Mt. Lindsey

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 4/17/2025, By: Caedmonn
Info: Was able to drive to the landslide, about 2 miles from summer trailhead. Didn't need flotation until after summer trailhead. Snow was pretty bad, sunk to my waist with snowshoes a few times, got better above 12,500'. Was going to take the gully but the snow was very very hard, pretty difficult to get crampons in. So I took the ridge, not much snow to worry about on the ridge. I dropped my ice axe somewhere near the start of the gully, if someone happens to see it and can easily grab it that'd be awesome! If you find it message me on insta @caedmonnewland Don't forget to sign the waiver before you go: https://www.mountlindseywaiver.com/ 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 3/28/2025, By: masonzastrow
Info: Attempted with Sean23, stopped at the saddle with Iron Nipple. Camped overnight at 2.5 miles from where we parked. Horrible awful miserable snow texture from about a mile in to about 11.5k made for a slow day. We put in quite the sloppy trench. Please make use of it, it was a great amount of effort to create. Most cars probably have to park 3.3 miles from the summer trailhead. If you could get past the first two patches, you could probably drive another .75 miles. A tree blocks the road about two miles before the summer trailhead. Felt the snow completely collapse a few times, one time collapsing below an entire meadow. On the slope the snow was much more stable. Our route kept us very high in the gulch, traversing around to the east, which worked well. Cached snowshoes at about 11.7k. Snowshoes are non-negotiable right now. I found an axe to be a nice security blanket, but probably could be done without with great care. Brought but never used microspikes. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 3/4/2025, By: Stratosfearsome
Info: Parked my stock RAV4 at (37.664019, -105.460007), ~1 mile below landslide or 3 miles below Lily Lake TH. Continuous snow starts soon after the landslide and goes to tree line. Nice trench in place. I climbed UN 12915, down climbed a class 3 ledge system on the South Face, traversed to Iron Nipple (lol) and went up the weakness in its West face. Headed over to Lindsay and took the class 3 way up the NW ridge. Totally doable in light mountaineering boots. Almost all snow avoidable above 12.5k on Lindsay. Didn't use microspikes, only used ice axe on my side mission- didn't bring flotation. ~18 miles and +/- 6000ft. Beautiful day but very warm- measured 50F at 10 am at 12,500ft. Returned along standard route but lost it and post holed about 18 inches in crusty snow for miles. Could probably ski the approach from landslide to near Iron Nipple - Mt. Lindsay saddle. Thank you to all who contributed to opening Mt. Lindsay! Please sign the waiver before you go: https://www.mountlindseywaiver.com/ 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 10/30/2024, By: bigfoot1
Info: (attempt) crusty snow 6" deep less than a quarter mile into the trail from the upper trailhead. old boot prints seemingly going in circles all over the place (around 37.6101, -105.47243 maybe gathering firewood???) made it distracting to try and stay on trail, which was hard enough to follow. stream crossings not frozen over yet. turned around at around 11k ft when I assumed the snow was only going to get deeper and snow wasn't stopping. should have brought snowshoes, but it is still that annoying amount of in-between snow. also saw fresh tracks of some large cat or wolf or something following me from the start of the trailhead also found a random, unused disposable toilet at (37.60636, -105.47323)??????? unsure if it was left there on purpose or if it was trash that I should carry out, but decided to leave it incase there were some campers nearby or if it was part of someone's drop spot.. 

Route: North Couloir
Posted On: 3/27/2023, By: dalon34
Info: Climbed up with my buddies on Sunday. Skinned up and skied some of the way down. 'Twas very snowy and icy. IFYKYK 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 10/29/2021, By: Ptglhs
Info: Hiked up to saddle and took a left for the 13ers. The route below 13,150 is snowy over most of it, but not deep in most places. A few spots are calf deep. Post hole on the "trail" or on the drainage. Snow isn't supportive. Floation would be a waste of weight, imo. Took traction but didn't use it. Ridge looked dry, spotty snow in gully but not enough for crampons. 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 9/4/2021, By: mspin99
Info: Conditions are great throughout the hike. The 1st mile (through the stream crossing) is pretty wet in sections, but not a big deal. As for the stream crossing, no need to wade, there are several downed trees that you can maneuver through pretty easily. I took the gully route up and down as there was significant cloud cover and limited visibility, plus the ridge was pretty windy. At the turnoff, make sure you head up the correct section of the gully. It was helpful looking at the picture regarding the route that showed the specific rock formations above you. It's also pretty obvious as the climber's trail that you are traversing on pretty much ends there. I stuck to the right and held solid rock pretty much the entire way up. Make some mental notes of what the terrain looks like behind you, particularly if there is limited visibility. This way you don't go down the wrong gully. But there are several cairns up top that make it pretty easy to find the notch back. Also, with good weather, you can easily see the ridge on your descent. Lastly, wear a helmet. I saw a group of 3 ascending the gully without helmets. Lots of loose rock to accidentally shoot down the gully. Plus, the ridge route is right above you. Definite potential for rockfall throughout the gully section. All in all, I found it to be enjoyable and not that difficult of a climb, as long as you avoid the center of the gully. 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 8/11/2021, By: ScottHendrick
Info: This was redemption for a failed attempt a few years ago, cut short by an evil hailstorm at 13,500 feet. We camped overnight at the trailhead and were on the trail at 6am. The first mile was uneventful and pleasant - it was nice to use the logjam to cross the river instead of wading through it. The second mile was TOUGH - relentlessly steep through the forest. The third mile was nice as we left the trees and wandered through the nice meadow with boulder outcroppings and friendly marmots. The fourth mile started very steep going straight the spine of the lower mountain towards the first saddle (almost 13,000 feet) - some switchbacks would have been well-appreciated here, perhaps some future CFI project. The boulder field up to the second saddle (13,150 feet) was also pretty steep and loose. Until this point, the day was rather hot and we had ditched a pile of clothing in the forest to retrieve later. After the saddle, there was a bit of wind that helped cool us down a bit. Based on our past experience, we put on our helmets and grinded up the Gully of Despair. We stayed on the right side to avoid as much of the loose/dangerous rock as possible. After we made the notch at about 13,600 feet, it was new territory for us. The guide from 14ers.com was quite helpful at that point - we looked closely at some pictures to decide which way to go. We were able to follow the "trail" decently well, and successfully gained the summit ridge. From there, it was a pretty basic and fun walk of a couple hundred yards to the summit. It was very fulfilling to finally be there! We took a couple pictures, then two people joined us on the summit and we made some new friends. Luke and Ally had ascended the ridge and (like everyone else) told us how much more enjoyable that route was. They volunteered to show us the way, since we had not really studied that route. Though they were clearly much faster and more experienced climbers than us, they stayed with us all the way back to the main saddle. We had a really good time descending with them and we totally enjoyed the ridge. I think we probably made a couple of basic class-4 moves on the way down, but it was certainly the better way to go and we felt safe the entire way. We saw six other climbers the entire day. I suppose this was a typical Tuesday. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 8/8/2021, By: ckaplan01
Info: Hazy with reduced visibility. Route is wet on the approach but in good condition generally. Early sunset in the basin was cool and pleasant. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 8/6/2021, By: kalestew
Info: Glaciers from last month have totally melted away. Ridge route isn't well cairned but is still very navigable if you follow the photos 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 7/12/2021, By: Carsonj20
Info: Complete summer conditions. The trail through the trees could use a little maintenance. The route up the crux that goes next to the crack was very sheltered, I would highly recommended that over the gully, we heard rocks falling all day. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 7/8/2021, By: cvbuffs
Info: Road up to the trailhead is pretty straightforward, just a bit long, with the last 4ish miles being the worst. Give yourself plenty of time to drive down and make sure you note pull offs since the road is quite narrow most of the way. Started around 3:30pm with hopes that the weather would hold. Once you hit the river crossing shown in picture 3 I found the trail to be a little difficult to follow and wasn't sure I was on the right route until about an hour later when I passed the cave on the other side of the river (a great indicator that you're on the right path.) Fortunately the weather gods were with me and after a 45 minute break near the saddle to allow the last of the clouds to clear. Took the NW ridge route since the conditions in the gully didn't look very fun. Note, if you take the ridge there is a ton of route finding and I quickly found myself climbing difficult class 3 terrain to the class 4 section of the crux. Once to the false summit it is a pretty quick/simple scramble to the summit; summited at 7:45pm. With the sun fading I choose to follow the intermittently defined path toward the gully since I thought it would be faster on the decent and I didn't want to get caught on the ridge with no sun. Hugged the left side of the gully and found it to be pretty stable as long as you avoided the gully's main artery. Route finding wasn't too bad, but there was a bit of "choose your own adventure" to find the most stable rock. Returned to the saddle around 8:45pm just as the sun was setting behind the peaks to the west and witnessed an amazing sunset. From there I donned my headlamp and started down into the basin. No problems with route finding until it was time to start heading back down the west side of the river where there were a few places that were very hard to find the trail. Once down to the river crossing near the cave the trail was pretty easy to follow in the dark until reaching the area between the boulder field (picture 4) and the river crossing (picture 3) and I lost the trail somewhere right before the river crossing. Being a bit lost, I crossed the river and after a bit of bushwacking ran into the Lily Lake trail (phew) which connected back to the main trail. In hindsight I should have returned back to where I lost the trail and proceeded further down the trail on the south side of the river. Once on the main trail it was rather quick hike to the trailhead, with a brief scary moment where I saw a couple pairs of eyes looking at me in the dark about 50 yards off the trail near the river. Judging by the size my guess was a couple of bear, so after making a bunch of noise and passing by them I finally hit the trailhead about 5 minutes later, arriving at 10:45pm. Trail was mostly dry with a few muddy / wet spots from the recent rain. No snow so no traction or floatation needed. Couple of notes: 1. I should have brought a backpack and setup camp near the flat area near picture 6 in the event the weather did not work out given the time of day I started, and would recommend that to anyone else starting later in the day. 2. Good reminder to keep a trailmap and emergency materials with you on all hikes. I had a map, compass, emergency blanket and a steripen which I thankfully didn't need to use, but was prepared to if I hadn't met up with the Lily Lake trail. 3. If you do get lost on the area near the river crossing, the trail mostly follows the river so that is one way to navigate yourself to the right area. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/26/2021, By: coopereitel
Info: Dry all the way. Ridge was fun. Started at 6:00, summited at 9:30, car by noon ish. It rained pretty good on the way down, made the hike in/out a lot more muddy and wet than it already is. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/25/2021, By: BillMiddlebrook
Info: The approach is dry and a bonus this year is a log jam where the trail crosses the river, making the crossing a breeze. The route up the mountain is super dry. I hiked 13ers Huerfano and Iron Nipple but got a good look at Lindsey. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/20/2021, By: frooney
Info: Ridge was snow free until well past the crux. Only a couple small sections of snow after the false summit and they don't really interfere with the route. Went up and down the ridge and those who took the gully reported very loose conditions. What little snow is left in the gully doesn't seem to be helping much. Below tree line there is still enough patchy snow to complicate route finding but not enough to cause any real trouble. Hiked in trail runners and was able to stay mostly dry. Brought spikes but didn't pull them out; most of the snow we crossed was on low angle terrain and the crossings were short.