Mt. Lindsey Trip Report 07/13/2008

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Mt. Lindsey - 14,055 feet
Date Posted	07/13/2008
Modified	07/14/2008
Date Climbed	07/13/2008
Author	14ergirl

Shots in Huefano Valley!!!- Lindsay- close, but not quite!
So CRAZY night in Huerfano Valley!!! My husband and I had prior plans on Sat night and didn't leave Denver until 7pm to drive down to the "Orpahned Boy" Valley. We decided we would just camp out in the car -Tahoe, much easier and more comfy for us. As we drove up the road we found a pull off just below the TH and we're getting ready for bed. Just as I had jumped in the backseat to start getting stuff ready we hear a loud noise that I said was a gun shot and my husband says, "just fireworks", to make me feel better. At that very moment these 2 guys start walking towards the car with their flashlights. They ask if we need anything several times. Christian says we were fine and then they said "who's we". Christian says "me and my wife". Then they said they just wanted to let you know that they were f***ing crazy! And then proceeded to pull out and shoot a pistol in the air 2 times. We asked them to stop and they said it keeps the bears away and shot it again. I told them they were scaring me and they finally walked away. They said we could come down and have beer with them, but we obviously turned them down and once they left I told my husband to get the hell out of there. We went back down about 6-8 miles back past the ranch and got a little bit of sleep. We tried to get up early but once shooken up the night before by a gun it is really hard to get up to the alarm!!! Anyway we started the hike at 7am. We headed up the hill and tried to follow Bill's route, but once we saw the Boulder Field we must have been magnatized to it. We started heading straight up along side the Boulder Field. We even saw another couple doing the same thing behind us. They ended up passing us and eventually getting back on track and we kept going up until we realized we were way off track! DON"T GO THIS WAY!!! Anyway we finally found the trail and got over to it, but had wasted so much time doing it. We headed up Bill's route the rest of the way and found a beautiful trail all the way up to the saddle between Iron Nipple and Lindsay. We looked at Linsay and with our rule of "off the top by 12 noon", we decided we weren't going to make it. It was 11 so we decided to go as far as we could and turn around at noon. That left us to climb up into the gully. We made it to the top of the gully and thought we had about 300 vertical feet left to climb. Seeing the storm clouds starting to build, we figured our rule was one to live by on this day. Here are photos of our day. View over to Blanca View of Lindsay's tip top peak from the Basin Lindsay view of the gully with the snowfield Where we turned around for the sake of not wanting to get caught in a storm with lots of sketchy down climbing to do. This is Christian (Holy Schist) with the rest of Lindsay above him an even better shot looking back down on what we had come up Coming down! Looking back up the gully at what we had come down What we climbed on- fun, little loose, but fun! View from the basin looking towards Blanca Me and hubby Snowfield to play in!! I can't wait to go back, take the correct trail and make it to the summit by 9:30 am and enjoy the day while on top of a gorgeous peak. The views of Blanca are amazing!!!! Notes on the class 2plus: I love climbing. If you enjoy rock climbing or climbing in the gym, this is an awesome climb through the gully and even though we didn't finish it, we hear that the rest of the climb is much like the gully. The gully on Lindsay's north face is very loose, but if you stay to the right of the snow field and do a zigzag movement through the rocks you will find the climb on Lindsay's North Face very fun, challenging, and rewarding. I had a little bit more trouble coming down. I had to sit a lot on my butt since the rocks were so loose and I know that isn''t recommended, but I felt safre that way. I also always looked for hand holds on the loose stuff in case my feet slip. Either way it is a fun and challenging climb. I can't wait to go back and do the whole thing/

Shots in Huefano Valley!!!- Lindsay- close, but not quite!

So CRAZY night in Huerfano Valley!!! My husband and I had prior plans on Sat night and didn't leave Denver until 7pm to drive down to the "Orpahned Boy" Valley. We decided we would just camp out in the car -Tahoe, much easier and more comfy for us. As we drove up the road we found a pull off just below the TH and we're getting ready for bed. Just as I had jumped in the backseat to start getting stuff ready we hear a loud noise that I said was a gun shot and my husband says, "just fireworks", to make me feel better. At that very moment these 2 guys start walking towards the car with their flashlights. They ask if we need anything several times. Christian says we were fine and then they said "who's we". Christian says "me and my wife". Then they said they just wanted to let you know that they were f***ing crazy! And then proceeded to pull out and shoot a pistol in the air 2 times. We asked them to stop and they said it keeps the bears away and shot it again. I told them they were scaring me and they finally walked away. They said we could come down and have beer with them, but we obviously turned them down and once they left I told my husband to get the hell out of there. We went back down about 6-8 miles back past the ranch and got a little bit of sleep. We tried to get up early but once shooken up the night before by a gun it is really hard to get up to the alarm!!! Anyway we started the hike at 7am.

We headed up the hill and tried to follow Bill's route, but once we saw the Boulder Field we must have been magnatized to it. We started heading straight up along side the Boulder Field. We even saw another couple doing the same thing behind us. They ended up passing us and eventually getting back on track and we kept going up until we realized we were way off track!

DON"T GO THIS WAY!!!

Anyway we finally found the trail and got over to it, but had wasted so much time doing it.

We headed up Bill's route the rest of the way and found a beautiful trail all the way up to the saddle between Iron Nipple and Lindsay. We looked at Linsay and with our rule of "off the top by 12 noon", we decided we weren't going to make it. It was 11 so we decided to go as far as we could and turn around at noon. That left us to climb up into the gully. We made it to the top of the gully and thought we had about 300 vertical feet left to climb. Seeing the storm clouds starting to build, we figured our rule was one to live by on this day. Here are photos of our day.

View over to Blanca

View of Lindsay's tip top peak from the Basin

Lindsay

view of the gully with the snowfield

Where we turned around for the sake of not wanting to get caught in a storm with lots of sketchy down climbing to do. This is Christian (Holy Schist) with the rest of Lindsay above him

an even better shot

looking back down on what we had come up

Coming down!

Looking back up the gully at what we had come down

What we climbed on- fun, little loose, but fun!

View from the basin looking towards Blanca

Me and hubby

Snowfield to play in!!

I can't wait to go back, take the correct trail and make it to the summit by 9:30 am and enjoy the day while on top of a gorgeous peak. The views of Blanca are amazing!!!!

Notes on the class 2plus:
I love climbing. If you enjoy rock climbing or climbing in the gym, this is an awesome climb through the gully and even though we didn't finish it, we hear that the rest of the climb is much like the gully. The gully on Lindsay's north face is very loose, but if you stay to the right of the snow field and do a zigzag movement through the rocks you will find the climb on Lindsay's North Face very fun, challenging, and rewarding. I had a little bit more trouble coming down. I had to sit a lot on my butt since the rocks were so loose and I know that isn''t recommended, but I felt safre that way. I also always looked for hand holds on the loose stuff in case my feet slip.

Either way it is a fun and challenging climb. I can't wait to go back and do the whole thing/

Comments or Questions

gatorchick	I already told you this but ... 7/14/2008 5:34am ... that would have SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME!!! Can I tag along when you go back to do it again? :)
Badgernick	Guns and Alcohol don‘t mix! 7/14/2008 4:09pm I saw the two of you just before the saddle with the group of 4 I joined up with to summit. Driving out at about 1, I was surprised to see no sign of that group. I would have expected them to have just been waking from their slumber of beer and Jagger! I did think they were shooting at me on the way to the trailhead at about 10:30 the night before, so I was glad to not see them on the way out!
14ergirl	The whole thing was freakin‘ scary!! 7/14/2008 5:25pm I can‘t believe they were gone either, we heard their guns go off again at 8:30 when we were traversing that awful boulder field, how in the world they were able to get up after that is beyond me. I wish I could have gotten their license plates to have reported them. It was all just NOT RIGHT!!! Glad you summitted, can‘t wait to do it again- the gully was fun!
JDesB	Whoa! 7/15/2008 12:51am That was an insane story! My wife and I hiked it the day before you two, and I think we took the exact same trail up the boulder field, we set up a carin on our way down trying to direct the correct path, but maybe that sad little trail needs many carins. We even lost the trail later near the creek crossing! Oh well, very fun hike nonetheless! :D
JDesB	. 7/15/2008 12:54am .
Merlin	Call the police 7/15/2008 3:41am This is felonious and reprehensible. You nor anyone should not tolerate this. Threatening people with a firearm is a felony and these people deserve prison time. The whole incident sickens me. You do not fire a gun in someone‘s presence and say that you are crazy. Call the police. I‘ve encountered weirdness there before and if the situation has come to this then the law needs to be involved.
bckcntryskr	serious offense 7/15/2008 4:23am Police would have arrested them on the spot. We should not have to put up with the toxic mix of idiots, alcohol and guns. Glad to hear that you moved and still put together a great trip, with a little more ”color” than desired.. Great job
gurlyclimber	A holes 7/15/2008 2:09pm Wow guys. Sorry that happened to you. Good for you for sticking to your guns (no pun intended) an staying around to hike. Your next esperience will be better. Tracy from Panic
cftbq	Know how you feel... 7/16/2008 7:03pm ...Not about the gun incident, but about the aborted climb. We tried the ridge route in late May, and also turned around a few hundred feet short of the summit simply for lack of time. And thanks for gully photos: that‘s probably what we‘ll try when we go back (can‘t happen too soon for my taste...). Email or PM is you‘re interested in getting together for this. (We climb on Tue-Wed-Thu this summer.)
JoeChambers	Was there...and very scared 7/19/2008 3:14pm I just got back from a week-long climbing trip in CO that started with Lindsey. The Saturday night gun shots pretty much put a damper on our whole week. Very scary. We camped near the Lilly Lake TH. Around 11pm when we were in our tents trying to sleep, one of the culprits drove their ATV up where we were camping, parked about 20 feet away, then shot what sounded like a 44. I can‘t remember the last time I‘ve been that scared. No cell service, about 30-40 mins to a paved road, and the only way out was to drive right by their camp. We did nothing and basically left our fate up to prayer and luck. I didn‘t fall asleep until 2am. We called the sheriff a few days later to report the incident, but there wasn‘t much to report as we didn‘t get any of their information. To make matters worse, a few nights later, near Mt. Princeton, we were back in our tents trying to sleep around 11pm and heard two close range gun shots again. WTF!!!
14ergirl	WOW!! 7/23/2008 6:47pm Honestly nothing against southern Colorado or Pueblo, but I guess I am not terribly suprised that happened down there in Huerfano Valley, but Princeton?????? Wow, did you have a bad experience! I have been camping all over Colorado for the last 8 years and never have I dealt with this kind of thing. They need more patrols in these campsite areas!!!
tmathews	Contact mattpayne11 8/17/2009 3:49pm mattpayne11 was in the valley and may have experienced the same rowdies that you did. He has filed a report and got a picture of the vehicle and license. You may be able to corroborate your reports.
14ergirl	tmathews 8/17/2009 10:31pm this happened last year, is that what you are referring to?
12ersRule	Didn‘t hear the shots 7/29/2013 6:29pm Heard about them though. Glad I missed out on that! I agree that the trail was hard to find near the boulderfield! Our group ascended the ridge and descended the gully. For me, the ridge was more enjoyable. Good report, thanks!
76dorihe	2A 8/1/2020 6:27pm Guns belong in The Militias' Arsenal, not in the hands of unenlisted, non-serving civilians.

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