"Lackawanna"

Route: Lackawanna NW Ridge w/UN13660
Posted On: 6/30/2018, By: Count40
Info: Something which may be of use. It is easy trail, but you would still like to spend more time on hiking.

Dry-boot creek crossing (no photos, battery flat on the way back, sorry).

North Fork creek crossing points of choice:
-couple of conveniently placed rocks about 100 feet upstream from that car crossing
-much further up, about three hundred yards, mostly meant for those going to Champion, similar crossing, six or seven rocks two or three feet apart. Just like that first one, water flows over most of these, perhaps half inch, not enough to get into your boots. As for location of this second point, it is about 100 feet downstream from that point where two inclined logs cross the creek (creek right about 4 inch diameter, creek left about 10 inch diameter)
For both crossings, carefully placed poles are essential.

May be of interest to some, a bunch of elks, number I am not quite used to seeing around, 50 or so of them. Tried to add photos, but it crashed couple of times. Elks were below that south PT 13660 ridge, facing Independence Pass. Can see them only once you get about half way up the slope from the timberline 

Route: Southwest Gully
Posted On: 5/6/2018, By: B_2
Info: New York's hottest new night club is called Lackawanna SW Gully. This place has everything!

Bushwhacking, icy slippery streams, terrain traps, frozen sidehill mud to enjoy, any and all snow conditions imaginable in one place, and 8-12" wind loading with a light crust over unconsolidated near the steeper top 2-300 to get your blood pumping. You can even drive right up to the base because the gate at La Plata TH is open. It even has below-freezing temps with no sun until about 8:30, and a natural bobsled run for your personal items! Watch them tumble 1500 feet down and try to find them later! (sunglasses case, which I actually did find) For entertainment you can even watch middle aged ladies testing their capabilities with no hamstrings wandering around all day wearing crampons, shivering when still, and too afraid to glissade and thus a little crabby! :D

Skiing might not be very enjoyable at this time, imho - did not bring mine today...Lower needs to soften up (or go later in the day but I was descending at 10-11) and the top needs to consolidate. There was about 200 vert of what I would consider nice conditions for any method of snow travel on the entire route, but I'm not as bad ass as most of you skiers. 

Route: French/Frasco/Casco/Lackawanna/13660B Combo
Posted On: 9/16/2017, By: JasonKline
Info: Got under an inch of snow on September 16, but the snow promptly melted except for north-facing slopes. Slippy at points between Casco and Frasco, which was already the toughest part of the hike. There were some decent winds and relatively cold temperatures with the snow, so winter is on its way. 

Route: Lackawanna NW Ridge w/UN13660
Posted On: 7/16/2017, By: zinj
Info: Below treeline: significant time savings if you manage to find and STAY on the old roadbed up to the top of three cabin ruins. If not, climbers' trails abound, but you'll get wet.

Above treeline: "Northwest Ridge" route is largely a fiction. Several trail segments, both useful and not-so-useful, appear and disappear without any obvious pattern.

Improvised ascent around on the west face of the NW ridge (rather than the spine of the NW ridge itself), on solid grasses and reasonable talus was FAR superior to my attempt to follow the Northwest Ridge on descent. The standard route is awful. Any rocks you dislodge may bounce for hundreds of yards. Please be careful and consider either: 1) using the valley route (gets closer to Casco before turning south to ascend to Lackawanna's ridge) or 2) making sensible decisions farther counter clockwise on the western aspect of the NW ridge-- slightly gentler pitch than NW slopes will allow you to minimize tundra impact and not dislodge any rocks at all. 

Route: south-west gully
Posted On: 5/9/2017, By: josee menard
Info: Parked on the south side of the road at 679262. The snow is melted in the runout zone all the way to the "choke" in the drainage where the snow begins; continuous firm snow from there. To avoid alder/poplars in the runout zone, ascend climber's left then veer towards the drainage. Alpine axe and crampons recommended for the upper slopes to the summit ridge, the snow was quite firm! 

Route: Lackawanna NW Ridge w/UN13660
Posted On: 8/29/2016, By: Jay521
Info: Not much of a reason to put up a TR on this as Bill's route description is spot on. The only way it could be better is if he hauled my butt up the mountain in a rickshaw. I might add that someone has put a pretty nice cairn at an optimal spot to start up the steep climb to the ridge (the only tough part of the hike). That cairn is in the first picture. He also neglected to mention the double holed "pit" toilet about a half a mile up the road (pics 2 and 3). 

Route: South Slopes Via 82
Posted On: 5/30/2016, By: jasayrevt
Info: Good, prime conditions for this route and reaching the top of the peak. Variable, definitely still a lot of snow around. There are many high-quality mountaineering lines that are in. Steep, gain ridge line and coast. Make a trip up and enjoy the great outdoors / summit. Pictures included for beta 

Route: Lackawanna gulch
Posted On: 6/27/2015, By: jeremy27
Info: Did Roach's Tour de Lackawanna. Snow above treeline was unsupportive till just beneath the headwall. Descending the NW ridge was tough where the snow was unavoidable but otherwise pretty straightforward. I didn't dare cross the stream in the dark so i followed the detour route that starts on the east side of the stream. That added a little easy walking on an old road. Once on the true route the logging roads are everywhere and confusing, especially pre-dawn. Plan accordingly. Good luck. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 6/14/2015, By: oh2co
Info: *Update from 6/14 attempt* Weather impacted initial attempt. Just got done with it today with the awesome weather this weekend. No trail, just straight climb off the two turnoffs on 82 below Lackawanna's south face. Dry up to the ridge, but there are long sections of thigh deep snow still if you're inclined - was soft real soft by 9am. Most the ridge is dry to the summit, with exception of two 20-30 yard snow patches as you wrap up the final climb to the summit. Summit itself is partially cover, the boulder up to the high point has a decent drift - making photo ops a little challenging. Coming down was loose, both the talus fields, tundra, and below treeline moved and broke away constantly (especially considering the south face steepness - 2,037 feet of elevation gained per mile). Was a point on the descent that I got into a really loose section where the talus field became more or less a scree field and total sketchiness. I tried to skirt along the top of this, but I took a bad step and slid down on my back a good 15-20ft, was lucky nothing slightly bigger than a tennis ball was around to come down after me. The descent was pretty rough because sections like this. It was 2.5 hours up and almost the same down, probably just me struggling to follow the route I took up :). The western side and above Lackawanna couloir are caked still, and pretty obvious slides since I was there last weekend. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 6/9/2015, By: illusion7il
Info: South Ridge Route
The TH is not really much of a TH at all, just a small pullout, so don't expect a sign.
Route is Dry all the way up to 13.5K then a stretch of snow to the top. No Flotation was needed. 

Route: South Slopes/Couloir
Posted On: 5/17/2015, By: RyGuy
Info: Lackwanna's south slopes are in great shape right now if you want a good beginner couloir/snow climb. No snow from the road to the constriction where the couloir starts at about 11,000. From there, continuous snow to the summit in the middle. Not much snow on the east slopes above the couloir, but enough you can find lines to walk up and stay on snow. There is a decent cornice on the upper left and center sections above the couloir, recommend you stay right, gain the ridge and then get the summit via the ridge.

Quite a few snow-rollers from sometime last week on the east side near the trees. However, the snow generally was fairly well consolidated. However, it was snowing hard as we left on Saturday at 3:30PM. 

Route: South gully
Posted On: 5/4/2015, By: SnowAlien
Info: Lackawanna's standard snow route is in great shape. Snow extends to the mouth of the gully/willows. Coverage is smooth with minimal avy debris. Lower section of the couloir didn't have good freeze, so we skinned up. With better freeze above 12k, kicking steps wasn't an issue in the upper section of the couloir. 

Route: South Slopes (Ridge)
Posted On: 2/12/2015, By: fightgravity
Info: Climbed Lackawanna on Sunday with Tom and Frank. Thanks to Frank, for taking and sharing these pictures!

Parked car half in the road at (39 deg 04 min 27 sec N) and (106 deg 31 min 25 sec W). There was no convenient pullout. We left there and created a trench until we ran into an older trench (maybe from doggler) after about 600 feet of climbing. It was a veritable highway and we were all thankful!

At 11,747 ft (39 deg 04 min 49 sec N) and (106 deg 31 min 03 sec N), we took off the snowshoes. What a relief! Also, if I remember right, from this spot, there is a rocky bluff to the north east (climbers right)...if you like scrambling, that's your place! Otherwise stay to the left (west side) of that crag.

The rest of the way up, there was virtually no snow. What patches of snow there were, we could easily bypass. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 1/20/2015, By: doggler
Info: Summited on 1/19 from Hwy 82, inadvertently a few hundred yards east of the Upper Lake Creek Trailhead, which is no trailhead at all. Had to park mostly on road, but wasn't a problem being within 1/4 of a mile from the winter closure.

Snow was sketchy, south-facing couloirs had top slab of 4" or so on top of sugar; definitely no place to be. Went up the more westerly rib, joined the south slopes route around 13,600', then came down south slopes. South slopes was far superior. 

Route: Lackawanna NW Ridge w/UN13660
Posted On: 9/3/2014, By: Kitten
Info: Hiked to the top of "Lackawanna" on Sunday, it snowed up there! But it probably melted by the next day.