Geissler Mountain East

Route: Lost Man Pass
Posted On: 8/19/2023, By: mtngoatwithstyle
Info: Summer conditions all the way. Hiked main trail of Lost Man and then veered off a little bit before the pass and hiked up towards the saddle and climbed up to the ridge and then to the summit. On the way down, I took ridge proper towards Lost Man Pass. There is a goat trail that takes you down most of the way. It was warm up at 13K, almost 60F. Some willows and short leave bushes are turning colors already. A beautiful day out there!. 

Route: From Roaring Fork River Trailhead
Posted On: 7/23/2023, By: dr_j
Info: Pretty straightforward climb (2+) up the ridge from the pass. Stick climbers left of the strip of snow and look for cairns and scattered trail fragments. 

Route: Twining-Geissler 6 peak loop
Posted On: 7/1/2023, By: daway8
Info: Epic 6 peak day full of abundant surprises and lots of awesome scrambling! Did UN13,500, Twining, UN13,545 (now 13,556), UN13,001, Geissler Mtn East & Geissler Mtn West (see CR from CloudKicker for main conditions details - I'll just add a little color). First surprise was PT13,500 - easy little peak just north of Indy Pass but the surprise was some delightful but utterly gratuitous and avoidable class 3 that was too much fun to not play on. Second surprise was running into CloudKicker and Keith as we all summited. They were planning the same 5 peak loop as me but with 13,001 added on. That turned out to be one of the main highlights of the day. They went one way and found it spicy - I did a more direct scramble that I nicked-named The Carolina Reaper route - ended on a crazy little cliff that I had to squat down on to duck below an underhang followed by some full body stemming and other crazy maneuvers. Also along this route I passed up a huge mutant chimney crack (don't know what to call that thing, lol) and some sweet slabs, cracks, etc. This area has such a playground of all manner of climbing for all skill levels up to 5.whatever-you-can-handle. Wonderful little hidden gem that barely makes 13k but it's ranked and totally worth it! Most of this loop could be done at class 3 or below with some effort but why would you want to??? 

Route: South slope from West Geissler
Posted On: 6/3/2023, By: VeraUndertow
Info: The Geisslers were busy today, not surprising, considering the 6 inches of new snow in the past few days. At least 3 lines were in on the East face of West Geissler and the main line was in as well as a few other off shoots on East Geissler south face, plus a few lines going off the north west side seemed to go as well. Visibility was very poor as the peaks were socked in most of the day so I only have a few mediocre pictures. 

Route: Indy Pass
Posted On: 8/8/2022, By: kwhit24
Info: I got to Indy Pass at 5:15am and waited a little bit until it got a little lighter. There were only about 5 cars there at the time. The route up Pt 13,500 has a good trail most of the way and over to Twining wasn't any more difficult than class 2. It was still class 2 coming off Twining Pk to the saddle aside from one class 3 move towards the bottom. The route up Pt 13,545 had a little maneuvering and Class 2+ stuff with a little exposure in spots. Coming off Pt 13,545 had a few Class 3 area but I mostly tried staying close to the ridge. That was the most difficult part of the hike but Mav handled it with no help needed. Once at the saddle you can see the trail down to Lost Man Lake which you follow for like 3/4 of a mile. Saw 7 mountain goats past the lake. Picked my way up to Pt 13,001 (Now 13,006 and no longer the lowest ranked 13er) with no issues then back to the saddle. The route up East and West Geissler Mtns were pretty straight and lead to some great views of the surrounding areas. To get back to the car I just contoured between 12,400 and 12,500 to avoid too much extra up and down on the rolling slopes. (11.94 mi; 4,790' gain; 7:34:45 total time) Start at TH 5:45am; PT 13,500 6:40am; Twining Peak 7:15am; PT 13,545 8:00am; PT 13,001 9:25am; East Geissler Mtn 10:45am; West Geissler Mtn 11:35am; Back to TH 1:20pm 

Route: Loop from Independence Pass
Posted On: 6/18/2021, By: angry
Info: UN13,500 > Twining > UN13,545 > East Geissler > West Geissler. Summer conditions and any remaining snow patches are avoidable or of no consequence. No summit register. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 9/13/2020, By: Flyingfish
Info: Avoidable snow on the south side of the ridge. North side snow was very soft by 9:30 3-6" of variable snow 

Route: Geissler Traverse W—>E
Posted On: 6/26/2020, By: JosephG
Info: The traverse is 95% snow free, and what snow is necessary to cross is only minimally inconvenient. Lost Man Pass and the upper descent via Independence Lake and the Lost Man trail still holds snow (slushy), and there is plenty of moisture on the trail. Nothing impassable. 

Route: East Ridge, Southwest Ridge
Posted On: 9/26/2019, By: supranihilest
Info: East Ridge: Easier than it looks. Class 2+ for sure, and steep, but nothing terrible. The rock is fairly stable, though don't just blindly trust everything. Southwest Ridge: There's some outcrops on the ridge that make a direct descent more of a pain. They can be skipped at Class 2+ or down climbed at Class 3. There's really only a move or two of Class 3, but it's there. 

Route: Lost Man Pass
Posted On: 7/22/2019, By: 13erRetriever
Info: A few snowfields on the trail to the lower lake, then a lot of bigger ones to get to the pass but we didn't use spikes and did fine. Post holing on edges of snowfields but the middles were usually solid. Melting fast but there will be snow up there for a while and trail is very wet. From the pass to the summit, only one small snowfield maybe 20 feet long halfway up on the ridge. Again, no spikes and I just held on to my dog for security. A large piece of the cornice did fall off while I was on that snowfield but I was far enough from the edge to be safe. Make sure you are on the snow that lies on top of solid rock. Traverse to Geissler West looked dry but the saddle between East and west does have snow if you descend to the basin from there. Decided not to do it due to weather. Will try and post pictures of snow later. 

Route: Traverse
Posted On: 10/16/2017, By: tjf242424
Info: Patchy snow on the trail, but compact with no post holing. The traverse from Lost Man Pass over Geissler East to Geissler West and descent back to Independence Lake is almost totally dry. No need for any winter gear. The north side of Lost Man Pass is holding snow. 

Route: Independence Lake Trail
Posted On: 7/2/2017, By: habaceeba
Info: After West Geissler, before UN13,545, and Twining Peak. The valley is very soggy with water running down the trail. Even when you turn offtrail and head up to the saddle between the Geisslers one has to maneuver around marshes and bogs. Most snow can be avoided but I chose to use some of it as it supported me. The saddle has a remnant of a cornice but there is a notch in the snow to pass through. Class 2 to the summit. 

Route: South Face to West Ridge
Posted On: 6/13/2017, By: TakeMeToYourSummit
Info: The lower section of the basin is melting fast. Within a few hundred vertical feet the path is overrun with mud spots & eventually snow patches. The mid to upper route was frozen suncups. My friend used crampons for a brief (300ish vertical feet) near the summit, I picked a more rocky line & kept mine in the pack. As an FYI it had a good freeze up there last night (28 degrees as a low, with minimal clouds, & wind). An ice axe was lost on the early approach - plz PM me with any info. 

Route: SW ridge
Posted On: 6/29/2015, By: CarpeDM
Info: From Linkins Lake TH west of Indy Pass. Lots of (non-skiable) snow, water, and mud. I wore summer hiking boots and had wet feet most of the day. Lots of flat spots with standing or flowing water. On the trail, the mud came over the uppers on my boots a few times. Three or four places to cross snow on the ridge. When I encountered snow on the ridge, I didn't break out the axe or microspikes, but used them on my (non-standard) ascent of West (and glad I had them anyway).