Mt. Lindsey

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 9/13/2020, By: zachgonzales91
Info: Dramatically more snow than forecast suggested. As low as 10.7k 6+ inches of snow accumulation - so expect a long day of post-holing and breaking trail unless a very warm melt cycle comes along. Both summit ridge routes (ridge + gully) are sketchy. Snow deposits with ice edging the rocks makes the gully quite dangerous. I opted for ridge, which was mostly solid/good rock but a few ice deposits made the climbing spicier than it needed to be. Highly highly recommend that inexperienced Class 4 climbers avoid this mountain until (if?) a big melt cycle comes through. To feel secure on climb up and especially on the downclimb, I'd suggest people attempting this for the next week or potentially longer have extreme comfort on low-grade Class 5 sans rope. On the downclimb, definitely some moments over icy slabs I would have greatly prefered a belay. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 9/14/2020, By: steved08
Info: Much more snow than anticipated. The trail is very easy to lose early due to 6-12 inches of accumulation in spots. We opted for the Northwest Ridge, which is extremely dicey. The Northwest Gully didn't look any better. Parts of the ridge are still covered with snow, and make for dangerous climbing. I don't recommend climbing this route right now, unless you have some class 4 or class 5 experience. Without warmer weather and snowmelt in the coming weeks conditions will stay hazardous. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 8/25/2020, By: montanahiker
Info: No smoke/haze down here! 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 8/25/2020, By: thomasdds
Info: Great weather. Parked at the TH Friday morning and by Saturday afternoon parking had over-flowed to the camp sites below. Ascending the trail at night was hard to follow between mile 1.5 and mile 2.5, otherwise excellent trail. I would recommend avoiding the gully and staying on the ridge due to the hazards of falling rocks and a busy trail. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 8/15/2020, By: Marshall
Info: Did Lindsey, Iron Nipple, and Huerfano Peak (UN 13,828). Road up was a little rough, but my AWD 2005 CRV made it fine. Trail is pretty obvious and in good shape up through the basin. It gets a bit loose at the top of the ridge before the saddle, but it's really fine. Now the fun stuff! I climbed the crux wall several times. See my comment below for thoughts on the crux. Bring a helmet and go earlier if you want to avoid others kicking rocks at you. Hike over the nipple to Huerfano was relatively simple. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 8/12/2020, By: Gandalf69
Info: Did the ridge route, was very fun. Suffered a flat tire, which lead to a 10 am start, but weather held out all day. About 11 people total on trail. Talked with someone coming down who said gully was treacherous. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 9/19/2020, By: Pak Pagosa
Info: No issues with the NW Ridge route. Just before and after the crux, trail-finding can be a little tricky, but very doable. Do wear a helmet and be careful of hikers in the gullies below. For those hiking the gullies...either start before hikers doing the ridge above you, or do the ridge. The rockfall hazard in the gullies is no joke. I saw several folks in the gullies not wearing helmets. Please don't do this. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 8/3/2020, By: ablock0
Info: Best campground ever?? No yokels in the campground, but they did fix my flat on the way up. Why is the ridge not the standard? Pretty dang easy and solid, seems irresponsible to put the star on the more environmentally damaging and dangerous option just because its easier for like 2 months of the summer season. Anywho, this trail is really nice from Mile 2/12000' upwards. The second mile is probably the worst I've ever seen on a standard though. Half the trails are running streams through sensitive marshes and the other half is murderous steep terrain around several fallen logs. Both of which have several points to lose the trail, e.i. a bit tricky in the dark. The damage done by these multiple trails is only getting worse, this trail needs work stat! Funny there's a sign near the start thanking someone for the original rehab done... 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 8/3/2020, By: Wild Bill
Info: The road getting to the trailhead requires a vehicle with good clearance. My Tacoma did okay just driving slow. I really underestimated this peak. This climb is nothing to joke with. Plenty of flying rocks. This is because about any route along the ridge line will get you to the summit. I took the gulley as I was following another group. The gulley has the hard subsurface deal going with loose surface material making it very unstable. On my return trip was the rock dodging game because other crews were catching up. Wear a helmet. Great views as all 14ers have. 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 7/26/2020, By: Msbaker
Info: First off, I made it all the way to the trailhead with my Mazda CX-5. I saw mostly 4WD cars and trucks at the trailhead. There were three specific areas on Forest Road 580 which were bad and I may have bottomed out slightly but if you are careful you should be able to make it with decent clearance on your vehicle. With regards to the hike, the first 1.5 miles were muddy and wet with a few stream crossings. This was likely exacerbated with the recent rains. Absolutely stunning views as you get to tree line and descend into the valley. The winds were 25+ mph and there were threatening storm clouds obscuring Ellingwood as I ascended over west of the Iron Nipple. I decided to take the Northwest Gully as I had heard it wasn't that loose and I was slightly worried about the gusting winds on the ridge. This was a huge mistake, not because of the route itself (which was completely free from snow), but because of careless hikers on the ridge route and rock falls. About halfway up the gully, I hear "ROCKS" being yelled repeatedly from the ridge above. I looked up and, I kid you not, I saw a boulder (which I would estimate at 50+ pounds) and several other rocks barreling down from the ridge above into the gully towards me. Fortunately, I was able to shield myself from the smaller rocks which ended up falling far too close for comfort and the large boulder fell well below me further down the gully. Thankfully, I came out unscathed but I subsequently read several stories about hikers who have had this happen to them and were struck by rocks and suffered broken bones/concussions/other severe injuries and had to be rescued off the mountain. I understand that this was most certainly an accident and am thankful that the people on the ridge yelled "ROCKS" as this isn't always the case (based on the tragic stories I have read on social media). However, I met one individual in the gully who has hiked several class three and four 14ers and he said he had never seen anything like that before (the size of the rock that barreled down) and attributed it to careless hikers on the ridge above. If that large rock, free falling from over 500 feet above, had hit any of the people in the gully, we would not have survived. Mt. Lindsey is an absolutely stunning mountain, with incredible views from the parking lot all the way to the summit. The final pitch to the summit after the gully is Class 2 and is remarkable as well. However, as much as I enjoyed summiting this mountain, I will likely never do it again due to the scare I had in the gully. I would certainly be remiss if I did not share my experience for others thinking about hiking Mt. Lindsey. I would also be remiss if I did not ask that anyone hiking this beautiful mountain (regardless of the route) to hike it carefully and to think about others as you do so. It may just save someone from a serious injury, rescue, or death. 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 7/25/2020, By: eyoder3
Info: Gully is free of snow. Super loose pretty much the whole way up. Rockfall isn't exaggerated. Was windy, cloudy rainy most of the whole day. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 7/19/2020, By: jryor121
Info: Good start to the morning. Hiked Culebra the day prior, drove over to the trailhead the night before and camped at the trailhead. Hike in was amazing and ran into a friend that we saw the previous week on Crestone Needle (PS if you see this please message me! We need to plan more coincidental trips together!). Ridgeline was solid. Chose to optionally go up the class 4 crux which was no problem for me with solid holds and dry rock. Summit views were great and could see for miles with little wind. https://www.strava.com/activities/3782377314 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 7/18/2020, By: VeraUndertow
Info: Climbed Huferanito, then met up with the main Lindsey trail at the saddle. Trail was dry and in great condition to the gully. Climbed up on the stable rocks on the right hand side most of the way up the gully and my dog made it up fine with only one move that sketched her out a little. We got to the ridgeline right before pt 14,000' and walked the beautiful class 2 ridge to the summit. The way down we tried to downclimb as much on the now left side solid rocks and my dog took her time on a few moves but overall made it without any help. Perfect summer conditions and a beautiful day in the mountains. Saw a few people on the ridge proper and they said it was a lot of fun and not too challenging but I am glad we did the gully as it was my dogs first class 3 climb. 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 7/12/2020, By: psa954hiker
Info: A bluebird day in the mountains. We walked across the creek crossing on rocks without getting our feet wet. You could also take the logs across. We returned via the gully and yes it is loose but we stayed climbers right and didn't dislodge any rocks, so it is possible. 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 7/7/2020, By: supranihilest
Info: A pretty crappy route, honestly. I did it as a snow climb the only other time I climbed Lindsey and wanted to see what it was like dry. Let me just say it's much nicer with good snow coverage. Anyway, take the obvious trail across the face instead of up the ridge. As it funnels into the gully you'll be faced with an obvious scree slope and rock to your right. The scree is loose, the rock is also loose, just slightly less so. Depending on comfort you may want to climb the scree using the rock for hands, or climb only the rock. There's ample gravel on the rock, so be aware of hand and foot placements and make sure they're solid. Climb up the gully to the notch, and from there you're faced with a gully crossing to a steep, red dirt chimney. I stemmed my way up the chimney but you could also go straight up broken slabs and ledges from the notch, which is exactly the way I descended. Descending the red dirt gully would not be fun. From there I just continued my ascending traverse on the typical loose garbage until I was near the summit ridge, then went directly up to the summit ridge itself. On the descent, since I didn't want to take the red dirt gully down, I crossed over "Northwest Lindsey" and continued down the ridge a bit until I found a good place to down climb to the notch. This was exposed and loose but not particularly difficult, just be mindful of all hand/foot placements and rock quality.