Lizard Rocks

Overview

Although you have to hike 12 or 13 miles from Elkhart Park to get to the awesome climbing in the Wind River Range's Titcomb Basin, a hike of just 12 to 13 minutes off the road to Elkhart Park can get you to some nice granite trad and sport climbing up to two pitches in length.

The Lizard Rocks, or Hansel and Gretel, consist of two main formations. Views from the tops of the routes are spectacular, taking in Fremont Lake near and the Wyoming Range afar. Sorry, but no views of the Winds.

At about 8800', the crags make an excellent summer climbing destination. Since they face west, they might be nice on sunny winter days depending on access.

Getting There

At the south end of Pinedale, take the signed road to Fremont Lake and Elkhart Park. After 11 miles, look for an unpaved pullout on the left (north) side of the road; directly across the road is a small meadow. There is room for two cars here, maybe three. If the parking is full or you just prefer a paved pullout, you can find one about a quarter-mile before and a quarter-mile after the dirt pullout.

Cross the road and pick up a trail that goes through the meadow and climbs a low ridge. As you cross the ridge, the crags come into view. The trail descends to the crags. Although the Mountain Project page says there is no trail, there is one; the trail may be newer than the page, which was submitted in 2009.

Approach time is maybe 15 minutes.

Route Information

The North Buttress (Hansel) is the closer of the two and has the easier collection of routes, and the South Buttress (Gretel) is steeper with some harder lines. There also is a third crag called the Hidden Buttress, and it has a 5.7 sport route on it; see the linked pages for more information on locating it.

There are some notable discrepancies between the Mountain Project page and this online source by a local climber when it comes to names, grades, descriptions, and even locations of routes. The latter is thoroughly done and seems like the better source, so although the MP page was my beta source when I climbed here, I am using the other as my source for the information below. It is also newer (2012 vs. 2009).

All the crags have walk-offs in case you don't want to rappel or don't have enough rope to do so. The sport routes have bolted belay/rappel anchors.

North Buttress

From left to right:

• Deceitful Business, 5.10a/b-- Sport, two pitches.
• Vultures & Company, 5.9-- Sport, two pitches.
• Ben's Birthday Suit, 5.9-- Sport, two pitches. The MP page calls this 5.8, and I agree that it feels easier than 5.9. And although the MP page makes it sound like a single-pitch route, there actually are two pitches. One of the pitches has four bolts and the other has eight. Finishes at the same anchors as for Donkey Day.
• Lounge Lizard, 5.8-- Sport and trad, two pitches. Climbs the first pitch of BBS and then stay left of BBS's second pitch. Finishes at the anchors for DB and V&C.
• Donkey Day, 5.7-- Sport, two pitches.
• No Doubt, 5.7-- Sport, one pitch.
• Twisted Lizard Ridge, 5.5R-- Trad, one pitch.

South Buttress

• Crankin', 5.9-- Sport and trad, one pitch.
• Journey Around the Sun, 5.11b-- Sport, one pitch.
• Front & Center, 5.8-- Trad, one pitch.
• Sure-fire, 5.8-- Trad, one pitch.
• A Walk in the Park, 5.8-- Sport and trad, one pitch.
• Call It What You Want, 5.10a-- Sport and trad, one pitch.
• Sinful Wager, 5.10d-- Sport, one pitch.
• Status Quo, 5.11a/b-- Trad, one pitch.
• Godzilla Crack, 5.11b/c-- Trad, one pitch.

Hidden Buttress

• Fill in the Blank, 5.7-- Sport, one pitch.

Red Tape

None

When to Climb

Camping

Sleep in the car at Elkhart Park, snag a campsite there, or just do a short backpack in.