Mt. Lincoln Trip Report 08/14/2010

Peak(s):	Mt. Lincoln - 14,293 feet
Date Posted:	08/14/2010
Date Climbed:	08/13/2010
Author:	DaveWruck

Lincoln - Amphitheatre/Montgomery
I'm not the most advanced climber on this site by any means. I say that because many may not agree with my assessment of the Lincoln Amphitheatre route. It's terrible starting out with a disclamier... anyhoo... It has occurred to me, after the hike, that the route through the amphitheatre from Montgomery Reservoir may not be an officially "open" trail as deemed by the MRHI so maybe this trip report is incriminating, eh? A group of 5 of us started at the Montgomery Res trail head on Friday morning, August 13th. The morning was sunny and a bit cool - perfect for climbing. This route starts off beautifully enough with the talus and waterfalls and gorgeous views of Montgomery Res and Hoosier Pass as well as the South Park valley, as seen in pict 1. Once we entered the amphitheatre, the winds hit us. I'm not sure what the force or speed of these winds were but they were strong enough to knock each of us down a couple of times while trying to get through that extremely rocky amphitheatre. Most of the rest of the climb up to Lincoln was rather arduous between the wind and the loose rock. I know the reports here suggest staying to the right of the massive rubble area but we found everywhere we climbed, right, center or left, was loose and required extra care with footing. And still the wind kept pressing. The wind sucked (or blew) a lot of the energy out of us. From the bottom of the amphitheatre nearly all the way to the summit we climbed against the wind. Ironically, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and in rare moments of still air, the sun was warm and the weather was otherwise perfect. The saddle between Lincoln and Cameron was exposed to much of this wind, also, and depleted even more of my energy reserves. So after reaching Cameron, I was too tired (and wind burned!) to hit Democrat or Bross. I was lucky to stand still long enough (and keep my hood attached to my jacket) to snap the third pict below! In our opinion this route through the amphitheatre from Montgomery Res, even without the wind, was a little more difficult than most have reported due to the immense amount of bouldering and climbing loose rock. It takes a lot of extra time to get through this area. Of course, this is merely one group's opinion but we thought we'd throw it out there More experienced climbers may find it extremely easy but novices might want to know this when trying this route. Once you've made it up to the amphitheatre entrance, there is no trail until the nipple of Lincoln's summit. At that point there are 2 trails, one which ascends the east side nearly straight up and one which is a gentler slope around the north side and meets up with the Lincoln/Cameron saddle. I would suggest the north trail as it's more scenic and a very welcome slope after a hearty climb through the boulders. I'm curious, why is there no USGS survey marker on Cameron? Why does Cameron not appear on some lists of fourteeners in Colorado? It is officially over 14,000 feet, is it not? Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Lincoln - Amphitheatre/Montgomery

I'm not the most advanced climber on this site by any means. I say that because many may not agree with my assessment of the Lincoln Amphitheatre route. It's terrible starting out with a disclamier... anyhoo...

It has occurred to me, after the hike, that the route through the amphitheatre from Montgomery Reservoir may not be an officially "open" trail as deemed by the MRHI so maybe this trip report is incriminating, eh?

A group of 5 of us started at the Montgomery Res trail head on Friday morning, August 13th. The morning was sunny and a bit cool - perfect for climbing. This route starts off beautifully enough with the talus and waterfalls and gorgeous views of Montgomery Res and Hoosier Pass as well as the South Park valley, as seen in pict 1.

Once we entered the amphitheatre, the winds hit us. I'm not sure what the force or speed of these winds were but they were strong enough to knock each of us down a couple of times while trying to get through that extremely rocky amphitheatre. Most of the rest of the climb up to Lincoln was rather arduous between the wind and the loose rock. I know the reports here suggest staying to the right of the massive rubble area but we found everywhere we climbed, right, center or left, was loose and required extra care with footing. And still the wind kept pressing.

The wind sucked (or blew) a lot of the energy out of us. From the bottom of the amphitheatre nearly all the way to the summit we climbed against the wind. Ironically, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and in rare moments of still air, the sun was warm and the weather was otherwise perfect. The saddle between Lincoln and Cameron was exposed to much of this wind, also, and depleted even more of my energy reserves. So after reaching Cameron, I was too tired (and wind burned!) to hit Democrat or Bross. I was lucky to stand still long enough (and keep my hood attached to my jacket) to snap the third pict below!

In our opinion this route through the amphitheatre from Montgomery Res, even without the wind, was a little more difficult than most have reported due to the immense amount of bouldering and climbing loose rock. It takes a lot of extra time to get through this area. Of course, this is merely one group's opinion but we thought we'd throw it out there

More experienced climbers may find it extremely easy but novices might want to know this when trying this route. Once you've made it up to the amphitheatre entrance, there is no trail until the nipple of Lincoln's summit. At that point there are 2 trails, one which ascends the east side nearly straight up and one which is a gentler slope around the north side and meets up with the Lincoln/Cameron saddle. I would suggest the north trail as it's more scenic and a very welcome slope after a hearty climb through the boulders.

I'm curious, why is there no USGS survey marker on Cameron? Why does Cameron not appear on some lists of fourteeners in Colorado? It is officially over 14,000 feet, is it not?

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

CO Native	Cameron 8/14/2010 5:17pm Is over 14,000 feet but does not rise more than 300 feet above it's connecting saddle with Lincoln. Basically this means it's just part of Lincoln.
cftbq	unranked 8/15/2010 5:59pm Yes: CO Native is quite right. Cameron does appear on many older lists of 14ers, but modern surveys show that there is only a drop of 138 feet from its summit to the saddle between it and Lincoln. That's its ”prominence.” Thus, by consensus (and that's all it is), it is considered a sub-peak of Lincoln. Roach's ”Colorado's 14ers” has a comprehensive list of 14K points that lack sufficient separation (either horizontal or vertical) from related peaks to be ranked. If you include them all, you can count something like 70(!) 14ers. Some demented people (including me) actually aspire to climb them all, but, hey, you've got to draw the line somewhere, or every pebble that stands a few inches above its immediate surroundings would have to be considered a ”mountain” of its own!
DaveWruck	Cameron clarification 8/23/2010 7:48pm Ahhhh... thanks guys. Out of curiousity, who's consensus makes this 300 foot consideration? The USGS? Well, I'm up for tackling ALL those pebbles! Ironically, I saw some young people up on Sherman on Sunday trying to stand on rock platforms they built or out jump each other to see who could get higher than 14,026. They need more pebbles...

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