Lizard Head
13,113'
25 miles down yesterday, a huge pizza and a good nights rest later, Laura and I awoke to the crisp morning air and loaded our packs. Today we would attempt to climb a feature that is recognizable from many miles away in just about every direction. Lizard Head is the neck of an ancient volcano and rises about 400' above a pile of choss and broken rock. I had heard it described as crumbly, loose, scary, flaky and just about every other term you can think of for crap. A friend refers to it as ChossHead.
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| Warming in the sun before the climb |
6 am on a Sunday and here we are, walking toward Mr. ChossHead to learn for ourselves what this beautiful feature in the San Juan mountains is really all about. Walking down the road and trail toward Lizard Head, it comes and goes from view, but somehow you can never take your eyes off the upper portions. 4 miles later we come to the grassy slope heading up to the main climb. It's slightly loose, but not bad, and then you get to total junk rock. Every step forward is a half step sliding backwards and the rock and stone crumbles like rotten concrete underneath your shoes. I put my head down and dug in, making the plateau where the rock route begins in about a half hour. Laura was behind a bit, so I decided to warm our shoes in the sun and eat a bit before starting the actual climb. Putting on my harness and gearing up with cams for protection, I knew this route would take my full focus to be safe on.
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| Testing the rock |
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| 1st pitch |
The route climbs a chimney and crack system up to a small ledge and then traverses easier ground after that. The first section was slow. I yelled down to Laura, "The amount of scary on this route is F'n scary!" Climbing the initial part of the route, I tested every hand and foot hold and ended up using probably half of them because they would have broken off the mountain if I actually pulled or stood on them.
I shoved cams in cracks where I could and felt good about the amount of safe protection the route actually offered. Every 10' or so is good for me at this level of difficulty, so I didn't think it deserved the unprotectable ratings it gets in the online reviews. Continuing to the top of the first pitch, I reached a nice belay and was greeted by the sunshine once again. Happy to sill have my down jacket on, I finally had a chance to thaw out my hands and warm my feet while Laura climbed.
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| Wilson group with shadow of Lizard Head |
Laura begins climbing the lower portion of the first pitch with frozen hands but quickly learns how challenging this "easy" rock climb will be. About a third of the way to me, she stops and yells up "I don't know how you lead this thing, Justin". My reply, a simple, I told you the amount of scary was scary! Within a few minutes Laura reaches me at the belay and I send her across the loose talus field to the base of the final headwall to the summit.
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| Final pitch |
Upon reaching the final climbing pitch, I realized that there would be little to no protection on this portion of the climb. Just a pull over a rock bulge and then squirm your way up a narrow chimney. Placing a #4 camalot at the bulge and then 30 feet higher, slinging a chock stone, I made my way to the final belay and brought Laura up to join me and the wonderful 360 views. We scrambled to the summit and took time to enjoy our surroundings while reading and signing the summit register.
Rappelling down the route was fast and easy and reaching solid ground once again felt good.
Upon reaching the base of the route, I grabbed a piece of rock, and from the wall, it crumbled in my hands. I told Laura that this was a fun climb, but one I don't want to repeat anytime soon.
I felt good about our accomplishment and am very happy to have this special summit on our have done list. It's fun but not easy and sees few ascents each year. Thankfully, we got it!
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