Lizard Head Trip Report 08/27/2021

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Lizard Head - 13,112 feet
Date Posted	08/27/2021
Date Climbed	08/15/2021
Author	jackvanlancker

Runout & Rockfall
Lizard Head… Climbed partially (& bailed) August 14th, 2021, and then summited in a second push on August 15th, 2021 by choss hounds Devin Muzzy & Jack Van Lancker. Both days were full of constant risk assessment, careful footing, fear of rockfall, & driving ambition to bag this notorious 400 foot spire of choss. We drove from Colorado Springs on the morning of the 14th, and without hesitation started our approach around 11am from the Cross Mountain trailhead. Both of us were fairly uncertain we would summit this day, but we were itching to get a feel for Lizard Head as it was a burning goal of ours since we discovered it’s existence a year prior due to its unique geology, notorious reputation & elusive summit… not to mention plainly how weird it looks. We knocked out the approach from car to trailhead in about 2 hours, and started climbing up the Southwest chimney. I, Jack, took the lead on this. The chimney wasn’t as bad of rock quality from what I had heard about it, but I was still extremely cautious of rock quality, as it seemed some refrigerator-sized blocks were hanging on by a thread… I started the climb on the face of the chimney, but after the lower rappel station/pitons I squeezed the chimney itself because rock seemed better. After pulling the small final bulge, I topped out & set up a redirect belay to bring up Devin, but by the time he was halfway up, I heard calls for lightning, as well as a random kid singing, on my radio, so we promptly bailed & went back to Telluride for the day. Between our bail & our evening in Telluride, we became more determined than ever to get to the summit of Lizard Head, and weather looked like it would be in for the following day. We returned to Lizard Head pass & camped near the trailhead for the night, anticipating the mental game that awaited us. On August 15th, we set off from the car around 7:30am, cranking out the approach in about 1.5 hours from the trailhead. By 10:15am, I was once again at the top of the first pitch, excited by the bluebird skies The team’s mood quickly changed as we watched in excess of 50 rocks set loose between Devin grabbing a bad hold & a pika causing a rock avalanche. Rockfall kills. By the time Devin topped out, we were already both mentally dialed because of the sight of so much rockfall, but we regrouped on the small, exposed ledge & Devin ran the rope out across the 190’ “death scree” third class section. In retrospect, the most mental part of the “2nd pitch”/3rd class section was the 10’ climb out from my belay stance, and the rope was probably only necessary for that due to the poor rock quality. If i was to do it again, I’d advise against running the rope out on the entire 3rd class section because it can trigger considerable rockfall. This section was also much slower being on belay & putting in gear to 3rd class terrain, which probably contributed to us cutting it close weather-wise later on. Navigation on the “2nd pitch”/3rd class section was fairly straightforward, and the bottom of the final pitch was easy to locate due to the slung piton below the bulge. By the time I arrived to the bottom of the final pitch, spirits were higher & we took a moment to eat & drink. Devin then volunteered to take this 5.8+R crux, as one of his first leads on alpine trad. After Devin clipped the piton, he was able to comfortably protect the bulge with a #4 Friend & a #4 camalot. From the ledge after the bulge, Devin placed a #5 camalot & we decided the correct route was to trend right onto an exposed, loose, but relatively easy but very runout section that constituted the right side of the chimney. After a few minutes of silence, concentration, runout & 1 case of rockfall, Devin screamed in relief as he reached the chains, promptly set up a belay, and brought me up. From the chains, I walked the loose and exposed ridgeline to the true summit & sighed in relief, Devin followed. At this point, clouds were beginning to form above the Sneffels Range to our North, so we quickly signed the summit log & began descending. The descent consisted of a class 3 downclimb from the summit to the chains, 1 70m rappel from the chains, ~180ft of down climbing from the base of the crux pitch, a hip belay into the top-of-pitch1 belay ledge, and a 70m rappel to the bottom. This took a little bit less than 1 hour with very cautious footing. As we retreated to the car, Lizard Head showed its menacing personality as dark clouds occupied the summit & we were grateful to be done. In retrospect, this mountain harbored the most mentally testing climbing I had done, as we were constantly under the threat of rockfall - even a crow landing at the summit could have caused blocks to set loose, we saw this happen with a pika. The climbing felt true to 5.8, but was stressful due to the rock quality. If you’re looking for classic climbing, Lizard Head is not where it’ll be found, but if you want a fun, testing adventure route that’ll keep you on your toes, it’s definitely worth the experience. ðð¦ Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Runout & Rockfall

Lizard Head… Climbed partially (& bailed) August 14th, 2021, and then summited in a second push on August 15th, 2021 by choss hounds Devin Muzzy & Jack Van Lancker. Both days were full of constant risk assessment, careful footing, fear of rockfall, & driving ambition to bag this notorious 400 foot spire of choss.

We drove from Colorado Springs on the morning of the 14th, and without hesitation started our approach around 11am from the Cross Mountain trailhead. Both of us were fairly uncertain we would summit this day, but we were itching to get a feel for Lizard Head as it was a burning goal of ours since we discovered it’s existence a year prior due to its unique geology, notorious reputation & elusive summit… not to mention plainly how weird it looks. We knocked out the approach from car to trailhead in about 2 hours, and started climbing up the Southwest chimney. I, Jack, took the lead on this. The chimney wasn’t as bad of rock quality from what I had heard about it, but I was still extremely cautious of rock quality, as it seemed some refrigerator-sized blocks were hanging on by a thread… I started the climb on the face of the chimney, but after the lower rappel station/pitons I squeezed the chimney itself because rock seemed better. After pulling the small final bulge, I topped out & set up a redirect belay to bring up Devin, but by the time he was halfway up, I heard calls for lightning, as well as a random kid singing, on my radio, so we promptly bailed & went back to Telluride for the day.

Between our bail & our evening in Telluride, we became more determined than ever to get to the summit of Lizard Head, and weather looked like it would be in for the following day. We returned to Lizard Head pass & camped near the trailhead for the night, anticipating the mental game that awaited us.

On August 15th, we set off from the car around 7:30am, cranking out the approach in about 1.5 hours from the trailhead. By 10:15am, I was once again at the top of the first pitch, excited by the bluebird skies The team’s mood quickly changed as we watched in excess of 50 rocks set loose between Devin grabbing a bad hold & a pika causing a rock avalanche. Rockfall kills. By the time Devin topped out, we were already both mentally dialed because of the sight of so much rockfall, but we regrouped on the small, exposed ledge & Devin ran the rope out across the 190’ “death scree” third class section. In retrospect, the most mental part of the “2nd pitch”/3rd class section was the 10’ climb out from my belay stance, and the rope was probably only necessary for that due to the poor rock quality. If i was to do it again, I’d advise against running the rope out on the entire 3rd class section because it can trigger considerable rockfall. This section was also much slower being on belay & putting in gear to 3rd class terrain, which probably contributed to us cutting it close weather-wise later on. Navigation on the “2nd pitch”/3rd class section was fairly straightforward, and the bottom of the final pitch was easy to locate due to the slung piton below the bulge. By the time I arrived to the bottom of the final pitch, spirits were higher & we took a moment to eat & drink. Devin then volunteered to take this 5.8+R crux, as one of his first leads on alpine trad. After Devin clipped the piton, he was able to comfortably protect the bulge with a #4 Friend & a #4 camalot. From the ledge after the bulge, Devin placed a #5 camalot & we decided the correct route was to trend right onto an exposed, loose, but relatively easy but very runout section that constituted the right side of the chimney. After a few minutes of silence, concentration, runout & 1 case of rockfall, Devin screamed in relief as he reached the chains, promptly set up a belay, and brought me up. From the chains, I walked the loose and exposed ridgeline to the true summit & sighed in relief, Devin followed. At this point, clouds were beginning to form above the Sneffels Range to our North, so we quickly signed the summit log & began descending. The descent consisted of a class 3 downclimb from the summit to the chains, 1 70m rappel from the chains, ~180ft of down climbing from the base of the crux pitch, a hip belay into the top-of-pitch1 belay ledge, and a 70m rappel to the bottom. This took a little bit less than 1 hour with very cautious footing. As we retreated to the car, Lizard Head showed its menacing personality as dark clouds occupied the summit & we were grateful to be done.
In retrospect, this mountain harbored the most mentally testing climbing I had done, as we were constantly under the threat of rockfall - even a crow landing at the summit could have caused blocks to set loose, we saw this happen with a pika. The climbing felt true to 5.8, but was stressful due to the rock quality. If you’re looking for classic climbing, Lizard Head is not where it’ll be found, but if you want a fun, testing adventure route that’ll keep you on your toes, it’s definitely worth the experience. ðð¦

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

seeking timberline

LOL!
8/30/2021 1:57pm

Pic #1. :D

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