Hike Lady Mountain Zion National Park, UT

May 17, 2022 — Lady Mountain is known for its historic trail that used ladders and scrambling back in the mid-1900s, but the trail was removed after being considered too dangerous. Now the route to reach the summit of Lady Mountain is completed by folks interested in some fun scrambling and light rock climbing, and includes some excellent scenery and route-finding. While there is a social trail the entire way, it's not always super easy to follow. There have been a few deaths and rescues from the peak over the years, likely because the route is borderline popular. We were surprised to see two other parties on our day out. Lady Mountain shouldn't be taken lightly, despite what some report. There are two Class 5 cruxes and significant exposure on many parts of the climb. Chris bonked his head three separate times on this hike, worth mentioning because he was thrilled to be wearing a helmet.

Accessing the peak requires taking the Zion shuttle system to the Zion Lodge stop. We started along the Upper Emerald Pools Trail, following it until a large informational sign marked the point we'd leave the official trail. An eroded social trail continues up the slope, switchbacking for a few hundred feet until reaching the first scramble, a Class 3 set of moves on blocky ledges. An exposed 20-foot section of Class 3 using moki steps led higher. This first section is a good gauge for the rest of the hike. If you have even a little fear at this point, don't continue as it only gets more technical and dangerous. It was already incredibly hot and we were moving quickly in a foolish attempt to get to higher elevation. Despite the low mileage, we now realized the ascent would take a significant amount more time than anticipated. Lady Mountain was only 0.3 miles away as the crow flies, but looming still about 2000 feet above us.

Past the moki steps the route traversed a bit along the exposed cliff face, but the ledge is wide enough that it's not particularly scary. There's some Class 2 scrambling and light bushwhacking along the overgrown social trail. A few short Class 2/2+ sections accompany the somewhat brushy slope ascent as the social trail leads to higher ground. There's not much memorable about this portion, just a bit of light route-finding and steep ascending. Soon we reached a Class 3+ set of moves up a ten foot crack on a sloped bit of sandstone that led up a weakness in a cliff band using a few moki steps. At the top of this weakness we encountered the first Class 5 crux, a chimney that climbs about 15 feet. It's got a bit of exposure on the left, where a fall would likely be quite bad. It's for this reason you may want to bring climbing gear and the knowledge of how to use it. We agreed with previous reports that the chimney pitch is about 5.5/5.6. If not for the exposure, it would have been all sorts of fun, but the risk of a fall meant I was happy for Chris to toss me down some webbing in case I needed it. The crux begins with a Class 4 move to get into the chimney, followed by a bulge in the middle that is a bit awkward to get over. Past the buldge the chimney deepens and the scary part is over. We decided to rappel this section on the way back. Another 20 feet within the chimney and we emerged back into the hot sun.

Past the crux, the route traversed generally southwest along a 100-foot long ledge. Here, there was one section where the ledge petered out for a few feet and became difficult to follow, but the social trail picked back up shortly after and led up a short Class 2/3 gully. Above the gully, a long section of traversing brought us along some incredible scenery with light exposure. One hairpin switchback leads to the base of the second Class 5 obstacle, a crack in a dihedral. We found this to be a bit more difficult than the first Class 5 section because the ledges are sloped and featureless. There's no exposure, but the set of moves last about ten feet and falling still wouldn't be fun. Chris placed a couple of cams and used them as aid pieces rather than trusting the sloped sandstone. Like the first crux, we were content to rappel this section later as well.

After finishing the second crux, we continued ascending, now heading north. A series of terraces led steeply along the base of a sheer wall. It's a bit exposed, but never exceeded Class 3. Still, we took our time, especially on the way down later on. The steps lasted a few hundred feet, and we thought they were a very cool and unique scramble feature.

Once the terraces dissipated, we found ourselves at the mouth of a crevasse. It will be tempting to enter this crevasse, but don't. The route leads up sloped sandstone just to its right instead. Here we found small cairns and even a few carved steps. The route then zig-zagged on ledges and into a gully, where route-finding became a bit less cumbersome, as there was clearly only one way up. A Class 3 sloped ramp led us up the left side of the gully and up to another Class 3 move in the narrowest portion. Past this we were onto blocky, sandy terrain that switchbacked up and out of the gully and back onto the face of Lady Mountain. While there was some exposure at times, none of the scrambling exceeded Class 2/3. I recommend just being careful because the terrain can be pretty loose and sandy, typical features of Zion's sandstone. We found it pretty clear overall where to go from here, and after a few hundred feet more of ascending, we made it to the south ridge of Lady Mountain.

A well-defined social trail led along the ridge, bypassing a couple of rock outcroppings and a final Class 2/3 set of moves got us to the sandy slope on the west side of Lady Mountain. From here it was easy walking to the high point, where the views down into Zion Canyon and the surrounding peaks were incredible.