WhipTail

The Route

'Whiptail' (5.9+) is located on the Lizard's Head, which is part of the Motherload Wall, on its northeast end. This route receives shade for most of the day and is ideal for those warmer summer days. The one unique feature that stands out from all the other formations is the defined profile of a lizard's head (complete with mouth, nose and eye!). When approaching this formation from the northwest, one can see these features clearly. When facing this formation directly, it is only 8 feet wide.

'Whiptail' starts on the very right of the formation and stays close to the right edge to the top of the formation. Start by climbing up the broken right edge and then move left onto the face above, clipping 2 bolts along the way. Once above the 2nd bolt, climb up onto a steep slab making a few smear and edge moves. Head out to the right and stay close to the right hand edge, clipping 2 more bolts. After the 4th bolt, the climb makes a dramatic and "exciting" finish to the hanging cold shuts by scaling the overhanging right profile of the "lizards neck" on good holds to the "lizards mouth". The horizontal ledge (the lizards mouth) is fairly dirty. Move up and and slightly left (lots of exposure!) and step up onto the "mouth". Hidden yet solid holds lie above the mouth. From here, clip the shuts and lower off.

A variation exist on the left, by clipping the last bolt of a route on the left, 5 feet away (.10a moves). By favor, the page maintainer prefers this variation!

Equipment

(1) 60 meter rope
(4) quickdraws

Images

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