LF more detailed beta on Spearhead to Chiefshead linkup

Going to do Spearhead on Saturday (North Ridge) and my partner is interested in potentially linking Chiefshead too.  The beta for the Central Rib is pretty sparse and I was wondering how much unavoidable roped climbing is there (I'd say anything over 20'-30' of 5.5 we would probably want to rope up for).  Also what is the best walkoff for this?  What do you think the time would potentially be with climbers who are about average on speed?  Are there any potential bail options on the way up?  We would likely start the hike at midnight if we decide to do this and we are facing 20% chance of thunderstorms after noon currently (and would obviously bail at Spearhead if things already look bad).  Just don't want the linkup to add too much time in which we would have few bail options.

Three hours for the approach. 2 to 4 hours to climb spearhead depending on how fast you are and if you do some simul climbing. 30 minutes to descend, another 40 minutes to the base of chiefshead.  That’s all I got for you.

I've done the N Ridge-Central Buttress linkup several times. There's no "unavoidable roped climbing", but probably ~200' of exposed climbing around 5.7 if that helps. Once on the Central Buttress, there aren't many bail options before the summit. Descent is best via the ramp on the west edge of the NW Face (lookers' right of Birds of Fire) down to Frozen Lk. 

A couple years ago I did Spearhead to Chiefshead. Maybe I wasn't on the central buttress route at all, but I remember being able to zig zag and keep the difficulty reasonably low. I distinctly remember a couple short sections of 5.7 or so. I exited the face via an easy ramp to the west a few hundred feet below the summit and then circled back to the summit. Mike's description sounds accurate for the remaining rock above where I exited west. Based on what you've said, to get from Spearhead summit to Chiefshead summit I would allow more time than it took you to climb the Spearhead North Ridge.

Stay north on the ridge to chiefs as to avoid getting cliffed out. Definitely allow time for route finding on chiefs head. Not difficult climbing at all but Chiefs head has a much more alpine feel than spearhead. It doesn’t see anywhere near as many ascents as spearhead. If you aren’t soloing it’s better to just simul everything except the ridge terrain. You aren’t going to be climbing any large class sections and you’d be better just to stay moving versus screwing around with your rope a bunch. It’s also worth it to just take it all the way to pagoda. 

SH to CH can be kept around 5.4. 

Descend SH to the saddle. The terrain will push you slightly west/right, around 3rd class. One can bail on the west side of SH early, or to the east later and closer to the col. These are the only real bail options and are the standard descents off SH.

Bypass the first part of the ridge left/east at 4th class via a broken ledge above some loose junk. Prior to hitting the super loose gully/ remnant snow field, hook back right/west to rejoin the ridge. Some zigzagging up the ridge will deposit you at the major rightward/ west trending ledge John mentions. This bisects CH's west ridge. Class 2 to the summit, or brief class 3 down to Stoneman Pass. 

Stoneman Pass warrants snow gear early season. I would not recommend descending CH to the east unless going up and over Pagoda, which is either slabby 5.7 via the ridge, or tricky 4th class via a southern ledge system. 

Ryan Marsters wrote:

SH to CH can be kept around 5.4. 

Descend SH to the saddle. The terrain will push you slightly west/right, around 3rd class. One can bail on the west side of SH early, or to the east later and closer to the col. These are the only real bail options and are the standard descents off SH.

Bypass the first part of the ridge left/east at 4th class via a broken ledge above some loose junk. Prior to hitting the super loose gully/ remnant snow field, hook back right/west to rejoin the ridge. Some zigzagging up the ridge will deposit you at the major rightward/ west trending ledge John mentions. This bisects CH's west ridge. Class 2 to the summit, or brief class 3 down to Stoneman Pass. 

Stoneman Pass warrants snow gear early season. I would not recommend descending CH to the east unless going up and over Pagoda, which is either slabby 5.7 via the ridge, or tricky 4th class via a southern ledge system. 

This is good beta regarding staying east (I said north doh) also the best outline I’ve seen of getting to the summit of CH. great photo. I will say if you climb the north ridge and the rib you are definitely going to be climbing terrain more engaging that 5.4. The image above depicts the down climb to stone mans and and not the central rib. Climbing the central rib is good fun and I’d highly recommend it over the ridge. 

To clarify, that image is taken from Spearhead during a linkup involving Spearhead N Ridge to Chiefshead's central rib/ N Ridge. It shows zigzagging along the Central Rib. Rib proper goes around 5.7. Zigzagging as shown can keep it around 5.4. 

It does not show Stoneman, which is off to the right of the picture.