Santa Barbara and the ocean in the morning	Some of the bouldering around Lizard's Mouth
Coastline as scene from Lizard's Mouth	Martinin Madness boulder in a less than flattering condition
One of the many Crag Cleanups I attended. They used to be bi-annual, but now they may not even be doing them anymore.	Pack goats used to take off bags of garbage. Ranger Larry's friend would take these to Crag Cleanups to help out.

Along with the Brickyard, Lizard's Mouth is one of the premiere bouldering locations of SB. It's namesake comes from a giant, mouth-shaped roof that offers great overhanging toprope routes as well as some awesome traverses. Just like the Brickyard, Lizard's Mouth is right off the 154 on West Camino Cielo Road and is right before you hit the Wincester Gun Club at the end of the street (thus the lovely sounds of gunfire in the distance). There are enough classic boulder problems here to keep you busy wandering around all day long, but my favorite boulders outside of the Mouth would be the Femme Fatale Zone.

Lizard's Mouth

Approach	5-10 min. mostly flat hiking
Poison Oak	None
Sun Exposure	Variable

 

 

Climbs done:

Femme Fatale Zone

Martini Madness (V0 ***): A classic boulder with a huge hueco in the middle and often times graffiti tagged on the face. Sit start at the lower left corner and use the pyramid ledge to guide your way up to the top. One of my favorite warm up routes.

Shakin Not Stirred (V3 ***): Other than the Lizard's Mouth Traverse, this is the best boulder route in the area. Sit start below two large huecos then work up to a delicate ledge and top out. A key kneebar can be used at the bottom to alleviate some of your work (be sure to wear long pants!).

The Mouth:

You Skink (5.7) TR: This is the route on the right side of the Mouth following a large vertical crack. Wasn't very exciting.

Yellow Belly (5.10a ***) TR: This route is directly to the left of You Skink and starts under a roof on some nice underclings. The crux of the climb is working out of the roof and onto the vertical face. (Update: the bolts above this route have been taken out. Now it is only a boulder problem at the bottom)

Lizard's Lips (5.11+ ***) TR: In my opinion, this was the best climb on our trip. At first look, I thought it looked impossible. But after giving it a test run I found that all the holds are super positive. Being extremely overhung, most the moves are powerful and you must pull them off quickly before running out of energy. Can be started and finished at multiple spots, including a dual ledge start on the left hand side and a start following a crack in the middle. Halfway through you can either follow a group of pockets out to the left, or take an extreme right and traverse around and up a protruding horn. (Update: many anchor bolts have been removed. Still enough bolts to make a TR anchor, but it will be a bit sketchy).