"Lackawanna"

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. 

Route: gully ski
Posted On: 5/19/2014, By: SnowAlien
Info: Continuous snow starts from 11,080 ft, top of the willows, bottom of the gully (made for ~2,800 ft of skiing). Most of the snow in the gully is consolidated, save for the last 300-500 ft when I started punching through the thin frozen crust, which made for a slow progress. There is an option to bail on the right to gain the ridge around 12.5k or so. Beware of cornices and wet slides - lots of old wet slide debris in the gully. With a bit chilly/windy/overcast day dropping in at 12pm worked out great (had to wait an hour on the summit), but it should be much earlier on a sunny day. Fun line with an easy road access. #1 - old wet slide debris near 12.5k #2 - coverage #3 - cornices with wet slide debris #4 - near the end of the ski line ~11k 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 5/3/2014, By: mrickers
Info: Skied Lackawanna today via the S Slopes. First 1000' or so is intermittent snow + bushwhacking. No skiing here. Rest of the way is continuous snow save for one short stretch near the summit. There is a nice booter to the top. We dropped at 10am, and it was still super icy. Guess we should have waiting longer. Photo #1: Look back down the start of the gully off 82. Photo #2: Above the bushwhack, continuous snow Photo #3: Looking down the summit ridge 

Route: Southwest Gully (from 82)
Posted On: 6/8/2013, By: BobbyFinn
Info: I'm not a skier, but I'd say that ski season on Lackawanna is over. The approach gully has thin snow and from ~12.2k to ~12.7k the snow is completely melted. Most of the ridge to the summit above the gully is melted out. It's in pretty good condition to walk up and down, but IMO leave the skis at home. Pic 1 - From about 12.2k looking up. Pic 2 - From about 12.7k looking up. Pic 3 - Our ascent route. 

Route: South slopes
Posted On: 11/2/2012, By: Eph 2 5
Info: I didn‘t climb it, but I drove by the gully at the beginning of the route. That portion of the route looks dry (see picture) 

Route: South Ridge from CO 82
Posted On: 1/15/2012, By: Matt Lemke
Info: Due to my stupid internet, I‘m not typing this 3 times...STUPID Comcast...I‘m suing you for all you‘re worth!!! Anyway, climbed the steep south slopes of Lackawanna from CO 82. No snow, no wind, warm sunny day. Fantastic summit views of all the Sawatch and Elks. 

Route: South Slopes(ish)
Posted On: 1/16/2012, By: CarpeDM
Info: Just setting up a new computer, so Matt Lemke got his report out before I could get mine out. I'll echo what he has to say: Not much snow at all. I went up the gully, then hung a right (at about 12k) and went up the SE ridge (about 12,400) before curling around to the peak. When out of the gully, there was a bit of wind - oh, perhaps up to 20mph - not a big deal. But the summit was practically dead calm. Came down the South ridge until I met back up with my tracks in the gully. I did a little postholing - not worth bringing snowshoes. Microspikes were helpful in spots. Pic1 - view from where I left the road. There was a bushwhack that wasn't bad. Pic2 - looking up the lower part of the gully Pic3 - a little higher up in the gully looking in the direction of the peak Pic4 - looking across SE ridge to the false summit (the actual summit is back out of sight)