West Geissler (13,301') & East Geissler (13,380') by Brian Schultz Saturday August 20, 2011
Roundtrip mileage: 5.2 miles from Lost Man trail
Elevation gain: 2,355'
These peaks were not my first choice to climb today as I tried to drive the Lincoln Creek road earlier for Garfield Peak and found its poor conditions unfavorable for my car. But the Geissler peaks are just up Highway 82 from the Lincoln Creek road and their proximity made for a good back-up climb. I parked at the trailhead at the first switchback below Independence Pass on the west side, one of two trailheads for the Lost Man loop trail and the closest one to the Geissler peaks.
I started on the excellent trail at 7:45 AM and followed it for 1.1 miles to a grassy basin before exiting it. The easy bushwhack from the basin to the West Geissler/East Geissler saddle crossed several small streams and I reached the saddle at 9:00, just as a climber was descending from East Geissler. This fellow, a transplant from Sweden named Bjorn, was heading for West Geissler and didn't mind pairing up. He's climbed these peaks before and we followed his prior route to the left of the ramp, staying close to the gray rock walls before taking a fairly steep zig-zagging route to the ridge above. A short fun scramble put us on top at 9:35.
Bjorn headed down the south ridge to climb the unranked peak while I stayed another 10 minutes before descending. I slowly picked my way down the face and when I reached the saddle I met another fellow there who'd just descended from East Geissler with his dog. He said the ridge to East Geissler traveled well but for one lower obstacle and to climb around its left side. The ridge turned out to be lots of fun and I met another descending climber as I neared the summit. The young woman, Lisa, recently moved to Colorado from Kentucky and was new to climbing. She said her hardest climb to date was the Kelso ridge on Torrey's Peak. After a pleasant visit I continued on and reached the top at 10:55.
The weather was exceptionally beautiful, the views were great, and I stayed for a half hour before departing down the slopes to Independence Lake. I saw another climber with a dog heading up to West Geissler as I descended, and lots of people were on the trail when I reached the lake, perhaps heading to Lost Man Lake, or just to look at it from the saddle. No one else was climbing up to the peak as far as I could tell. There was a constant stream of people coming up the trail and some were just beginning when I arrived at my car at 12:50. This is obviously a popular hiking trail, especially in the summer.
Trailhead to West Geissler- 1 hour 50 minutes
West Geissler to East Geissler- 1 hour 10 minutes
East Geissler to trailhead- 1 hour 20 minutes
Start to finish- 5 hours 5 minutes