Mount Lindsey

Date to Climb: July 24, 2009

Date Climbed: July 14, 2009

Elevation: 14,042

Range: Sangre de Cristo

Latitude: 37.58380, Longitude: -105.44480

Route: North Face ll, Class 2+

Pre-Climb Comments

Lindsey is a hard class 2. Looks like a fun climb. The approach calls for multiple creek crossings, hopefully we can keep our feet dry. The climb climbs a scree chute, which we are not looking forward to climbing.

Post-Climb Comments

Leaving Alamosa after climbing Little Bear, we traveled east to Gardner. We did not find the turn off that would have shortcut our route to the trailhead so instead we drove to Walensburg and then back to Gardner. It was a LONG drive.

Robin, driving a little Kia rental, followed us all the way to the Lily Lake trailhead. She drove over bumps and ruts, through water holes and creek crossings, and up steep hills, finally making the trailhead.

At dark we prepared for the night and for Lindsey. We decided to wake naturally at dawn and start hiking as soon as possible.

Jake was not moving very well, so he was going to have to stay in the car. His sad eyes said goodbye to us as we left at 6.

The trail was fairly easy for the first mile or so and then abruptly went uphill to clear tree line in a lush upper basin. Once there, we saw a couple of folks from Denver with whom we would climb on most of the way to the summit.

From the meadow we crossed over to a ridge that led us up to an intersecting saddle. The whole area was magnificent and, finally, we saw Mount Lindsey. One more traverse and we finally could see the chute we were going to climb. At a saddle at 13,200, we met a couple more climbers from Vail. Now there were seven of us as we made our way to the summit.

We had read the warnings of how loose and nasty the rock in the chute was, but soon were scrambling up the rock on the right side. The rock to the side was solid enough that we could move quickly. At the top of the chute we purposely got off route and climbed a hundred foot wall to the south to join the NW Ridge route. Fun scrambling led us to the summit and a marmot guarding the register.

On the descent we split so that I could more quickly to return to Jake and Amy could return with Robin at a more leisurely pace. Back at the trailhead at 12, I found a happy dog who peed plentifully and then hopped gingerly back into the car. I sat outside and planned for the next few days until Amy and Robin returned.

We left the trailhead and drove to Westcliffe to meet Ray and Monica.

Lindsey was one of our favorite hikes so far. It was not as bad as predicted and we found the overall experience almost equal to Handies.