5/29/2017 Route: Northwest Gully Posted On: 5/29/2017, By: merrion13 Info: Road to TH open until .5 miles to Lily Lake TH. Tons of snowmelt and 2-3 inch deep water covering a decent amount of the half mile prior to the creek crossing, and the creek crossing was decent height. Bring spare socks, as you have a very good chance of dunking a foot somewhere on the way. Once in the gully, solid snow on the way up and as you get to the ridge, snow starts thinning but the couloir is fairly full of snow and there are some slick spots on the Northwest ridge. You'll definitely want traction, and I regretted not having front points in the couloir. We took the NW ridge down from the summit and then re-joined the coulouir around the headwall. Tons of post-holing in the snowfield and gully from about 12Kft and lower, glad we had snowshoes. One more thing...the traverse from the false summit to actual summit is partly (for now) on a serac which was feeling very sketchy in the sun today, so be careful. |
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5/27/2017 Route: Northwest Gully Posted On: 5/28/2017, By: cruisem Info: I was able to drive in about .5 m from the summer trailhead. There's still quite a bit of snow on the road from this point. The river is rushing right now and staying on the trail after the initial meadow can be challenging. The snow on the way up was firm. I didn't need or bring snowshoes. I climbed the north face up thinking that thunderstorms weren't far off and hoping it would be quicker than the couloir. At times the snow coverage was shallow and sugary. I decided to descend the couloir to avoid some of the spicer moves on the north face. The snow in the couloir was in perfect shape. |
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5/7/2017 Route: North Couloir Posted On: 5/9/2017, By: Marmot96 Info: No car will be able to drive all the way to the standard TH for a while as plenty of snow and at least 8 downed trees block that path (you are able to start from about 2.1 miles below the standard TH). You can skin certain sections of the road but will have to remove skis plenty of times as there are patches of dirt all over. Once you get to the standard TH, you can leave skins/snowshoes on all the way until the Iron Nipple saddle, at which point you can either climb the North Couloir, which has great snow for skiing, or the ridge, which is starting to become clear of snow. |
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5/6/2017 Route: Northwest Gully Posted On: 5/7/2017, By: supranihilest Info: The approach to the Lindsey/Iron Nipple saddle was quite long and snowy. If you're lucky enough to get a hard freeze overnight the approach might be easier, but with soft, wet snow you're looking at a tedious walk even with snowshoes. The vast majority of the trail below treeline is following a mess of snowshoe and ski tracks and booted out posthole hell. Warm afternoons will almost certainly be quite arduous with much sliding and postholing, and skiing will be difficult due to the approach gullies being full of postholes and chunder. From the saddle snowshoes are not needed, though the couloir itself was extremely soft and had evidence of small, wet avalanches on some of the steeper aspects. The bottom is quite melted out and requires either climbing steep, loose scree in crampons or skirting it on thin snow to climber's right. There's much better coverage above but it's still sloppy and steep. By mid-day the snow could potentially be dangerous if it slides over one of the numerous cliffs. The summit ridge is in fine shape. |
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5/6/2017 Route: Northwest Gully Posted On: 5/11/2017, By: freepancakes Info: TH is blocked at 10,000 ft. by snow and numerous downed trees. Adds about 4.4 miles RT to the hike. Overall, good amount of snow out there but melting fast. We saw lots of pinwheels and signs of wet avalanches. Snow was relatively stable since we were on the mountain in the gully on the north face at about 8AM. One large wind loaded cornice that was pretty spicy getting over. |
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4/15/2017 Route: Northwest Gully Posted On: 4/17/2017, By: moneymike Info: Via Huerfano Creek: I was able to drive (snow free) to about 9931' elevation (according to my GPS). This is where the road starts turning south. There were two short but deep snow patches that blocked me from going further. While I was up the mountain, a monster truck busted through the snow patches. However, even with the tracks, I don't think my Nissan Xterra would have the clearance to make it through. Perhaps in a week from now. But it wouldn't matter much, the road was blocked by several downed trees shortly beyond this point. The downed trees are just past the ruins of an old cabin in a clearing. For the most part, the road is dry until you get to the landslide. Past the landslide, there is enough snow for skinning/skiing. I skied the SE face of Huerfano Peak. Beautiful corn skiing around 1 p.m. |
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3/2/2017 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 3/3/2017, By: illusion7il Info: *Beware* of using my trench from 11K to 12K , I heard a couple of wompf's in the gully in this area as there are steep walls on both sides. Parked at Aspen river Ranch so mileage is around 20ish. The snotel stations were reading around 15-20 inches from this weeks storm and they got it. Lots and Lots of deep trenching. My trench losses the standard route a few times, as I was tired of looking at my GPS every 2 mins, but it will get ya there. With so much new snow, I even lost the road a few times. Dropped the snowshoes at 12.5K as the ridge was mostly wind swept. Microspikes worked well. |
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2/20/2017 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 2/21/2017, By: LT100Vet Info: Was hoping to climb Lindsey on President's day but I couldn't get my little Mazda Tribute past the junction at the Aspen River Ranch due to too much snow on the road. I parked at the junction and hiked in anyway hoping I had enough time even though this added 5 miles each way to my planned hike. The road in from the Aspen River Ranch junction contains mostly snow covered areas with several downed trees. It will be a while before anyone will be able to drive all the way in and get to the actual trail head. I made it up to where the trail starts to ascend steeply before I decided there wasn't enough time to summit and make it back before dark. All in from where I parked it was a nice 15+ mile snowshoe day. |
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1/27/2017 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 1/27/2018, By: MatthewWatson Info: Broke trail through recent ankle- to calf-deep snow up to 11,700'. Did not hike the ridge. Snow on the approach was soft. However, when the trail begins to ascend toward the ridge, by the stream, the stream is frozen solid and can easily be walked up and down using crampons, from about 11,000' to 11,500'. |
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11/20/2016 Route: Northwest Gully Posted On: 11/21/2016, By: nkrpctl Info: An inch or two of snow at most below treelike, but nearly dry into the basin. Used microspikes on descent. Decided to go up the north face and found very little, icy snow in the gulley. I stuck to the more solid class 3 stuff on the right. I really don't see how anyone can go up or down that scree. There is no traction and exposure. Would definitely do the ridge instead next time. |
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11/12/2016 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 11/12/2016, By: skik2000 Info: Went up the ridge and down the face today. The crux moves themselves are pretty dry but there is snow on the approach to those moves. I would recommend sticking to the ridge crest as much as possible as it gets sun and is fairly melted out. You do have to drop down and traverse to the crux wall. If you stay on the crest it looks a bit hairy dropping down to go over the final wall. I would take spikes for sure. The gully descent had enough snow to make it fairly easy to bomb down. |
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10/29/2016 Route: Northwest Gully Posted On: 10/30/2016, By: jeffth5 Info: Patchy snow on all north aspects (most of the upper route). Not very deep (1/2in or so), but enough to make things slippery. Microspikes highly recommended - I would not have continued without them. |
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10/29/2016 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 10/30/2016, By: awpalmer27 Info: I ascended via the Northwest Ridge and descended via the North Face. The ascent via the Northwest Ridge was dicey. The route is very exposed. There are some icy patches (no snow) and when the wind starts to gust you don't feel particularly safe. I would recommend the North Face route for ascent and descent this time of year. Yes, there is loose rock on this route. It is still a safer option on an icy, windy day. Take microspikes as there are patches of snow. Communicate with other parties when in the couloir to minimize everyone's exposure to rockfall. |
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10/23/2016 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 10/23/2016, By: James2015 Info: The tree that was blocking the road is gone -- made it to the Lily Lake trailhead in a Subaru Crosstrek. The last 0.2 miles got a little rough, but did it OK (1.5 foot deep pool at one point, but still water, and a deep washed-out rut right before the trailhead that took a couple approaches to get through). The landslide is so cool looking. Next to no snow, only point with some accumulation was maybe 20 steps when the ridge route dips down before the main headwall. They're a little exposed, so didn't love the slick snow underfoot, but I had microspikes and didn't feel the need to use them. I would still definitely do the ridge route over the loose gully/north face (heard rocks cracking through every time I saw someone trying the route). Great conditions, but could change rapidly. |
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10/18/2016 Route: Northwest Gully Posted On: 10/17/2016, By: majiqman Info: Wind was cranking on Sunday and Monday. Several fallen trees along the road in, but was able to get past them. But ... fallen tree blocking road just above Huerfano trailhead. Probaby going to need a saw to move it. So, the tree is two miles below the Lilly Lake trailhead. Cannot drive up to the Lilly Lake trailhead. After the trail goes around the meadow, and meanders through the the river plain, you'll see that the beavers have been busy. At one point, it seems that the trail dead ends in a beaver pond. You have to cross over to the right bank to pick up the trail again. Trail was dry. No snow. Windy again today. |
