Shelf Road & Mt. Lindsey's NW ridge

Early Saturday morning I headed down in a packed up Tahoe to Canon City to meet my good bud Jesse Hill for some climbing at Shelf Road. I had never climbed at Shelf and this place was absolutely overwhelming (in a good way) with the quantity of high-quality established sport routes. It literally seemed like there were endless miles of awesome limestone cliffs in every direction. I think Jesse told me there is close to 900 routes at Shelf so if you average say 12 bolts (including anchors) per route, then that’s something like 10,800 bolts that have been drilled and set at Shelf. That’s alot of bolts. Anyway, we climbed for about 5-6 hours in gorgeous weather and, though somewhat crowded, these routes are of very high quality. We climbed routes in the 5.10 range all day with me struggling up a 5.11 on my 5th route of the day. While I topped out, it sure wasn’t pretty and sure wasn’t without some serious resting. Maybe I should have attempted the 5.11 on my 2nd route of the day. Maybe I would have done better. Maybe not. Enough talk, here are some Shelf climbing pics:

Jesse leading an awesome 5.10b dihedral

Jesse getting in deep on a 5.10d that I led

Jesse leading another 5.10a

Me contemplating the final 5.10a hand jambs on our last route of the day having completely pumped my forearms and fingers

The Cactus Cliff where we climbed at Shelf Road

After a full mexican dinner with Jesse in Canon City, I drove an hour to Westcliffe and slept in the back of my Tahoe in a motel parking lot in preparation for meeting my friends Reid & Tara Jennings as well as Brett Wamsley at the Mt. Lindsey trailhead the following Sunday morning. This was the first time I had used my -40 degree Marmot Cwm sleeping bag in a long time and boy did I fall in love with it all over again. It was a chilly 15 degrees in my car when I woke up at 6am, but I was nice and toasty in my -40 degree bag. I had climbed Mt. Lindsey (14,042′) in the southern Sangre de Cristos years ago with my golden retriever, Rainier, as well as other friends in my company’s annual Peak Challenge via the standard class 2+ north face gully route. However, I am always up for going back with good friends. Plus, there was the class 4 northwest ridge direct route that looked enticing which I wanted to try. After a cup of joe via the jetboil, I drove another hour to the trailhead where I had another cup and some oatmeal. The Jennings, Brett, and the dogs showed up around 8:45am and we were off on the Lily Lake trail by 9am.

The north faces of 14ers Blanca Peak (left) and Ellingwood Point (right) form one of the most dramatic mountain walls in terms of vertical relief in Colorado. Photo taken on the drive into the Lily Lake trailhead

The Iron Nipple (left) and Mt. Lindsey (right) come into view

Lindsey’s class 4 northwest ridge (right) and class 2+ north face gully (left). Tara remained at this saddle, I took the ridge, and Reid, Brett, and the dogs took the gully

We reached the 13,000′ saddle where Tara remained and we were off on our respective routes to the summit – me up the NW ridge and Reid, Brett, & the dogs up the north face gully. The NW ridge was really a fun route and, in my opinion, much safer than the standard class 2+ north face gully route in terms of objective danger though technically harder and more exposed. There are several ways up the class 4 headwall of the NW ridge, but the chimney I climbed was really fun and had some good moves with good exposure. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Looking down the initial easy portion of the northwest ridge. Tara can be seen as the dark spec at the top of the picture

My route up the class 4 headwall on the northwest ridge

Although unnecessary, I went up and over this gendarme on very solid rock to reach the bottom of the class 4 headwall

Looking down my chimney route up the headwall from just below the top – pretty fun class 4 scrambling

I can be seen below the headwall on the right side of this picture while Reid, Brett, & the dogs can be seen on the left in the gully. Photo taken by Tara at the 13,000′ saddle

I can be seen on the northwest ridge at the top of the headwall against the skyline while Reid, Brett, & the dogs can be seen in the gully on the left side of the picture. Photo taken by Tara at the 13,000′ saddle

Reid coming up the north face gully route

Brett on the summit of Mt. Lindsey with Blanca Peak & Ellingwood Point behind

Mt. Lindsey summit (14,042′) on a cold and breezy November day

I chose to descend the standard class 2+ north face gully route with my buds and dogs. It was definitely a little loose and sketchy with the hard snow in spots, but we all made it back down to Tara at the saddle in one piece. For those interested in climbing Lindsey, I’d almost recommend the harder but much more solid NW ridge over the standard north face gully. If you are somewhat experienced in scrambling, then I honestly believe it to be much safer. Anyway, it was a great day with my good buds on a 14er in the southern Sange de Cristos. We made it back to the trailhead by 3pm for a 6 hour and 8.25 mile roundtrip climb with 3,400′ of vertical gain.