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Original Route
5.5,
Trad, 2675 ft (811 m), 2 pitches, Grade III,
Avg: 3.2 from 48
votes
FA: unknown
Utah
> Southwest Utah
> Zion NP
> Lady Mountain
Access Issue: Seasonal Raptor Closures
***** RAIN AND WET ROCK ***** The sandstone in Zion is fragile and is very easily damaged when it is wet. Holds rip off and climbs have been and will continue to be permanently damaged due to climbers not respecting this phenomenon. After a heavy storm the rock will remain wet, sometimes for several days. PLEASE DO NOT CLIMB IN ZION during or after rain. A good rule of thumb is that if the ground near your climb is at all damp (and not powdery dry sand), then do not climb. There are many alternatives (limestone, granite, basalt, and plastic) nearby. Seasonal Raptor Closures
Details
Description
Called the "Old Cable Route" or the "Mountaineers Route", this is the easiest way to the summit of Lady Mt.
It is what is left over after all the old cables were removed. I guess you could say it is somewhat manufactured. There are many moki steps on the route. It is a fun route.
From the Zion Lodge, Cross the road and take the Middle Emerald Pools trail. Approx. 1/2 mile past the bridge, take the climbers trail on the left. This is about 100' past a "Do Not Roll Rocks Below" sign.
Round trip distance: 3.8 miles. Elevation gain: 2,675 feet.
There are 2 or 3 short technical pitches and a lot of 3rd and 4th class scrambling with a lot of moki steps. The Park recommends an 80 foot rope. Shortly after leaving the Middle Emerald Pools trail, you will come to the start of the route, a 4th class section.
Follow your nose. The route wanders a bit. Look for the old hardware used when this route had cables installed on it. You may also see paint blazes and a lot of moki steps.
Location
Climbers trail leaves the Middle Emerald Pools trail approx. 100'
past the "Do Not Roll Rocks Below" sign. This is about a 1/2 mile beyond the bridge over the Virgin River.
Protection
Most people take some gear and a short rope or webbing for the 2 or 3, 5th class sections. The pitches are short and most of the climb is a scramble.
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Las Vegas, NV
leeds, ut
Around Boulder, CO
Eugene, OR
3 hours up, one hour on the summit, 2 hours down. Pretty average time for two out of shape losers. Apr 2, 2017
St.George Orem Denver Vegas
-Get off shuttle or park at the Lodge. Head slightly south to bridge over the river.
-Once across the bridge, the trail comes to a "T", Head south (Go Left). Other sites say follow signs to the middle Emerald pool Trail (which goes Right), I do not recommend this way.
-Follow the horse trail a few minutes and you'll come to a trail that as of 5/2017 has a sign that says the trail is closed branching off to the Right. Go up this trail. It has been washed out. many trees have fallen over the trail.
-Continue on the trail until you come to the sign warning of "DO NOT ROLL ROCKS", pass sign as many descriptions advise, look for an "obvious" climber trail going up hill (Left).
-Trail was fairly straight forward. We moved thru the various obstacles with little trouble. A 70 foot rope is plenty long. After passing 1 or 2 steep section and had moved to the far southern point of the trail, mid way up the trail we got lost and had to back track just prior to the last and most committing climbing section, just before the "endless staircase".
-The trail goes up a gully and amidst our conversation we followed the gully to the top, passing the appropriate turn towards the endless staircase. See Picture marked "Don't go this way" Instead head West (Right) uphill out of the gully and in 50 yards or so you'll come to the final steep obstacle. Many painted (though faded) arrows, cairns, and carved foot steps will lead the way. May 6, 2017
One idea to avoid wading is to start from The Grotto (bus stop #6) and take the trail south toward the Middle Emerald Pool.
The confusion with this is if you see a sign nearby saying "Roll No Rocks" -- that's a different sign from the one mentioned above in the instructions -- You are nowhere near the route. If you try following the "obvious" trail up steep west, you are just deepening the herd path of lots of similarly confused climbers.
The bottom of the "original" Lady Mt route is a bit south from the Zion Lodge bridge (so perhaps simpler to approach crossing the bridge by Court of the Patriarchs, bus stop #4).
Ken Nov 7, 2017
Trail for Lady Mt "original route" leaves the Middle Emerald Pools trail (closed as of 2017) at around GPS latitude longitude (N37.2523 W112.9592), which is about 100 ft down north past the interpretive sign for "Rockfalls". This intersection is about 0.25 mile NW then NE from the bottom start of the trail beside the Virgin River (330 ft south of the bridge from Zion Lodge). Or about 0.3 mile SE then SSW from Middle Emerald Pool (if coming from the bridge by Grotto parking).
. . (I guess the old sign for "Roll No Rocks" was replaced by this interpretive sign. There remains another sign for "Roll No Rocks" just south of Middle Emerald Pool, but that's not close to the bottom start of the most efficient trail for Lady Mt).
GPS useful waypoints . . .
remarks:
- there is a 500 ft long roughly horizontal traverse between the 2nd and the 3rd climbing sections.
- the 3rd climbing section is less than halfway in vertical to reaching the top of the plateau.
Nov 10, 2017If this were a hiking website, perhaps it would rate as a good scrambling route (for hikers who had some tricks for getting through the two crux sections).
But as a climbing/scrambling route here on a climbing website, Not good.
Why it's not good . . .
- it's mostly hiking, very little climbing.
- the crux climbing sequences are _way_ harder than the most of the other scrambling.
. . . (as climbers we normally dislike a "one move wonder" route, and Lady Mt is that at triple-strength).- the hardest crux is awkward, at least for modern tastes.
- most of the scrambling is on horizontal (or down-sloping) holds and horizontally-set rectangular blocks - - > Boring.
- most of the climbing + scrambling is in gullies.
. . . (unlike the great modern climb/scramble routes which have much on ridges).Lady Mountain "original route" is a big + interesting adventure -- just not a good climbing adventure.
Ken Nov 10, 2017
Niwot
Glenwood Springs, CO
St george, ut
Climbing Sections: We roped up for all three very short climbing sections. The first is really only one tricky move. A short rope (in our case 35m) and a tiny rack (0.4-2") with some nuts were more than sufficient for us to feel safe and confident, and to rappel the tricky bits. There is no fixed hardware for the lowest climbing section, but natural anchors are available.
Route-Finding: The hardware and paint do indeed really help with staying on the trail, but the path winds quite a bit. When in doubt, follow the path of least resistance and (often) head left, keeping an eye out for paint and/or iron. After the third climbing pitch there is section after section of stair-like climbing. A lot of this top section is in shade in the afternoon and therefore, in December, had snow/ice on it. These conditions make descent more slippery and the exposed sections more treacherous for the top section.
Highlights: The views are majestic and it's pretty fun to follow the clues to stay on the path. Dec 22, 2020
Yosemite/Lone Pine, CA
Provo, UT
Routefinding can be a challenge, particularly on the way down. Watch for paint and cairns, and make sure you are on a path that shows the footprints of those who went before you. If you don't see any of those things for a while, you probably are off route.
This is an "adventure hike" in the best sense of those words. If you come here looking for a classic rock climb, you are going to be disappointed. If you come looking for a cool, historic scrambling route to a nice summit, with a lot of solitude (by Zion standards), you will have a great time. Nov 27, 2022
Arvada CO