be confident in your ability to place pro more sparingly. Rock quality starts to improve on the upper half of the first pitch. Anchor at the notch at the top of the pitch is in good shape. Scramble to the start of the summit pitch was loose, but short and we didn't feel the need to stay roped up. We did the standard SW chimney final pitch, but opted to move from the chimney system out to the left about halfway up, where the chimney would have otherwise been unprotectable. Pros: ability to protect the whole pitch. Cons: terrible rope drag if you opt to then traverse back right to the anchor at the top of the chimney. Way to avoid this would be to just build a gear anchor where the left variation tops out, but doubt this would have even been possible given the rock quality / terrain up there. Anchor and chains at the top of the chimney are in good shape. Tied two 70s together and rap'd from the chimney anchor down to the notch anchor. The rope definitely gets tangled and messy for the first to rap who has to help it along the 3rd class scramble terrain. One more rap from the notch to the base. Climbed w/ Bill (climbingcue), Tiffany (chipmunk), and Michael C. 

Route: Mark of Zorro
Posted On: 8/17/2024, By: ericahlstedt
Info: Update from the last update a year ago. The red nut is still stuck and likely fixed, good luck to someone trying to get it out. The fixed anchors were in good condition. Top of 1st pitch has a nice shiny single bolt that I backed up with a #3 in a crack next to it. Mark of Zorro 3rd pitch is a much faster and easier way to summit than the standard route, would need a #5/6 to protect the 4th class exposed initial ramp if you really wanted to, but there were 3 fixed pitons along the way that were enough for me. The route really didnt seem that loose to me, not nearly as bad as its reputation might hold. Only my 4th time leading trad and got it done in 2 pitches. 1st long pitch, then 3rd class easy loose scramble to the 2nd short Zorro summit pitch. Wish I had seen the update about the summit register, its still just a coffee can, paper was in good condition but a plastic or glass jar would have been good to bring up there to improve its longevity. The 1st pitch has easier climbing 10ft right of the chimney until halfway up where you cross over the chimney to the fixed pitons, and now red nut, that you could aid your way up this crux spot. 

Route: SW Chimney
Posted On: 9/26/2023, By: k_fergie
Info: As stated by WW, someone lost the summit register cap for the old iron pipe this summer. Looked around up there as best as possible, its likely gone into the abyss. Justin and I brought up a new register can, but someone should bring up a better one. Preferably a new iron cap for the metal pipe, but a good glass jar would also be great. Tall glass jar, as the register is big paper sheets that don't like to fold. I only had a tin coffee can with me, being on the road, so it will preserve the paper for a year or two, but eventually let in too much water. The paper was still in great shape, took down all the old, dead pens with us. We also got a red BD nut incredibly stuck about halfway up P1, free booty for the next party. Or more likely another fixed piece on the route. Its right below one of the old pitons, don't ask lol 

Route: Mark of Zorro
Posted On: 9/17/2023, By: WildWanderer
Info: Summited Lizard Head today. The snow that fell Friday is all melted out. 5 pitches up, two raps down. Used 2 70 meter ropes. New summit register needed. 

Route: Southwest Chimney
Posted On: 8/21/2023, By: supranihilest
Info: Huge thanks to Amy "blazintoes" for leading Lizard Head for me! Approach 99.9% dry minus some mud on the Cross Mountain trail. Trail up through the talus on LH's southwest ridge was great. The route starts to the right around the corner from the base. Pitch one was the hardest, and probably 40-45 meters. Rock quality wasn't great but wasn't as bad as I expected. Some long runouts on this pitch, but where gear was available it was good. When the pitch transitions to squeeze chimney or face we stuck to the chimney. It was a lot more physical since there weren't really any holds and we had to wriggle up it, but the rock quality of the face is terrible. The chimney is easier at the top and holds more plentiful. We went all the way to the upper anchor at the notch instead of the intermediate anchor. Pitch one felt like 5.8 to me, solely due to the squeeze chimney. Everything else felt like 5.6 or easier. From here we scrambled up a short, junky Class 3 section to the "choss pitch", unroped, coiled the ropes, and then "scrambled" (if you can even call it that) up the crummy second pitch. There's not much exposure on this pitch but the rock quality is horrendous and everything is covered in a thick layer of gravel and/or talus, which required care not to slip or knock rocks on each other. Pitch two was Class 2+ to Class 3. Instead of doing the typical chimney/roof pitch for pitch three, we went around the corner to the right and up a set of two zig-zagging ramps to the summit. The first 15-20 feet of this were unprotected 5.4 on surprisingly solid rock. Amy and I took slight variations, hers on more downsloping rock, I found some positive holds a foot or two to the right. She set up an anchor in a tiny V-shaped notch at the bottom of the first, right-trending ramp. We both barely fit in the notch. She then led up the ramps, the first of which was basically unprotectable without large cams (5 or 6 in the wide crack to climber's left) but felt like Class 4 on solid rock. From the top of this ramp there's a second, left-trending ramp. This ramp was perhaps a foot wide with a small crack against the wall on climber's right, which readily accepted small to medium sized gear. The climbing here was easy, 5.4ish, on solid rock, wildly exposed, and overall amazing. My exclamation to Amy at the top was "that pitch was fucking awesome!" The top of the second ramp ends about 3 feet below the bolted rappel anchor at the top, so we used that as the belay anchor as well. From there we unroped and made the short scramble to the summit. For rappels we had two 60 meter ropes (used my half ropes) and instead of rappelling the chimney pitch on pitch three, we rappelled over the ramps and most of the way to the bottom of pitch two/choss pitch. The ropes did pull here (but make sure they do if you rappel this way too). We made the short scramble down into the notch to the top of pitch one (be very careful here, the rock is garbage and if you fall you will die) then used the bolted anchor and slung boulder to rappel all the way to the ground. With a single 60 meter these two, longer rappels would not be possible; you'd have to rappel pitch three, down climb pitch two, and break pitch one into two rappels using the intermediate anchor. Rack: single rack to #4, two 60 meter ropes, big balls if leading, and smiles. 

Route: Southwest Chimney
Posted On: 8/23/2021, By: slawrence2011
Info: Great conditions! I was surprised that the Southwest Chimney (standard route) was in the shade in the morning even around 10 when we got there, because I understood it to be a S facing wall, rather than SW. Made it a little chilly to start in heavy wind. I took the left variation on P1 which protected well with a 5 (probably optional) and single rack. Loose rock was not nearly as bad as I had feared with everything I read, but still check every hold! Mountain project says to bring double ropes for the rappel from the notch, but we were able to rappel all the way from the notch and skip the intermediate rappel with one 70. If you used the intermediate rappel, a 60 would probably be fine. The most frightening part was the P2 (death scree) pitch, very minimal protection available there! 

Route: SW Chimney
Posted On: 6/13/2021, By: angry
Info: A couple snow patches remain on approach. Climbing portion is completely dry. On third pitch, went left above bulge rather than stay in chimney topping out right below summit register which required building an anchor. Rap'd using the existing anchors which are still in good condition. 

Route: SW chimney
Posted On: 5/31/2021, By: lkk8815
Info: Trail is a healthy variety of dry, wet, muddy, and packed snow, but clear enough that you don't need snowshoes. The climb is completely dry. Loose as advertised, and the gear for the first half of the first pitch is sketchy, but otherwise I thought it was a really fun climb! To get off, rapped from top anchors, scrambled down the middle scree pitch, then rapped the first pitch all the way to the ground with a 70m. Wouldn't bring two ropes to rappel, seems too risky that the rope will get stuck and the “death scree” really isn't that bad if you're careful. 

Route: SW Chimney
Posted On: 10/8/2020, By: desertdog
Info: Route completely dry. Loose, but not as loose as I was expecting. With the weather coming in next week, the next couple days may be the last chance for a dry climb. 

Route: SW Chimney
Posted On: 9/28/2020, By: jscully205
Info: Still summer conditions. Approached from Cross Mtn TH. Climb itself is dry and mostly clean but there is a loose hold about 40 ft up the first pitch the left side to be cautious about. All anchors in good shape. Would recommend unroping on scree pitch to avoid raining said scree off the side. It's also run-out too. 

Route: SW chimney
Posted On: 7/31/2020, By: SnowAlien
Info: Pretty dry, but very loose. Couldn't help but knocked a few rocks down leading P1. Hide your belayer! Pro is there, but first half of P1 you may have to postpone a placement until you see something than might actually hold a fall (but don't fall in any case). It gets better near the top of P1 and 3rd pitch, while shorter, is more fun. Double rack was plenty. Register needs more paper. 

Route: SW chimney
Posted On: 3/4/2017, By: Monster5
Info: Good bootpack for a couple miles. After, 0.5-1.5 ft of breaking to the Lizard/cross saddle. Windblown with some icy spots up to the base of the route. Sustained 10-20 MPH wind. The new layer of 12+ inches isn't consolidated yet and there is a reactive few inch crust. The layer below is spring like. First pitch mostly dry with some snow in the chimney. Traverse pitch has good consolidated snow and some rock. Summit pitch is pretty snowy but the crux move is relatively drive. Used crampons/tools and rock pro. Anchors in good condition. 

Route: SW chimney
Posted On: 3/29/2015, By: sstratta
Info: Route is 95% snow-free. Mostly posting this because I figured someone might want to see a Sneffels/Wilson group photo. First photo: Sneffels Second photo: Wilsons, L to R: South Wilson, Mount Wilson, Gladstone, Wilson Peak Third photo: Lizard Head (route not shown) I've got other pictures of the route itself and close-ups of the surrounding peaks with more detail, send me a message if you'd like to see those.