Mt Lincoln (14,286) by Brian Schultz Sunday September 30, 2001
This was one of my most trying days on a fourteener. In an attempt to make efficient use of my three days in Colorado I figured I could climb three peaks, one each day, but that meant driving in from Nebraska and climbing a fourteener the same day I arrived, something I've never done in seven years of peak climbing.
I drove 600 miles on Saturday from Minneapolis to North Platte Nebraska and from there about 350 miles on Sunday to the south side of Hoosier Pass, Colorado. The sunny, clear weather in Denver made me feel optimistic for a late start on Mt Lincoln but as I neared Hoosier Pass and drove up the Quartzville Creek road the skies didn't look so good. I was determined to climb Lincoln if the weather cooperated but was totally frustrated to spot a "no parking on roadway" sign where I spent so much time driving around two months ago trying to find the trailhead. Not wanting to get towed but still wanting to climb, I decided to check out the Montgomery Reservoir trailhead instead. It was storming down by Mt Sherman and also to the north when I parked the car at the northwest corner of the reservoir. I should've called it a day, but didn't because the skies were clear over Lincoln.
The very least I wanted was to throw on the pack and check out the headwall of the Lincoln Amphitheater. The time was 12:15 when I started up the very steep and sketchy trail, wearing a new pair of boots I thought were broken in. The route is only two miles to the summit but the elevation gain is 3,370 feet- in other words, fast and relentless. A short while later I remembered leaving the cell phone on the front seat of the car and hoped nobody would break in and steal it because I wasn't ready to turn around yet. When I reached the drainage above the amphitheater a small dark storm cloud passed behind me and thundered once before it began snowing and hailing lightly. It seemed safe enough to continue so I proceeded up, staying below the ridge to my right. The unmarked route up the drainage eventually gained a relatively flat area just below the summit and then another storm cloud cracked a loud thunder behind me. That one had me worried. Only 150 vertical feet or so from the summit, I seriously considered turning around but that would've directed me back into the storm.
With no hair standing up on my hands or buzzing heard in the rocks, I ran up to the summit, signed in at 3:30, and quickly departed. Thankfully, the darker clouds had moved on. But below the summit it started snowing heavily and fogging in, so I made a beeline down the drainage only to see the fog lifting in the distance and revealing a lake off to the side. Uh-oh. I knew it was Wheeler Lake from seeing it last month while on Lincoln and I was ...definitely descending the wrong way. Well, okay, I could just keep going down and bushwhack to the four wheel drive road. It sounded easy enough.
It was snowing furiously until I got lower, then it turned to rain. Hungry and tired, I sat down for a short break wondering how long it would take to get to the road. The clouds fogged in again and as I continued down, the gully got steeper and the 3rd class scrambling on the slippery rocks soon became 4th class. Then the gully emptied above cliffs which couldn't be downclimbed- a dead end, and a dangerous one because if I slipped anywhere in the steep gully, over I'd go. Unable to descend and fearful of slipping on the wet rock, I started getting very nervous. The afternoon was wearing on and I didn't relish the thought of climbing wet rock in the dark, even with a flashlight. I was supposed to meet Tim in Aspen around 7:00 but couldn't call him because the phone was in the car. My feet were hurting from the boots rubbing my heels and I rued the decision to climb today as I started back up the dangerous gully.
I carefully climbed up until I could maneuver into the next gully and began descending again, in the rain, only to end up with the same result. Steep slippery rocks and more cliffs. The scenario was repeated three more times until I was finally able to exit a gully into the valley. The cloud cover lifted somewhat and I could see willows ahead but to pay further penance for climbing today, I had to bushwhack through willows as tall as my shoulders. Perhaps that would teach me.
Totally saturated by the wet willows, I finally met up with the four wheel drive road, which added an extra mile and a half of walking before getting back to the car at 6:30. I beat the dark but the wet rock of the gullies produced by far my most harrowing climbing experience on a fourteener, worse than either Little Bear or Crestone Peak whose gullies were also wet when I climbed them. Both my heels had blisters the size of nickels and it hurt to walk. I called the motel in Aspen to let Tim know I'd be late and hurried out of Fairplay to get there. What a day!
Trailhead to summit- 3 hours 15 minutes
Summit to trailhead- 3 hours
Total climb time- 6 hours 15 minutes