Mt. Lincoln Trip Report 06/03/2017

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Mt. Lincoln - 14,293 feet
Date Posted	06/03/2017
Date Climbed	05/31/2017
Author	jmanner

Skiing the Russian
5.5 miles Total Round Trip 3 hours 30 minutes to summit. 5 hours 55 minutes total time. Vertical gain: ~3,700 feet For a little while now, I've been working on skiing the 14ers in the three (four) mountain ranges nearest to Denver and with that in mind I've been eying a ski of the mined out bulk that is Mount Lincoln. Last year a friend and myself attempted to link up a ski of Lincoln with Mt. Cameron and Mt. Bross, but we were not able to get a continuous ski line from the summit of Lincoln to Cameron Amphitheater. So, this year when we had the two to four foot dump of spring snow I hoped that the Russian would be in and planned a Wednesday ski day.Fortunately, my friend Louis was willing and able to join me. Luckily, 14ers.com member cheapcigarman was nice enough to send me a photo of Lincoln from S. Bross, which made me hopeful we could ski the entire line from the summit. Lacking clear knowledge of what the Quartsville TH was like and not wanting to deal with angry property owners, we opted to start from the Montgomery Reservoir TH. I met Louis at the Montgomery reservoir trailhead at 6 am and after some bathroom breaks we were moving at 6:50 AM. We opted to start out with our skis on our backs and crampons on since the incline up to and around Lincoln Falls was so close and the snow as still frozen. Interesting crossing with crampons on Louis had climbed the ice falls a few times, so he had a good grasp of the area and he took the lead. The climb up to the ice falls was relatively straightforward, a quick climb up the fall line until just below the cliffs and then climber's left, then another short steep climb up ~50-55 degree snow to the rock glacier in Lincoln Amphitheater. The snow was steep enough, and frozen enough, that we both went on all fours and used our whippets to climb up the incline. Easy start Steeper than it looks Screenshot of one of the shallow sections near the Lincoln Falls Once above the ice falls we strapped the skis on and we were able to tour up onto the glacier. The snow was mostly continuous, except two notable sections of talus, which Louis shamed me into skinning over. We took a leisurely time touring up,, we figured with the late spring sun the south facing Russian would need some time to soften up, especially since last June it had been bulletproof at around 9 AM. As we approached the headwall, all Louis could talk about was these two steep, dirty looking couloirs at the base of Lincoln's northeast ridge (the Diamond Couloir (?)). âWe should ski that,â He repeatedly said. I kept telling him that they were narrow, exposed, protected by a nasty looking cornice and on top of that had dirt covered snow. Luckily, e didn't press the issue. Later on Louis said he say a human head sized rock bouncing down the middle of the steepest one. Oh yea, that would have been fun. Easy touring in the Lincoln Amphitheater At the end of amphitheater we were able to tour straight up onto the mountain proper, even with the still fairly hard snow. From there it was about a thousand feet of typical grinding tour. Louis touring below the summit After about an hour of this, I pulled up on the summit and popped the skis off and went over to the top of Russian couloir to check out if it had softened up and give the wife a call, since we hadn't signal until this point. At the entrance, I noticed that it had fairly steep entrance that measure at around 60 degrees (according to my iPhone's inclinometer). Luckily, the sun was starting to warm up the snow up and it wasn't a bulletproof sheet of death. Louis touring up to the summit; picture taken from the summit. At around this time (10:25), Louis showed up on the summit and we chatted about the conditions. John making a phone call. Credit: Louis Both of us agreed that the NW face didn't appear to go from the summit and that the Russian appeared to go all the way to the bottom. Which made a decision on decent easy to make. At around 10:40 we hiked around to the top of the couloir and Louis was kind of enough to take the first crack at the entrance. Nice reference for how steep the entrance is currently. Louis thinking about how he is going to enter the hard snow. Lou easing his way in. Louis went in facing skiers left and side stepped over the steepest section, Eagle Scout honor, the snow was greater than 60 degrees, and scrapped his way into the shadow of Lincoln's summit. He eventually was able to jump turn around to face right and then skied out the bottom, of the top of the couloir. SEEEEESHICH!!!!(as in the sound skis make sliding across steep snow) Screen shot from my phone of the rollover into the couloir. In case you don't believe me. Skiing out on softer snow It was my turn now. Seeing how frozen it was on skiers left, I opted to enter facing skiers right and used my whippet as a self-belay for the first four or five feet. Knowing that there is fair amount of judgment from my ski mountaineering brethren, I opted to actually ski from this point, down and to the right, onto some nice soft snow. I attempted to measure the slope angle again, but it was too bright to see my phone and hanging around in 50-59 terrain dicking with my phone probably isn't the smartest thing. From here I got some nice carves in the soft snow and met Louis at the bottom. At the meeting point, we both took turns skiing the face back down into the couloir, which required a fun little straight line ski between some rocks and met up on a hunk of talus. Spring turns at 14,000 feet. Lou making his way into the lower part of the couloir. John skiing the through the narrowest section. Credit: Louis Credit: Louis From here we both pirouette around and skied, skiers right, off the talus and down through a chock to just above the couloir exit. Entrance to the couloir exit The exit onto the apron. From here we found a great ski out and we both bombed down into Cameron Amphitheater where we discussed whether to climb back up Lincoln's east ridge to ski our ascent route back down or try to traverse around the east ridge back to below the Lincoln Falls. John skiing out. Credit: Louis The route from the Camron Amphitheater We skied down the valley a little ways and I convinced Louis that maybe we should hike back up Lincoln a few hundred feet instead of taking a chance with bushwhacking through the trees. So, we popped the sticks off and shoulder them for a quick trundle through the tundra up to the old mining road. Once on the road, it was pretty easy to make progress up the hill. Interesting enough, once on the ridge, the clouds that had moved in earlier to grapple, snow, and blow fairly hard, which made for a nice reminder that above tree line that the weather can turn winter-like fairly quickly. However, it only snow/grappled for about ten or fifteen minutes and then just as quickly as it moved in, the snow and wind stopped and it was just cloudy again. Louis hiking up the mine road. Looking northeast at North Star. Louis hiking in a squall. After about 450 feet of hiking we found a good spot next to an old mine and we clicked back into our skis and traverse back into the Lincoln Amphitheater. From there it was a fun corn filled ski back to the rock glacier. Skiing in the Lincoln Amphitheater It only took a moment to get the brief interruption in the snow encountered on the way. From here, Louis thought he had spotted a line of snow which would allow us to skip the narrow, steep section, next to the ice falls. To our great surprise, when we skied over to there, we found not a line of snow, but a 100 foot cliff! Opps! 'This line does not go...' So we side stepped up the rapidly softening snow and the skied back over to the ascent route and we took turns skiing the three hundred or so feet down. Sidestepping out of there. We almost skied over that. The snow was pretty crazy, as mentioned before it measured 50-55 degrees, and it was warm enough that the snow had lost cohesion, so every time you'd turn you'd kick off 6 inches or more of the snow and frequently slide sideways down with not much control. Truly the only way to turn was the good ole jump turn. The finish was particularly interesting since, you would kick off these big trains of slough and then they would disappear! âWhere did all that mess go?â âWhat was Louis yelling about a waterfall?â âOh, the six foot high vertical water fall, over a cliff at the left turn out of the fall line. âOh, that's where all that snow was goingâ¦â Anyway, once we turned out of thatinteresting descent, we traverse skier's left and then found great spring turns back into the trees and skied within 50 feet of the cars! Louis skiing next to Lincoln Falls. Mid-50 degree snow with the Montgomery glacier below. It was quite a day and definitely an interesting finish to a ski like that, you don't normally find the challenging part of the ski a few vertical feet from the trailhead. What a cool route, you could easily lap the Russian from the Quartsville Trailhead in under three hours or add a half hour more and ski it from the Montgomery Reservoir trailhead and get an exciting start and finish to the day. Definitely, a very cool ski with a great partner in a season filled with great lines skied and great partners! My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload): Login required to view this map... Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Skiing the Russian

5.5 miles Total Round Trip
3 hours 30 minutes to summit.
5 hours 55 minutes total time.
Vertical gain: ~3,700 feet

For a little while now, I've been working on skiing the 14ers in the three (four) mountain ranges nearest to Denver and with that in mind I've been eying a ski of the mined out bulk that is Mount Lincoln. Last year a friend and myself attempted to link up a ski of Lincoln with Mt. Cameron and Mt. Bross, but we were not able to get a continuous ski line from the summit of Lincoln to Cameron Amphitheater. So, this year when we had the two to four foot dump of spring snow I hoped that the Russian would be in and planned a Wednesday ski day.Fortunately, my friend Louis was willing and able to join me. Luckily, 14ers.com member cheapcigarman was nice enough to send me a photo of Lincoln from S. Bross, which made me hopeful we could ski the entire line from the summit. Lacking clear knowledge of what the Quartsville TH was like and not wanting to deal with angry property owners, we opted to start from the Montgomery Reservoir TH.

I met Louis at the Montgomery reservoir trailhead at 6 am and after some bathroom breaks we were moving at 6:50 AM. We opted to start out with our skis on our backs and crampons on since the incline up to and around Lincoln Falls was so close and the snow as still frozen.

Louis had climbed the ice falls a few times, so he had a good grasp of the area and he took the lead. The climb up to the ice falls was relatively straightforward, a quick climb up the fall line until just below the cliffs and then climber's left, then another short steep climb up ~50-55 degree snow to the rock glacier in Lincoln Amphitheater. The snow was steep enough, and frozen enough, that we both went on all fours and used our whippets to climb up the incline.

Screenshot of one of the shallow sections near the Lincoln Falls

Once above the ice falls we strapped the skis on and we were able to tour up onto the glacier. The snow was mostly continuous, except two notable sections of talus, which Louis shamed me into skinning over.
We took a leisurely time touring up,, we figured with the late spring sun the south facing Russian would need some time to soften up, especially since last June it had been bulletproof at around 9 AM.
As we approached the headwall, all Louis could talk about was these two steep, dirty looking couloirs at the base of Lincoln's northeast ridge (the Diamond Couloir (?)). âWe should ski that,â He repeatedly said. I kept telling him that they were narrow, exposed, protected by a nasty looking cornice and on top of that had dirt covered snow. Luckily, e didn't press the issue. Later on Louis said he say a human head sized rock bouncing down the middle of the steepest one. Oh yea, that would have been fun.

Easy touring in the Lincoln Amphitheater

At the end of amphitheater we were able to tour straight up onto the mountain proper, even with the still fairly hard snow. From there it was about a thousand feet of typical grinding tour.

After about an hour of this, I pulled up on the summit and popped the skis off and went over to the top of Russian couloir to check out if it had softened up and give the wife a call, since we hadn't signal until this point. At the entrance, I noticed that it had fairly steep entrance that measure at around 60 degrees (according to my iPhone's inclinometer). Luckily, the sun was starting to warm up the snow up and it wasn't a bulletproof sheet of death.

Louis touring up to the summit; picture taken from the summit.

At around this time (10:25), Louis showed up on the summit and we chatted about the conditions.

Both of us agreed that the NW face didn't appear to go from the summit and that the Russian appeared to go all the way to the bottom. Which made a decision on decent easy to make. At around 10:40 we hiked around to the top of the couloir and Louis was kind of enough to take the first crack at the entrance.

Nice reference for how steep the entrance is currently.

Louis thinking about how he is going to enter the hard snow.

Louis went in facing skiers left and side stepped over the steepest section, Eagle Scout honor, the snow was greater than 60 degrees, and scrapped his way into the shadow of Lincoln's summit. He eventually was able to jump turn around to face right and then skied out the bottom, of the top of the couloir.

SEEEEESHICH!!!!(as in the sound skis make sliding across steep snow)

Screen shot from my phone of the rollover into the couloir. In case you don't believe me.

It was my turn now. Seeing how frozen it was on skiers left, I opted to enter facing skiers right and used my whippet as a self-belay for the first four or five feet. Knowing that there is fair amount of judgment from my ski mountaineering brethren, I opted to actually ski from this point, down and to the right, onto some nice soft snow. I attempted to measure the slope angle again, but it was too bright to see my phone and hanging around in 50-59 terrain dicking with my phone probably isn't the smartest thing. From here I got some nice carves in the soft snow and met Louis at the bottom.

At the meeting point, we both took turns skiing the face back down into the couloir, which required a fun little straight line ski between some rocks and met up on a hunk of talus.

Lou making his way into the lower part of the couloir.

John skiing the through the narrowest section. Credit: Louis

From here we both pirouette around and skied, skiers right, off the talus and down through a chock to just above the couloir exit.

From here we found a great ski out and we both bombed down into Cameron Amphitheater where we discussed whether to climb back up Lincoln's east ridge to ski our ascent route back down or try to traverse around the east ridge back to below the Lincoln Falls.

We skied down the valley a little ways and I convinced Louis that maybe we should hike back up Lincoln a few hundred feet instead of taking a chance with bushwhacking through the trees. So, we popped the sticks off and shoulder them for a quick trundle through the tundra up to the old mining road. Once on the road, it was pretty easy to make progress up the hill. Interesting enough, once on the ridge, the clouds that had moved in earlier to grapple, snow, and blow fairly hard, which made for a nice reminder that above tree line that the weather can turn winter-like fairly quickly. However, it only snow/grappled for about ten or fifteen minutes and then just as quickly as it moved in, the snow and wind stopped and it was just cloudy again.

After about 450 feet of hiking we found a good spot next to an old mine and we clicked back into our skis and traverse back into the Lincoln Amphitheater. From there it was a fun corn filled ski back to the rock glacier.

It only took a moment to get the brief interruption in the snow encountered on the way. From here, Louis thought he had spotted a line of snow which would allow us to skip the narrow, steep section, next to the ice falls. To our great surprise, when we skied over to there, we found not a line of snow, but a 100 foot cliff! Opps!

So we side stepped up the rapidly softening snow and the skied back over to the ascent route and we took turns skiing the three hundred or so feet down.

The snow was pretty crazy, as mentioned before it measured 50-55 degrees, and it was warm enough that the snow had lost cohesion, so every time you'd turn you'd kick off 6 inches or more of the snow and frequently slide sideways down with not much control. Truly the only way to turn was the good ole jump turn. The finish was particularly interesting since, you would kick off these big trains of slough and then they would disappear! âWhere did all that mess go?â âWhat was Louis yelling about a waterfall?â âOh, the six foot high vertical water fall, over a cliff at the left turn out of the fall line. âOh, that's where all that snow was goingâ¦â Anyway, once we turned out of thatinteresting descent, we traverse skier's left and then found great spring turns back into the trees and skied within 50 feet of the cars!

Mid-50 degree snow with the Montgomery glacier below.

It was quite a day and definitely an interesting finish to a ski like that, you don't normally find the challenging part of the ski a few vertical feet from the trailhead. What a cool route, you could easily lap the Russian from the Quartsville Trailhead in under three hours or add a half hour more and ski it from the Montgomery Reservoir trailhead and get an exciting start and finish to the day.

Definitely, a very cool ski with a great partner in a season filled with great lines skied and great partners!

My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

mojah	Sweet line... 6/3/2017 1:22pm ...on an otherwise unimpressive mountain. Lines always feel a lot steeper when you're actually in them
BillMiddlebrook	Great job 6/3/2017 2:28pm I'm pretty sure the steepest part of the slope below the falls isn't much more than 43 degrees. Maybe your phone is broken! Did you put it on a ski pole, so it would get a good representation of the surface? And if you liked the pitch on the Russian, you might like the cabin chutes, which are quite a bit steeper and more-sustained. Great job getting it with good conditions!
jmanner	It's steep yo! 6/3/2017 3:06pm Bill: I don't know Bill I am pretty sure its like vertical. You could be right about the falls... I did lay it across my pole. It could be my iPhone 6 is just showing its age or I didn't calibrate it fully. I'll have to check the chutes next spring. I am sorry you were on puppy duty and couldn't join us! Mojah: Lincoln isn't much to look at, but it strangly hides some very interesting skiing potential...right next to dozens of mine roads.
Jay521	Nice, John 6/5/2017 9:05am Seeing reports like this makes me wish I'd learned how to ski way back when.....

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