7/20/2019 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 7/21/2019, By: hbenton17 Info: Hiked up night before to camp in the basin, which was such a good decision! The steep ascent up the ravine to tree line was definitely a long one, so I'm glad we did that the night before. Creek crossing on two logs is a bit sketch and had to go slow cause my balance is less than good, but definitely doable. We got off trail at the beginning fairly soon and had to bushwhack. We went left to cross a tiny creek instead of veering right. That's maybe .3 miles in or so. Summit day was beyond gorgeous and perfect conditions. It was maybe my 3rd class 3 and so worth it. Definitely a couple class 4 moves if you go on the ridge proper and pick certain routes up the crux wall. Going up top was way better than the loose rock down low. Marmots chewed up and then stole my trekking poles, so just don't stash them at the saddle haha, not worth it. Storms rolled in around noon ish. |
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7/20/2019 Route: Northwest Gully Posted On: 7/23/2019, By: M_Dundee Info: On a busy Saturday my kid and I took the route less traveled, only passed a guy and dog each way (different pairs), near the top of the trough. We stayed climbers right in the trough which kept us on semi-solid class 3 rock and out of the scree. There was a small patch of snow at the top that was easily avoided. The only spot of snow that required a diversion off of the main path was the traverse of the first gully after the trough. We stayed climbers right hard against the ridge wall and went above a snow packed notch. For the other two gully traverses we usually stayed climbers right to follow the path that was more rocks than scree. Our return was via the same route. For anyone that is trying to get between the Lily Lake road and the San Luis valley via the road described in Roach's book it is currently closed. This is county road 572 south of Red Wing going over Pass Creek Pass. We were headed to climb Uncompahgre on Sunday and went about 10 miles east from Gardner on CO 69 to county road 520 to go south to US 160 near La Veta as an alternate route. |
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7/13/2019 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 7/15/2019, By: Buckie06 Info: Summer conditions. Only a few short snow patches on the hiking trail that are easily walk-able. Ridge was great |
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7/9/2019 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 7/10/2019, By: ZodiiakClimber Info: From trailhead to river crossing was mostly flooded. River crossing is about knee deep at its highest point but if you follow the gravel looking trail to the right instead, it will take you to a log bridge that will take you over the river and through a section of rock that has about an inch of water and will lead you right back to the trail. Snow is intermittent through the gully up to the Basin but most can be easily avoided. The Basin has a few snow fields to cross but no traction is needed. From the ridge up to the saddle to the summit is free of snow. Be careful going up the center of the crux wall though as there was some pretty loose rock that I actually pulled some out of place on. And if you take the gully, wear a helmet I kicked a locked of rock down on accident from the ridge. But the trail is basically summer conditions with a couple small snowfields. Photo 1 is the river crossing. Photo 2 is the bridge to get across at a different location. |
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7/4/2019 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 7/4/2019, By: rudyking69 Info: drove up to trail head road clear, started at 6 am via nw ridge, water crossing 1 mile in is really deep and lots of other water areas. summit by 10 am, a few snow patches here and there used microspikes in some, ice pick also great help to cross snow patches. crux wall free on snow and was lot of fun, came down the nw gully just to be safe at car by 12:30pm |
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6/29/2019 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/30/2019, By: Ptglhs Info: Not a good time to do Lindsey. The snow, deep, consolidated snow, starts well below treeline and makes following the trail impossible. We went up a snow slop and talus hopped just above treeline to the left/east of where the trail is. We tried following the trail briefly around 11.5 but still too much snow. We went up different drainage/snowfields and gained the trail to the saddle. The ride route was scary. There's bullet proof ice just below the crux wall. I couldn't find a way over or around the crux I thought was class 3. It was 4 -imo- and sketchy. Highly recommend waiting a month for this to melt out and/or taking the gully. |
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6/23/2019 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/25/2019, By: Been_Jammin Info: My conditions report is embedded as a comment to the previous conditions report. Adding this conditions report in order to upload the attached pics. Pic 1: Approaching the crux wall. An ice chute between where this pic was taken and the start of the crux wall made traverse too dangerous to do with out an axe or ice tool. Pic 2: View of summit from the saddle between iron nipple and Lindsey taken on the way down at approximately 10am. Snow and ice was still rock solid. |
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6/22/2019 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/24/2019, By: xm0067 Info: Now is not a good time to be on Lindsey. Started the day at 3:30 am with the intention of following the summer trail to the basin and then climbing the gully route. The lower summer trail is full of water in a lot of places, even before the river crossing. Beyond the river crossing the trail almost completely disappears behind either snow, avalanche debris, or both. Even with a GPS we spent more time off trail bushwacking and dead reckoning than otherwise. Following some of the footprints left around in the snow proved bad also, as they led us too high too fast and onto avy prone slopes with poor snow. The winter trail has broken out in places, and some of the snow bridges over the river have gotten perilously thin. I only took them out of necessity. The upper basin is still mostly snow covered, but its melting fast. The traverse from the high saddle to Lindsey was mushy and awful when we got to it, but we arrived at approx. 10:30 am, much too late for it to be stable. The snow surrounding the rock ribs was thin and difficult to plant an ax into. We ended up taking one of the rock ribs up to the class 3 NW ridge route, which was thankfully free of any major snow or ice. The crux block is pretty well protected from the wind, which was a blessing. Summit was around 12:00 pm. On the hike back we stuck to the river to the best of our abilities, but the combination of melting snow and rushing water nearby tested our nerves. I really wouldn't want to be there in the coming weeks with the softening snow and widening river. If I would have known how bad the conditions were (or at least how unprepared I was for them) I probably would have stayed home this weekend. 9 people started around the same time we did that day, with various plans and intents. Only 4 made it to the top, including the two of us. Photo 1: Lindsey from the High Saddle Photo 2: Looking up the Gully Photo 3: The summit ridge Photo 4: The Crux Block Photo 5: Down the "winter trail" as some snow rolled in, notice the small gap between the rushing water and the terrain to the side Photo 6: In the avalanche debris, very tired |
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6/15/2019 Route: Northwest Gully Posted On: 6/15/2019, By: Danger_D Info: Pretty much the same conditions this weekend as the last post here. I also had trouble finding the lower trail in the dark, even with a gps. There is enough snow cover or flooded paths that I got lost and crossed 3 rivers somehow (or maybe 1 river 3 times :) ). Once you gut to the approach gulled (from valley floor to basin) its easy path-finding. One change is that the wet-slide avalanche danger continues to grow. I was slow today, but by the time I got over to the Northwest Gully itself the snow field itself (8am) was mush and was very water saturated. We haven't had a freeze for a while so its only going to get worse. Since I was slowpoke I decided to downclimb the Northwest Ridge instead of descending the gully. The gully itself was nice and firm, but the field below gave me pause. The road to the upper trailhead is still blocked about 1/4 mile from the parking lot. Lots of parking around the blockage. Photo 1 - Top of the approach gully looking at the basin Photo 2 - Summit block showing snow coverage Photo 3 - Northwest gully from the bottom Photo 4 - The final summit ridge |
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6/9/2019 Route: Northwest Gully Posted On: 6/10/2019, By: phaas34 Info: Did a ski descent of the Northwest Gully with the dogs. We were able to make it to about 0.25miles from the 4wd trailhead. The first part of the trail had it all: ankle deep streams, snow banks, and mud. The trail is hard to follow down low (esp in the dark) and expect to bite the bullet and get your feet soaked. I heavily echo what a previous post said about bringing extra shoes/sandals and extra socks for the lower 1/3rd. Parts of the trail were ankle deep in water and the creek crossing was thigh deep. After crossing the creek it was climbing on snow to the top with a few rock patches in between. We made an "alpine" start at 3:30am and would have liked to start even earlier but this weekend was extra warm. |
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6/1/2019 Route: Northwest Gully Posted On: 6/2/2019, By: Will_E Info: The road to the 2wd TH is dry and fine, the 4wd section has a lot of big snow mounds that nobody will be driving over for a while. I have low clearance so parked a few miles before the 2wd TH. The trail is mostly snowpacked the entire way. In the morning on the way up I didn't posthole at all, snow was pretty firm. I didn't put on spikes until the long gully. Took snowshoes with, but never used them. Postholed a little bit on the way down, but it was manageable (I suspect if you weigh more than the 145 lbs that I do your experience may vary). The class 3 section near the peak was really nice with all the snow currently on Lindsey, it wasn't tough at all, easy to get a nice foothold in the snow. Overall great conditions at the moment, but I'd expect things to change pretty quickly. One note, you'll want to bring some sandals (or go barefoot) for the river crossing, it was so high I couldn't find a way to get across without getting water above my ankle, had wet feet all day after that:(. |
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5/5/2019 Route: North Couloir and Gullyish Posted On: 5/6/2019, By: bandrewcampson Info: The snowdrift that the last user reported is still there about 2 miles past the Aspen River (?). We were able to dig some ruts and get past it in a 2WD 4runner though. There is another patch 300 ft after that we also managed to limp through. It was all for naught though, there are 2 giant downed trees just 0.2 miles or so up the road from these patches. Might as well just leave the car before the first one and walk it, where we parked in the big open meadow did really put us any further. The road is mostly dry until about half a mile before the 2WD trailhead. Snow was firm in the morning and we were able to walk across it. Complete snow coverage albout halfway between the 2WD trailhead and the 4WD trailhead (see picture). Definately a slushfest on the way out, glad to have skis to slide a little faster. We were going to ascend the North Couloir, but in order to limit the amount we had to descend to get to it we opted for one of the gullies in between in standard route and the North Couloir. Turned out it was very steep and a bit shallow in places making the crampon kicks not always the most secure. Would not reccomend. Skied the couloir down at 10:30 and the snow was in good shape. |
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4/20/2019 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 4/22/2019, By: S-Parx Info: Parked about 2 or 3miles below 2wd trailhead because of a snow drift. Hiked in with trailrunners and started skinning at the 2wd trailhead (we think). Climbed the N Ridge to Summit then skied the N Couloir. Conditions had just hardened on the Couloir when we descended. Had to boot pack a section to the saddle and descended along the trail and road was a pain. Kept axe and cramps stashed for the whole climb and descent, didnt need em on the ridge or the hike out of the basin. |
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11/27/2018 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 11/27/2018, By: ScreeSurfer Info: Drove Honda CRV with chains to about 9800', 3+ miles short of the upper trailhead. Walked the road for about a mile with 2-5" of snow before putting on snowshoes and kept them on until about a quarter mile short of the saddle. The deepest snow was maybe 16-24" on the steep slope heading up the creek to the basin. Above treeline the snow depth was more like 6-8. I ascended the Northwest Ridge with no traction as it was mostly windblown. At the summit I put on crampons and descended the Northwest Gully which was a mix of hardpacked snow, loose 6" deep now, and some loose rocks. Wore the crampons down over the saddle where I put back on the snowshoes for the rest of the descent. Sorry no pics taken today. |
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9/30/2018 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 10/2/2018, By: lauratyree Info: Ascended the ridge and descended the gully. The ridge is mostly dry. There were a few snow patches but easily avoidable. The gully was completely dry and surprisingly solid. Strong winds on the South facing side of the ridge and the west facing side of the gully. |
