Mt. Lindsey Trip Report

Sunday, September 30th, 2007

Last Sunday I decided to head down to the Sangre de Cristo's to climb Mt. Lindsey, one of the 14ers still on my list. Doug and I had tried Mt. Lindsey 9 years ago, but were rained off. It's a reasonably remote mountain - only a mile or two from the rest of the Blanca group, but there is only feasible access via one trailhead, which is about 20 miles outside of Gardner, up a long dirt road.

The alarm went off at 4:10. I showered, fed meg, and was ready to go. Meg didn't show any interest in wanting to go - she just slithered back upstairs to bed. Who can blame her - it was 4:30am! Ah, the things parents do when they get a little free time. The drive went pretty fast, and the sun finally came up just as I was getting close to Walsenburg. I did notice the further south I went the windier it became. And everyone knows driving in the wind is hard work! I drove non-stop and was making great time, and I was through Gardner by 7:15. There are great views of the Blanca group on the drive, and I could see a fresh dusting of snow.



I was feeling pretty good. The weather wasn't going to be an issue today, and I felt fit and rested from Imogene. I drove up the dirt road about 14 miles, and encountered my first obstacle of the day much sooner than I anticipated:


Damn! Did I mention it was windy? My first thought was that this was someone's way of closing the road (this particular stretch was on private property) but closer inspection revealed the tree had just been blown over. The tree was barely long enough to block the road, it wasn't that big, and I figured I might have a shot at moving it. Lucky for me I had an ice axe. (I can now say something like "Mt. Lindsey would be a good pulpit from which to preach the gospel of the ice axe" but I digress...). For those who need a refresher on my skill with an axe, here are a couple of photos:

OK - so "skill" might not be quite the right word....


Anyways, after about 30 minutes of trying to move the tree back and forth and chopping at the base with my axe......Victory!!



YES!! Nothing can stop me now! This summit is mine! OK...I don't quite get that ahead of myself, but I was feeling pretty good. I sped up the road, trying to make up for lost time, and about 2 miles later.....


Doh!! Did I mention how windy it was? This tree was much bigger than the first, and I know when to say when. Sometimes you just have to read the signs, and clearly this wasn't my day for Mt. Lindsey. Oh well, I'm sure I'll be back, and next time I'll be prepared...



OK - so maybe a chainsaw isn't really feasible, but maybe some rope and a small hand saw or an axe. Doug brought up the point that things could have been worse - I could have been driven in the night before and been stuck on the other side!

Finally, this isn't the first (and likely won't be the last) climbing trip that ended so abruptly. Some others that I can think of:

• Doug, Jonny and I went to Lincoln Falls a few winters ago to do some ice climbing. When we got to the trailhead, Jonny realized he had forgotten his boots and we went to watch football instead.
• I drove up to Greys and Torreys one summer with some co-workers from Chili's. As we were driving, it started to rain. We made it to the trailhead, but because of said rain we never bothered to get out of the car.
• Jonny and I were going to do the Hindu (a desert tower outside of Moab). When we got to the base, we looked at each other, then decided to go play golf instead.