Mt. Lindsey Trip Report 06/09/2010

Peak(s):	Mt. Lindsey - 14,055 feet
Date Posted:	06/09/2010
Date Climbed:	06/08/2010
Author:	B[3]

Watch out for the Huerfano
Each year I consider Mt. Lindsey (typically early in the season), and each year I decide that it's probably too early to do the river crossing. Then I do other peaks and forget about Lindsey until the next spring. This year, I decided to go for it. We drove up to Mt. Lindsey on Monday and parked at the Lily Lake trailhead. The road was alot better than we were expecting, and we found a nice campsite with beautiful views. Since we were unsure about the river crossing, we did some recon. The trail started out dry but soon became pretty wet, and we found sandals useful for the first ~1.5 miles. We checked out the river crossing around 4:30pm, which was fairly deep (knee-deep on my husband, who is 6'4). It was running pretty fast, but it seemed like it would be okay if we were careful. (We actually took this photo on our way back the next day. Ben crossed first and tried to take a picture of me crossing. He didn't get the camera out fast enough and I declined to pose in the river.) The next morning, the river crossing was easier than either time we did it in the afternoon. If you are worried about the crossing, I would suggest getting up and back early, when the river is lower. Up to the river crossing, the trail was fairly obvious. After we crossed the river, it became increasingly difficult to find. We lost it in some snow drifts and ended up going across the talus slopes. I don't recommend this way. Once we got to the ridge, we had the choice of the standard route, which appeared to be snow-covered, or the "3rd class ridge" variation. We like scrambling, so we decided to go up the ridge. On our way up, we found terrain we felt was more difficult than class three (red line), so on the way down the ridge, we tried a different way (green line). Some pictures while taking the ridge... Difficult to get perspective on the ridge. It was windy, and my hair kept blowing in my face. When we summited, we found we were not alone... This little guy was quite bold, and when it became evident we weren't going to feed him, he decided to take matters into his own hands (paws). He did try to bite Ben's shoe (we have a pretty funny video). Some summit shots: We took the ridge back down, and then tried to find the main trail. The trail went into and out of the snow, and it was pretty hard to follow. However, it was alot easier than the talus slopes we took on the way up. Blanca looked pretty spectacular. I may have to try it next... Blanca and Ellingwood Thanks for reading! Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Watch out for the Huerfano

Each year I consider Mt. Lindsey (typically early in the season), and each year I decide that it's probably too early to do the river crossing. Then I do other peaks and forget about Lindsey until the next spring. This year, I decided to go for it.

We drove up to Mt. Lindsey on Monday and parked at the Lily Lake trailhead. The road was alot better than we were expecting, and we found a nice campsite with beautiful views.

Since we were unsure about the river crossing, we did some recon. The trail started out dry but soon became pretty wet, and we found sandals useful for the first ~1.5 miles.

We checked out the river crossing around 4:30pm, which was fairly deep (knee-deep on my husband, who is 6'4). It was running pretty fast, but it seemed like it would be okay if we were careful.

(We actually took this photo on our way back the next day. Ben crossed first and tried to take a picture of me crossing. He didn't get the camera out fast enough and I declined to pose in the river.)

The next morning, the river crossing was easier than either time we did it in the afternoon. If you are worried about the crossing, I would suggest getting up and back early, when the river is lower.

Up to the river crossing, the trail was fairly obvious. After we crossed the river, it became increasingly difficult to find. We lost it in some snow drifts and ended up going across the talus slopes. I don't recommend this way.

Once we got to the ridge, we had the choice of the standard route, which appeared to be snow-covered, or the "3rd class ridge" variation. We like scrambling, so we decided to go up the ridge.

On our way up, we found terrain we felt was more difficult than class three (red line), so on the way down the ridge, we tried a different way (green line).

Some pictures while taking the ridge...

Difficult to get perspective on the ridge.

It was windy, and my hair kept blowing in my face.

When we summited, we found we were not alone...

This little guy was quite bold, and when it became evident we weren't going to feed him, he decided to take matters into his own hands (paws).

He did try to bite Ben's shoe (we have a pretty funny video).

Some summit shots:

We took the ridge back down, and then tried to find the main trail.

The trail went into and out of the snow, and it was pretty hard to follow. However, it was alot easier than the talus slopes we took on the way up.

Blanca looked pretty spectacular. I may have to try it next...

Thanks for reading!

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

slaggbottom	Great photo of the crux! 6/9/2010 7:19pm Thanks for posting this useful report. I‘ll have to remember to revisit it when I climb Lindsey in the future. That crux pic is very descriptive.
dmccool	Agreed 6/9/2010 7:39pm Great report - I‘ll also use this as a reference when i head down there. Thanks a million.
B[3]	Thanks for the comments! 6/9/2010 8:12pm In case you are considering doing Lindsey soon, I just wanted to provide a bit more info. Several people who summited the day before we did went up the ridge and down the standard 2+ route. They did NOT like the 2+ standard route and thought it was pretty dicey, due to the snow conditions. We liked the ridge and thought it was pretty solid, just alot of exposure.
BAUMGARA	Marmots 6/10/2010 12:33am Looks like the marmots haven‘t changed. The marmots on Lindsey are by far the most aggressive marmots I‘ve met.
gurlyclimber	Photos 6/10/2010 4:07pm Great crux photo. Thx for posting. My friend Amber and I crossed that creek in the middle of summer a couple of years ago. She‘s about 5‘2”. I‘m 5‘9”. Poor girl nearly floated away. I imagine it‘s much higher this time of year.
kickintalus	Thanks. Looks helpful. 6/12/2010 4:48pm I‘m headed down today and hopefully going to climb Lindsey tomorrow. Your report and the photos should be of great help in making it a successful trip. I‘m concerned about the river crossing. The rest looks pretty standard. Is there any way to cross farther up or down strean where it is shallower? Thanks for taking the time to share your experience.

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