I never saw another person on the mountain, Lindsey was all mine!
Ascent: NW ridge, Descent: dropped down onto the face at the Lindsey summit/false summit saddle. Then, a mixture of traversing west while descending on class 3 rock and down a random NW facing gully in between the north couloir and standard route.
It's not that bad all around if you are careful about route finding and foot/hand placement.
To find the easy way up the crux, go right up the gut, start climbing just below a large protruding knob on your left and then angle upwards and left over the knob in a small gully. Only a few class 4 moves and you're up and out. Class 3 from there to the top of the false summit.
Wear a helmet, esp in the gullies! I was the only person on the mountain and still took a dinger on the head on my descent in the gullies. Glad I had mine on. A great day in an especially beautiful area.
Man, what a stunning hike. Had great views of clouds pouring off the face of Blanca almost all day. I was only 1 of 3 who made it up there one day. One guy happened to work with a friend of mine.
Eric Holle - Jun 30, 2008 12:11 am Date Climbed: Jun 28, 2008
North Couloir
Kris and I climbed the North Couloir in great late season conditions. 1,600' of snow was well worth the extra effort to drop down from the saddle and traverse around to reach.
MountainHikerCO - Feb 20, 2008 10:17 pm Date Climbed: Sep 6, 1997
Critter
This was my second climb of Lindsey. We did the standard North Face with a bit of NW Ridge from Huerfano drainage. The night before a little critter (racoon?) worked hard trying to get in our cooler.
MountainHikerCO - Feb 20, 2008 10:15 pm Date Climbed: Jun 25, 1994
NW ridge, N Face
This was my first climb of Lindsey. We approached from the Huerfano drainage. We did a combination of North Face and NW Ridge to get to the top.
AltitudeSickness - Nov 26, 2007 11:50 pm Date Climbed: Aug 10, 2006
North Face Couloir
My son & did this fine mountain for his first 14er. My son, Spencer was 14 years of age and has wanted to climb for several years. He has been rock climbing for over five years but not ever been on a 14,000 foot mountain. I wanted to make sure he was prepared for this experience. We chose the North Face as our route. I was concerned for him, he used his rock climbing skills very well to meet the challenges we faced. We had a special experience being on the summit together. Seeing him meet this difficult experience with determination and courage made me very proud. Mt. Lindsay is a challenging climb, we enjoyed it very much.
spannring29 - Oct 21, 2007 12:07 pm Date Climbed: Jun 24, 2007
NW ridge
I headed over to Lindsey with some people I met the previous day on Culebra. We went up the NW ridge (fun) and came down the gully (brutal). A beautiful area with great views of the Blanca group.
got my feet wet in the river. I wonder if there were places where you could cross without that problem. Got a little antsy to get about treeline....got off route and up into the boulders too early. but overall it was a great day. Rain was threatening while coming down.
myrone - Aug 28, 2007 6:30 pm Date Climbed: Aug 25, 2007
NW ridge from Lily Lake TH
Started up at 5:10AM in the dark and headed up towards Blanca Peak before realizing I'd gone the wrong way. Anyway......corrected my wrong and summited at 11:30, back to the TH at 2:38PM, pretty peak with awesome wildlife and views. My 31st 14'er, sweet!!
jvoss - Aug 6, 2007 6:18 pm Date Climbed: Aug 2, 2007
North Face Route
Route finding at the top can be sketchy. Peak was covered in fog as we approached the summit and we ended up with a bit of a scramble. Toughest part of the day was the creek crossing which featured a dead doe up against the logs...
A friend and I hiked in about a mile from the TH and set up camp at a gorgeous spot near a little run down cabin to the right of the trail. Climbed the wall on the NW ridge, which was a good rush. We did get off course a bit prior to that and then had to do a few terrifying moves to navigate around to the wall. I recommend following the route description closer than we did. Great summit views, of course!
Climbed the NW Ridge. Climbed the slot closest to the ridge crest at the headwall, only thought 1 or 2 moves were class 4 and the rest was 3. The exposure on the knife edge was fun. Climbed early enough to get the summit to myself.
Climbed "NW Lindsey", "Huerfano" and Iron Nipple as well.
Ascended NW ridge route and tried to find a class 3 rte on the left side of the crux, big mistake. Ended up panicked and very "stuck" in a crevice. Had to back track and climb straight over the top of the crux, MUCH better.
Descended via the fairly crowded gully. Didn't find it to be as bad as all the stories. It is loose, but we were able to find quite a bit of planted rock on the sides. Glad we wore helmets.
That being said, I was glad we ascended the ridge, far more exhilerating! If you hate exposure and don't want to venture onto class 4 rock, then stick to the gully.
Saw a family with 3 girls (7, 9, and 11) in the gully. Although it was great that they were up there, I was saddened that none of them had helmets...I'm kicking myself for not saying something.
seth@LOKI - Jul 26, 2006 7:08 pm Date Climbed: May 27, 1999
Huerfano is cool
Very cool!
ktiffany22 - Jul 5, 2006 4:25 am Date Climbed: Jul 4, 2006
Hiking for Dummies 101
:-) It turned out to be a beautiful day to tag my 31st official 14er.... though you might think it was my first! We tried the class 3 ridge route, "freaked out" at the class 4 crux wall, tried traversing to the left of the wall and up.... and ended up going back down to the gully and climbing it (we "wasted 1.5 hours doing this). Bagged it though and had a blast!
roozers42 - Jun 25, 2006 5:02 pm Date Climbed: Jun 3, 2006
Route Climbed: NW Ridge (ascent) North Face (descent)
Went on to "Huerfanito" - windless, sunny, warm weather. Amazing!
Brad Snider - Jun 11, 2006 1:57 am Date Climbed: Jun 10, 2006
NW Ridge
Climbed NW Ridge, descended infamous scree gully (normal route). Not as bad as all the hype, but probably because there is still a fair amount of snow in it. Went on to summit Huerfano and the Iron Nipple. Windy!
Brian Kalet - May 22, 2006 3:09 pm Date Climbed: May 21, 2006
RMdaytripsgrl - Jul 31, 2008 10:59 pm Date Climbed: Jul 31, 2008
The Total Package!I never saw another person on the mountain, Lindsey was all mine!
Ascent: NW ridge, Descent: dropped down onto the face at the Lindsey summit/false summit saddle. Then, a mixture of traversing west while descending on class 3 rock and down a random NW facing gully in between the north couloir and standard route.
It's not that bad all around if you are careful about route finding and foot/hand placement.
To find the easy way up the crux, go right up the gut, start climbing just below a large protruding knob on your left and then angle upwards and left over the knob in a small gully. Only a few class 4 moves and you're up and out. Class 3 from there to the top of the false summit.
Wear a helmet, esp in the gullies! I was the only person on the mountain and still took a dinger on the head on my descent in the gullies. Glad I had mine on. A great day in an especially beautiful area.
taw6644 - Jul 31, 2008 10:44 pm Date Climbed: Jul 24, 2008
First One On topMan, what a stunning hike. Had great views of clouds pouring off the face of Blanca almost all day. I was only 1 of 3 who made it up there one day. One guy happened to work with a friend of mine.
Eric Holle - Jun 30, 2008 12:11 am Date Climbed: Jun 28, 2008
North CouloirKris and I climbed the North Couloir in great late season conditions. 1,600' of snow was well worth the extra effort to drop down from the saddle and traverse around to reach.
MountainHikerCO - Feb 20, 2008 10:17 pm Date Climbed: Sep 6, 1997
CritterThis was my second climb of Lindsey. We did the standard North Face with a bit of NW Ridge from Huerfano drainage. The night before a little critter (racoon?) worked hard trying to get in our cooler.
MountainHikerCO - Feb 20, 2008 10:15 pm Date Climbed: Jun 25, 1994
NW ridge, N FaceThis was my first climb of Lindsey. We approached from the Huerfano drainage. We did a combination of North Face and NW Ridge to get to the top.
AltitudeSickness - Nov 26, 2007 11:50 pm Date Climbed: Aug 10, 2006
North Face CouloirMy son & did this fine mountain for his first 14er. My son, Spencer was 14 years of age and has wanted to climb for several years. He has been rock climbing for over five years but not ever been on a 14,000 foot mountain. I wanted to make sure he was prepared for this experience. We chose the North Face as our route. I was concerned for him, he used his rock climbing skills very well to meet the challenges we faced. We had a special experience being on the summit together. Seeing him meet this difficult experience with determination and courage made me very proud. Mt. Lindsay is a challenging climb, we enjoyed it very much.
spannring29 - Oct 21, 2007 12:07 pm Date Climbed: Jun 24, 2007
NW ridgeI headed over to Lindsey with some people I met the previous day on Culebra. We went up the NW ridge (fun) and came down the gully (brutal). A beautiful area with great views of the Blanca group.
km_donovan - Sep 5, 2007 10:19 pm Date Climbed: Sep 5, 2007
North FaceSecond trip up, was my 3rd 14'er 7 years ago. Much better the second time around! Good weather and only one other climber.
dr_gonz - Sep 5, 2007 1:36 pm
prettygot my feet wet in the river. I wonder if there were places where you could cross without that problem. Got a little antsy to get about treeline....got off route and up into the boulders too early. but overall it was a great day. Rain was threatening while coming down.
myrone - Aug 28, 2007 6:30 pm Date Climbed: Aug 25, 2007
NW ridge from Lily Lake THStarted up at 5:10AM in the dark and headed up towards Blanca Peak before realizing I'd gone the wrong way. Anyway......corrected my wrong and summited at 11:30, back to the TH at 2:38PM, pretty peak with awesome wildlife and views. My 31st 14'er, sweet!!
jvoss - Aug 6, 2007 6:18 pm Date Climbed: Aug 2, 2007
North Face RouteRoute finding at the top can be sketchy. Peak was covered in fog as we approached the summit and we ended up with a bit of a scramble. Toughest part of the day was the creek crossing which featured a dead doe up against the logs...
apierce - Jul 2, 2007 6:29 pm Date Climbed: Jul 1, 2007
off route is scary!A friend and I hiked in about a mile from the TH and set up camp at a gorgeous spot near a little run down cabin to the right of the trail. Climbed the wall on the NW ridge, which was a good rush. We did get off course a bit prior to that and then had to do a few terrifying moves to navigate around to the wall. I recommend following the route description closer than we did. Great summit views, of course!
chicagotransplant - Jul 2, 2007 10:35 am Date Climbed: Jun 30, 2007
NW RidgeClimbed the NW Ridge. Climbed the slot closest to the ridge crest at the headwall, only thought 1 or 2 moves were class 4 and the rest was 3. The exposure on the knife edge was fun. Climbed early enough to get the summit to myself.
Climbed "NW Lindsey", "Huerfano" and Iron Nipple as well.
tjchino - Sep 11, 2006 7:55 pm Date Climbed: Jul 28, 2005
NW Ridgefun climb!
Natasha - Sep 5, 2006 10:11 pm Date Climbed: Sep 3, 2006
NW Ridge vs the GullyWeather: Ideal, Climbing partners: John and Sarah
Ascended NW ridge route and tried to find a class 3 rte on the left side of the crux, big mistake. Ended up panicked and very "stuck" in a crevice. Had to back track and climb straight over the top of the crux, MUCH better.
Descended via the fairly crowded gully. Didn't find it to be as bad as all the stories. It is loose, but we were able to find quite a bit of planted rock on the sides. Glad we wore helmets.
That being said, I was glad we ascended the ridge, far more exhilerating! If you hate exposure and don't want to venture onto class 4 rock, then stick to the gully.
Saw a family with 3 girls (7, 9, and 11) in the gully. Although it was great that they were up there, I was saddened that none of them had helmets...I'm kicking myself for not saying something.
seth@LOKI - Jul 26, 2006 7:08 pm Date Climbed: May 27, 1999
Huerfano is coolVery cool!
ktiffany22 - Jul 5, 2006 4:25 am Date Climbed: Jul 4, 2006
Hiking for Dummies 101:-) It turned out to be a beautiful day to tag my 31st official 14er.... though you might think it was my first! We tried the class 3 ridge route, "freaked out" at the class 4 crux wall, tried traversing to the left of the wall and up.... and ended up going back down to the gully and climbing it (we "wasted 1.5 hours doing this). Bagged it though and had a blast!
roozers42 - Jun 25, 2006 5:02 pm Date Climbed: Jun 3, 2006
Route Climbed: NW Ridge (ascent) North Face (descent)Went on to "Huerfanito" - windless, sunny, warm weather. Amazing!
Brad Snider - Jun 11, 2006 1:57 am Date Climbed: Jun 10, 2006
NW RidgeClimbed NW Ridge, descended infamous scree gully (normal route). Not as bad as all the hype, but probably because there is still a fair amount of snow in it. Went on to summit Huerfano and the Iron Nipple. Windy!
Brian Kalet - May 22, 2006 3:09 pm Date Climbed: May 21, 2006
Summit Ski DescentTrip Report