Lizard Head Trip Report 08/11/2009

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Lizard Head - 13,112 feet
Date Posted	08/11/2009
Modified	08/14/2009
Date Climbed	08/09/2009
Author	PKelley

Climbing Lizard Head‘s Southwest Chimney
Climbing Lizard Head 8/8/09 My friend "Mad Dog" and I had both wanted to climb Lizard Head since we had each seen it. Since moving to Lake City in 2007, and meeting him, we had rock climbed a fair amount together, always having a great time. We hatched a plan to climb Lizard Head a few weeks ago, and we picked Sunday August 9th for summit day. We left Lake City at 6:30 on Saturday evening, grabbed dinner in Montrose, and were at the Cross Mountain trailhead by 10:20 p.m. We had the parking lot to ourselves. Despite the "no camping" signs, I slept in the back of my truck and Mad Dog slept on the ground underneath the front of my truck. The weather forecast for summit day was clear and warm, with a high of 65 or so. I set the alarm for 5:30 a.m. to ensure that we were first on the rock as we didn't want to be beneath another party due to the reports of copious amounts of loose rock. Mad Dog was certain that due to the time of year, and the weather forecast, that there might be multiple parties on the summit tower. I thought differently, and bet him a six-pack of good IPA that we would be the only party on Lizard Head. We slept well. 8/9/09 A car pulled into the trailhead at 5:10 a.m., and I heard Mad Dog yell, "let's make a run for it!" in his panic to make sure we were first on the route. In a surge of adrenaline, I put on my glasses and looked over to the newly arrived car. I was alarmed by the sight of a headlamp moving around the car. After looking more carefully, I was relieved to see that there was only one person in the car. Mad Dog called out to the fellow who had just pulled up and asked if he was going to climb Lizard Head. To our relief, the man told us that he was just scouting elk for hunting season. We were now very awake, and decided to scarf down a quick breakfast and start hiking anyway. There was a thick frost on my truck. We were on the trail by 5:30, and watched an incredible sunrise on the Wilson group as we approached Lizard Head. We reached the base of the summit tower by 8:00. The standard route (Southwest Chimney or South Crack depending on which guidebook you use) is in the shade for the first half of the day, and there was a brisk breeze as the sun began stirring the air around in the morning. We were cold, and moved to the east side of the tower to a spectacular perch in the sun. After warming up in the sun and getting geared up, we stashed unnecessary gear at the base and I began to lead the first pitch. I started to the right of the chimney, and within 20 feet, moved back into the chimney. Not soon after that my hands were nearly completely numb. I kept going, and reached the intermediate ledge with a pin anchor on the right side of the chimney. I clipped the intermediate anchor with a long sling, and tried to warm my hands up for a minute or two. So far, the rock was pretty good, but there were obvious loose blocks and holds everywhere. While forcing blood into my hands on the ledge, I looked at the rest of the first pitch (I was determined to combine the first two pitches into one). The most appealing line above the intermediate anchor was on the left side of the chimney, where a thin crack led to two fixed pins that were close to one another. After regaining mobility in my fingers, I headed up towards the pins. I placed a green C3 below the pins, clipped both pins, and continued up the thin crack system to a natural rest stance where I had a choice to make. The choice was whether or not to traverse further left along a very narrow ledge to a wide notch where I could see sunlight, or move back right into the chimney where I could see a horn of rock to the right of a narrow notch which was draped with rappel slings. I was so cold that all I could think about was reaching the sunlight. I swear that I could hear Mad Dog's teeth chattering 90 feet below me. As I traversed left, a two bolt, one pin anchor came into view in an alcove in the wide notch. It was not in the sun, so I kept climbing up onto the rubble covered 3rd class second pitch. After about 50 feet of tiptoeing through total choss, I found a rock outcropping that was suitable to make an anchor. The rope drag on toward the end of the actual climbing, and all along the portion of the 3rd class ledge to the anchor I set up was horrendous. I yelled down to Mad Dog that I was off, and he arrived at the anchor about 20 minutes later. We were now in the sun, and we sat for probably 20 minutes flinging blood back into our hands. I felt as though I was ice climbing and had a case of the "barfy hand throbs". We untied and coiled the ropes. We actually had to downclimb the 3rd class pitch southwest a bit so that we could bypass a rock outcropping and then head northwest up the rest of the 3rd class pitch to the base of the second pitch of climbing. I felt like we were climbing over dilapidated cliff dwelling ruins, and we knocked many rocks and blocks off of the 3rd class pitch into the air below. We reached the second pitch of climbing and flaked the ropes. It was Mad Dog's lead. He quickly dispatched the small roof of the second pitch, backing up the fixed pin with a #4 Camalot. I hid under a small roof to the right of the second pitch as rocks rained down. After the initial small roof, the chimney eases considerably and becomes run out. The chimney is so secure, and the feet are so good, you don't really need gear. Mad Dog quickly reached the chain/webbing anchors at the top of the chimney and five minutes later I joined him at the top of the climbing. We unroped, and scrambled over to the summit. We were stunned by the view, but were more stunned by a large crack that runs parallel to the northern edge of the tower through the summit block. It looks like the north three feet of the summit could calve off at anytime. We took turns photographing each other standing on the summit. While signing the summit register, I noticed that SarahT and her new husband celebrated their honeymoon by climbing Lizard Head with two other folks. I was amazed to see that we were something like the fifth party this year to sign the summit register. Mad Dog finally realized that he would probably be buying a tasty six-pack for the ride home. We hung out for a long time on the summit, and then began the descent. There were two hairy parts of the descent. The first was observing that the chain anchor at the top of the tower connects two bolts that are on opposite sides of a crack. The chain connecting these two bolts is so tight, it suggests that the block on the southeast side of the crack might be getting ready to cut loose, or has moved. If so, the anchor might be pulled from the tower. It held my weight and after reaching the top of the 3rd class section, we carefully and methodically downclimbed the choss to the lower anchors that I had passed on lead earlier. Reaching those while unroped was unnerving, as any slip up would have resulted in a sky dive. Once at the anchors, I added new sandstone-colored webbing to the anchor and beefed it up, as the blue webbing that was there was sun bleached and stiff. After renewing the anchor, we were on the ground by 12:45. Our ropes pulled cleanly, and we put back on our running shoes and loaded our gear in our packs. We were back to the truck by 2:45, and on the road by 3:00 back to Lake City. Since we didn't encounter any other parties on Lizard Head, Mad Dog bought the six-pack of IPA he owed me. We split it and toasted a successful ascent of Colorado's hardest peak. I have the following suggestions: If the weather is good, start later, maybe hiking by 10:00 a.m., to take better advantage of the sun. There will likely not be another party on the tower. If there is, you can always come back! Only one 60 meter rope is needed to descend the tower provided you find the bolted anchor hidden from view at the top of the first pitch (west of the chimney). Some of the trip reports that I read state that two ropes are needed - they are wrong. It is probably a good idea to belay one person down to the lower bolt anchor from a safer spot in the 3rd class choss pile. A set and a half of cams, up to an old school #4 Camalot will work well. We placed several small cams, and did not place a single nut. Bring down to a green C3. We had 12 shoulder slings and I used almost all of them on the first long pitch. HELMETS, HELMETS, HELMETS! While Mad Dog and I did not directly knock rock off while climbing, the rope will. Rock rained down during our ascent. We were both dodging it while belaying. Probably half of what was knocked off of the tower was released while we were negotiating the 3rd class second pitch. If you do go early to beat the afternoon storms, bring warm pants, a down jacket, warm hat, and gloves for the whole route. You will thank me. Bring extra webbing and a knife to replace the UV-weathered tat that accumulates at the anchors. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Climbing Lizard Head‘s Southwest Chimney

Climbing Lizard Head

8/8/09
My friend "Mad Dog" and I had both wanted to climb Lizard Head since we had each seen it. Since moving to Lake City in 2007, and meeting him, we had rock climbed a fair amount together, always having a great time. We hatched a plan to climb Lizard Head a few weeks ago, and we picked Sunday August 9th for summit day. We left Lake City at 6:30 on Saturday evening, grabbed dinner in Montrose, and were at the Cross Mountain trailhead by 10:20 p.m. We had the parking lot to ourselves. Despite the "no camping" signs, I slept in the back of my truck and Mad Dog slept on the ground underneath the front of my truck. The weather forecast for summit day was clear and warm, with a high of 65 or so. I set the alarm for 5:30 a.m. to ensure that we were first on the rock as we didn't want to be beneath another party due to the reports of copious amounts of loose rock. Mad Dog was certain that due to the time of year, and the weather forecast, that there might be multiple parties on the summit tower. I thought differently, and bet him a six-pack of good IPA that we would be the only party on Lizard Head. We slept well.

8/9/09
A car pulled into the trailhead at 5:10 a.m., and I heard Mad Dog yell, "let's make a run for it!" in his panic to make sure we were first on the route. In a surge of adrenaline, I put on my glasses and looked over to the newly arrived car. I was alarmed by the sight of a headlamp moving around the car. After looking more carefully, I was relieved to see that there was only one person in the car. Mad Dog called out to the fellow who had just pulled up and asked if he was going to climb Lizard Head. To our relief, the man told us that he was just scouting elk for hunting season. We were now very awake, and decided to scarf down a quick breakfast and start hiking anyway. There was a thick frost on my truck.

We were on the trail by 5:30, and watched an incredible sunrise on the Wilson group as we approached Lizard Head.

We reached the base of the summit tower by 8:00. The standard route (Southwest Chimney or South Crack depending on which guidebook you use) is in the shade for the first half of the day, and there was a brisk breeze as the sun began stirring the air around in the morning. We were cold, and moved to the east side of the tower to a spectacular perch in the sun.

After warming up in the sun and getting geared up, we stashed unnecessary gear at the base and I began to lead the first pitch.

I started to the right of the chimney, and within 20 feet, moved back into the chimney. Not soon after that my hands were nearly completely numb. I kept going, and reached the intermediate ledge with a pin anchor on the right side of the chimney.

I clipped the intermediate anchor with a long sling, and tried to warm my hands up for a minute or two. So far, the rock was pretty good, but there were obvious loose blocks and holds everywhere. While forcing blood into my hands on the ledge, I looked at the rest of the first pitch (I was determined to combine the first two pitches into one). The most appealing line above the intermediate anchor was on the left side of the chimney, where a thin crack led to two fixed pins that were close to one another. After regaining mobility in my fingers, I headed up towards the pins. I placed a green C3 below the pins, clipped both pins, and continued up the thin crack system to a natural rest stance where I had a choice to make. The choice was whether or not to traverse further left along a very narrow ledge to a wide notch where I could see sunlight, or move back right into the chimney where I could see a horn of rock to the right of a narrow notch which was draped with rappel slings. I was so cold that all I could think about was reaching the sunlight. I swear that I could hear Mad Dog's teeth chattering 90 feet below me. As I traversed left, a two bolt, one pin anchor came into view in an alcove in the wide notch. It was not in the sun, so I kept climbing up onto the rubble covered 3rd class second pitch. After about 50 feet of tiptoeing through total choss, I found a rock outcropping that was suitable to make an anchor. The rope drag on toward the end of the actual climbing, and all along the portion of the 3rd class ledge to the anchor I set up was horrendous. I yelled down to Mad Dog that I was off, and he arrived at the anchor about 20 minutes later.

We were now in the sun, and we sat for probably 20 minutes flinging blood back into our hands.

I felt as though I was ice climbing and had a case of the "barfy hand throbs". We untied and coiled the ropes. We actually had to downclimb the 3rd class pitch southwest a bit so that we could bypass a rock outcropping and then head northwest up the rest of the 3rd class pitch to the base of the second pitch of climbing. I felt like we were climbing over dilapidated cliff dwelling ruins, and we knocked many rocks and blocks off of the 3rd class pitch into the air below. We reached the second pitch of climbing and flaked the ropes.

It was Mad Dog's lead.

He quickly dispatched the small roof of the second pitch, backing up the fixed pin with a #4 Camalot. I hid under a small roof to the right of the second pitch as rocks rained down. After the initial small roof, the chimney eases considerably and becomes run out. The chimney is so secure, and the feet are so good, you don't really need gear. Mad Dog quickly reached the chain/webbing anchors at the top of the chimney and five minutes later I joined him at the top of the climbing. We unroped, and scrambled over to the summit.

We were stunned by the view, but were more stunned by a large crack that runs parallel to the northern edge of the tower through the summit block. It looks like the north three feet of the summit could calve off at anytime. We took turns photographing each other standing on the summit.

While signing the summit register, I noticed that SarahT and her new husband celebrated their honeymoon by climbing Lizard Head with two other folks. I was amazed to see that we were something like the fifth party this year to sign the summit register. Mad Dog finally realized that he would probably be buying a tasty six-pack for the ride home. We hung out for a long time on the summit, and then began the descent.

There were two hairy parts of the descent. The first was observing that the chain anchor at the top of the tower connects two bolts that are on opposite sides of a crack.

The chain connecting these two bolts is so tight, it suggests that the block on the southeast side of the crack might be getting ready to cut loose, or has moved. If so, the anchor might be pulled from the tower. It held my weight

and after reaching the top of the 3rd class section, we carefully and methodically downclimbed the choss to the lower anchors that I had passed on lead earlier. Reaching those while unroped was unnerving, as any slip up would have resulted in a sky dive.

Once at the anchors, I added new sandstone-colored webbing to the anchor and beefed it up, as the blue webbing that was there was sun bleached and stiff. After renewing the anchor, we were on the ground by 12:45. Our ropes pulled cleanly, and we put back on our running shoes and loaded our gear in our packs. We were back to the truck by 2:45, and on the road by 3:00 back to Lake City. Since we didn't encounter any other parties on Lizard Head, Mad Dog bought the six-pack of IPA he owed me. We split it and toasted a successful ascent of Colorado's hardest peak.

I have the following suggestions:

If the weather is good, start later, maybe hiking by 10:00 a.m., to take better advantage of the sun. There will likely not be another party on the tower. If there is, you can always come back!

Only one 60 meter rope is needed to descend the tower provided you find the bolted anchor hidden from view at the top of the first pitch (west of the chimney). Some of the trip reports that I read state that two ropes are needed - they are wrong. It is probably a good idea to belay one person down to the lower bolt anchor from a safer spot in the 3rd class choss pile.

A set and a half of cams, up to an old school #4 Camalot will work well. We placed several small cams, and did not place a single nut. Bring down to a green C3.

We had 12 shoulder slings and I used almost all of them on the first long pitch.

HELMETS, HELMETS, HELMETS! While Mad Dog and I did not directly knock rock off while climbing, the rope will. Rock rained down during our ascent. We were both dodging it while belaying. Probably half of what was knocked off of the tower was released while we were negotiating the 3rd class second pitch.

If you do go early to beat the afternoon storms, bring warm pants, a down jacket, warm hat, and gloves for the whole route. You will thank me.

Bring extra webbing and a knife to replace the UV-weathered tat that accumulates at the anchors.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

scotthsu	nice! 8/12/2009 1:57pm thanks for the good read. i definitely remember the cold numb hands on that first pitch, but reaching the summit is worth it!
TomPierce	Great report 8/12/2009 7:07pm Yours has the best climbing beta I think I‘ve read. It also made me laugh, we backed off the ‘Head in the 90‘s due in part to totally numb hands...glad to see some things stay the same. Sounds like the route may have cleaned up a bit since the 90‘s, we found loose blocks the size of small refrigerators. Great report and accomplishment, congrats! -Tom
Jason Halladay	Mad dog 8/27/2009 3:54am Well done and nicely written up! We climbed LH a few years ago and I‘m trying to recall if that chain on the rap anchor was tight or not. I don‘t recall. But I do recall thinking the same thing regarding the huge part of the north face at the top ready to calve off. :shock: I think I recognize Mad Dog from the Alpine aid station in the San Juan Solstice 50 miler for the past four years. Yes?
Winter8000m	Thanks for the report! 2/17/2011 5:39pm Great beta. Thanks and great tr and accomplishment!

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