14ers.com • Peak Condition Update

Peak:	Mt. Lindsey (14er)
Route:	Northwest Ridge
Range:	Sangre de Cristo
Posted By:	zachgonzales91
Date of Info:	09/13/2020
Date Posted:	09/13/2020

Details
Dramatically more snow than forecast suggested. As low as 10.7k 6+ inches of snow accumulation - so expect a long day of post-holing and breaking trail unless a very warm melt cycle comes along. Both summit ridge routes (ridge + gully) are sketchy. Snow deposits with ice edging the rocks makes the gully quite dangerous. I opted for ridge, which was mostly solid/good rock but a few ice deposits made the climbing spicier than it needed to be. Highly highly recommend that inexperienced Class 4 climbers avoid this mountain until (if?) a big melt cycle comes through. To feel secure on climb up and especially on the downclimb, I'd suggest people attempting this for the next week or potentially longer have extreme comfort on low-grade Class 5 sans rope. On the downclimb, definitely some moments over icy slabs I would have greatly prefered a belay.

Details

Dramatically more snow than forecast suggested. As low as 10.7k 6+ inches of snow accumulation - so expect a long day of post-holing and breaking trail unless a very warm melt cycle comes along. Both summit ridge routes (ridge + gully) are sketchy. Snow deposits with ice edging the rocks makes the gully quite dangerous. I opted for ridge, which was mostly solid/good rock but a few ice deposits made the climbing spicier than it needed to be. Highly highly recommend that inexperienced Class 4 climbers avoid this mountain until (if?) a big melt cycle comes through. To feel secure on climb up and especially on the downclimb, I'd suggest people attempting this for the next week or potentially longer have extreme comfort on low-grade Class 5 sans rope. On the downclimb, definitely some moments over icy slabs I would have greatly prefered a belay.

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