Mt. Lincoln Trip Report 06/08/2009

Peak(s):	Mt. Lincoln - 14,293 feet Mt. Bross - 14,178 feet Mt. Cameron - 14,248 feet
Date Posted:	06/08/2009
Date Climbed:	06/07/2009
Author:	LIV

My window of sun -- Lincoln/Bross
At 5:15 a.m. on Sunday, June 7, 2009, E, Kirk, Len, Brian, Lonnie and I set out for Kite Lake. The road to the Lake was completely clear of snow, but there was a sizeable snow drift the last 100 or so feet to the restrooms. Len and Brian went through the drift with their Jeep Wrangler, and I decided to try it with my Pathfinder and made it through with no problems. We were, however, the only cars that attempted to go through the snow bank (everyone else stopped and parked right before it). We started hiking around 7:30 a.m. I decided to do Lincoln and Bross because Lonnie and I had done Democrat (his second fourteener) when he was 5 years old. The others in the party didn't express a strong preference to do all three, and since we knew the weather on Sunday wasn't supposed to be great, they just followed my lead on the direction (thanks guys for indulging our need to "bag" the other two). We decided not to stay on the trail toward Democrat but just go straight up the snow slope to the saddle between Democrat and Cameron. Looking up snow slope to the saddle between Democrat and Cameron. Toward the steeper portion, the snow became very hard and it was difficult to get purchase with boots. Nonetheless, we gained the saddle in about an hour and 15 minutes and turned toward Cameron. The wind was howling, but it was still a reasonably clear day. Image #4 (not yet uploaded) Cameron had some pretty huge cornices because of the amount of snow and the wind. By the time we reached the summit of Cameron however, the clouds were coming in. Looking back at Democrat from summit of Cameron. Snow on Cameron. We set off for Lincoln. It was not at all difficult hiking, but the wind was blowing so hard, it almost blew Lonnie off the mountain at times. Lonnie and E with Lincoln in the Background. Once we made the summit of Lincoln, we decided not to stay but to continue on to Bross since the weather was getting worse. We took a few photos and practically ran off that mountain. Lincoln's summit marker. Len and Brian on the summit of Lincoln with Quandary in background. Once down off Lincoln, we had a nice trek over to the summit of Bross (all on hard snow with very little postholing although there was quite a bit of snow on these summits!) We had a quick bite to eat at the top of Bross, but since the clouds were looking ominous decided to call it a day and get down Bross. Lonnie on top of Bross. Check out the storms behind Democrat. Close-up of Grays and Torreys from the summit of Bross. We started down the trail (knew this because sign said "stay on the trail" but the snow slope became so steep, we decided to traverse back into a gully. Earlier on E and I had decided the gully would not be that safe if it warmed up because of soft slab avalanches, but the day had stayed reasonably cold, and the snow was frozen pretty hard on that side of the mountain we decided to attempt glissading down the gully. It proved to be one of the most fun, amazing and longest glissade ever down to our cars at the lake. We were down in nearly 20 minutes!! One of Lonnie's staged glissades after the big one. It was just in time because as we finally got in our cars around 12:30 or so, it started hailing. This was Lonnie's 14th fourteener and it was Len's 41st fourteener. The rest of us are somewhere in between those figures. It's always a good summit day when you make it up, down and back from the trip with no injuries but frozen and sore butts from glissading! Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

My window of sun -- Lincoln/Bross

At 5:15 a.m. on Sunday, June 7, 2009, E, Kirk, Len, Brian, Lonnie and I set out for Kite Lake. The road to the Lake was completely clear of snow, but there was a sizeable snow drift the last 100 or so feet to the restrooms. Len and Brian went through the drift with their Jeep Wrangler, and I decided to try it with my Pathfinder and made it through with no problems. We were, however, the only cars that attempted to go through the snow bank (everyone else stopped and parked right before it). We started hiking around 7:30 a.m.

I decided to do Lincoln and Bross because Lonnie and I had done Democrat (his second fourteener) when he was 5 years old. The others in the party didn't express a strong preference to do all three, and since we knew the weather on Sunday wasn't supposed to be great, they just followed my lead on the direction (thanks guys for indulging our need to "bag" the other two).

We decided not to stay on the trail toward Democrat but just go straight up the snow slope to the saddle between Democrat and Cameron.

Looking up snow slope to the saddle between Democrat and Cameron.

Toward the steeper portion, the snow became very hard and it was difficult to get purchase with boots. Nonetheless, we gained the saddle in about an hour and 15 minutes and turned toward Cameron. The wind was howling, but it was still a reasonably clear day.

Image #4 (not uploaded yet) — Image #4 (not yet uploaded)

Cameron had some pretty huge cornices because of the amount of snow and the wind.

By the time we reached the summit of Cameron however, the clouds were coming in.

Looking back at Democrat from summit of Cameron.

Snow on Cameron.

We set off for Lincoln. It was not at all difficult hiking, but the wind was blowing so hard, it almost blew Lonnie off the mountain at times.
Lonnie and E with Lincoln in the Background.

Once we made the summit of Lincoln, we decided not to stay but to continue on to Bross since the weather was getting worse. We took a few photos and practically ran off that mountain.

Lincoln's summit marker.

Len and Brian on the summit of Lincoln with Quandary in background.

Once down off Lincoln, we had a nice trek over to the summit of Bross (all on hard snow with very little postholing although there was quite a bit of snow on these summits!) We had a quick bite to eat at the top of Bross, but since the clouds were looking ominous decided to call it a day and get down Bross.

Lonnie on top of Bross. Check out the storms behind Democrat.

Close-up of Grays and Torreys from the summit of Bross.

We started down the trail (knew this because sign said "stay on the trail" but the snow slope became so steep, we decided to traverse back into a gully. Earlier on E and I had decided the gully would not be that safe if it warmed up because of soft slab avalanches, but the day had stayed reasonably cold, and the snow was frozen pretty hard on that side of the mountain we decided to attempt glissading down the gully. It proved to be one of the most fun, amazing and longest glissade ever down to our cars at the lake. We were down in nearly 20 minutes!!

One of Lonnie's staged glissades after the big one.

It was just in time because as we finally got in our cars around 12:30 or so, it started hailing. This was Lonnie's 14th fourteener and it was Len's 41st fourteener. The rest of us are somewhere in between those figures. It's always a good summit day when you make it up, down and back from the trip with no injuries but frozen and sore butts from glissading!

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Uffda	Nice report! 6/9/2009 3:30am Looks like everyone had a good time. Lots of snow up there!
LongLiveTheHuskers	We weren‘t so lucky... 6/9/2009 4:12am After rolling in late and setting up camp at 4:30am (we were sleeping in the Trango2 you probably walked by) our 8am wake up meant a late start to the day. And we paid dearly for it. That hail storm you speak of caught us square in the teeth about 200 feet below the summit of Mt Bross. Absolute whiteout. I‘ve never been more concerned for my safety than I was during those 15 min trying to descend blindly down from that storm. Great report LIV. What a day that was!
LIV	weren‘t so lucky 6/9/2009 3:03pm Hi -- yes -- I did see your tent set up there. Sorry we were so loud, but it sounds like we should have been a bit louder to wake you up sooner. We did about a 1,500 vertical foot glissade down that couloir/gulley from Bross. Had it not been for that, we would have still been up there also. Too bad you got caught in that one. It was pretty nasty, but I‘m certainly glad you got down safely.
audiotom	I got caught in those storms on Elbert 6/9/2009 6:48pm You got off right in time the real bad storms hit the mosquitos around 2 pm I hit a strong white out on elbert before the summit and later watched them slam farther east
bigblackbird	Snowy day! 6/10/2009 12:43am Say, did you guys find a need for crampons on your hike? Thanks!
LIV	Snowy day -- 6/10/2009 3:10pm Although one person in our party had them, the only point they really would have been useful would have been up to the saddle between Democrat and Cameron. I found that yaktrax worked just fine. Good luck!
HighhiLowlo	Nice Job! 6/14/2009 10:33pm Thanks for the information. We are headed up there July 4th with the Scramblers. Hope the snow starts to melt some. Harder to do with a bigger group & snow.

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