Great site easily accessible from the Front Range Cities. Located on the NE Face of Mt. Lincoln, the drive is quick, the approach is even quicker so get there early...it gets crowded! There are 3 distinct lines to climb and dozens of variants (deviants?) possible, from half-pitch pillars to three pitch cruise fests.
DO NOT CROSS ON THE ICE OF THE RESERVOIR. This is a let-down reservoir so the water level may be several feet below the ice level. Punch through and you'd never get out.
Getting There
From Breckenridge, drive south to Hoosier Pass. Honk at the Nordic skiers and snowmobilers as you pass and head south about another mile. Look for a major dirt road that cuts back to your right above Montgomery reservoir. Also look for the ice on the NE side of Lincoln. Depending on snow conditions you may be able to drive all the way to a parking lot at the NE corner of the reservoir. Otherwise, park where the road ends. This is a private sub-division so be very careful not to block the road or any driveways. Walk around the north end of the reservoir, past the Magnolia mine site, then chug up the hill to the ice.
Organization
Does anyone have the original names for the various flows up here? The various guidebooks have some confusing names & descriptions. It would be nice to clean up this area of the database. So, since no one has coughed up more info, here's a shot at organization.
Left Flows:
2 pitch main line, WI3-4. Short WI4 pillar low. Mixed lines angling from the center flow to the left, M3.
Center Flow:
2 pitch main line, WI3-4-. Multiple subtle variations.
This is the furthest right hand main flow at Lincoln falls, and is to the right of Sickle on a Stick. This climb is a one pitch climb about 90-120 feet long, and can be toproped from bolts above....[more]
Climbed the flow just right of the main flow on Saturday 11/8/2008 with Jay Eggleston and I thought it was fat. Lot of dinerplating though. The Main Flow Minor at the top was wet but thick. The main flow lower down could be climbed, but was less fat than I'm used to seeing.
As of today (November 13, 2008) I've updated the ice report on my website, www.jackrobertsclimbing.com. Sorry it took me so long. I'll be quicker to react from now on.
IF anyone has ideas, suggestions or updates please let me know so I can keep this report current and informative. Thanks.
The approach is nice and slippery. Most of the ice is good, i was doing a climb today though and it was really brittle because of a lot of active melting. I got soaked :) But, like I say, most of it is pretty good. Decently crowded for a thursday, no telling about the weekend.
The approach takes about 45 minutes, give or take some--definitely not road side, but well worth it. Bolts with chains that are easy to spot for toproping.
Please, I know this is some of the only ice in the state but come on, don't camp out with a top rope on these routes all day...take a swing and then give someone else a turn, I showed up on a monday to TR's on every decent piece of ice around (even the gully) and no one let me lead through :( p.s. the ice is good, mixed routes too. Worth the wait I g
Went up on Sunday morning. Arrived at 7AM and there were people on the main flow already! Anyways the conditions were great! Was very crowded by 10:30, but still could find room to play. Well worth a trip up.
Was there on Sunday 12/9/01. The main gully (from WI3- to 4) is fat and healing daily. The two areas to the right were hacked up and not healing as fast. There was much more ice in the main gully than is shown in the above picture.
Do not expect easy access to Gillette Falls. Cameron Burns' guide directs one straight across the property of a man who is extremely pissed and has a chip on his shoulder about keeping people out. He has the law on his side, if you're on his property (even though it's not posted -know before you go). He also has a gun at his side if you're not (he confronted us on the fishing club property). Apparently we weren't the first climbers he decided to take a beef with; his reaction to our explanation "It's in a guidebook" was to tell Cam Burns that "he's an asshole." So don't go there unless you want to risk a run in with the Sherriff and/or a pyschopathic gun-toting libertarian vigilante.
Climbed this area last weekend (Sun.)02.17.02 There were about 6 teams of climbers which is pretty light. The ice was pretty dry in most sections, but the main (central flow) was fat and the eastern routes were building. Should be pretty nice in a few weeks. See updated pictures of the area.
Climbed Lincoln on Monday. Most of the ice on the far left was brittle. The bowling alley looked fat though. The major lines to the right are beat to crap...very picked out and limited ice to even hook into. Monday was cold but the upper sections were still getting good water. The lack of snow in the upper bowl has made for limited water supply.
Did Lincoln Falls yesterday. The ice was very brittle, and it was hard to get purchase without a fair amount of plating and also in any hacked-out sections, but decent enough to get screws in. Not too crowded for a Saturday. Thank God for the man who invented hand warmers. My McGuckins neoprene gloves got thrashed and froze. Any recommendations on a good pair of ice gloves for cold weather that are not too bulky and reasonably priced. Vaya con Dios!
Lincoln [Falls] was in great nick today with a mixture of ice types (brittle, hero and pot marked) and with the whole place to ourselves the choices are great. We did the main flow and the flow to the left. Be [careful] on the road down to the car park as its pretty icy and good sport for a slide down an embankment. Alan Buchan
Climbed the left gully on Sat 3/30. Ice is mostly fat blue plastic. 22cm screws - no problem the whole way up. In the shade it's a tad brittle, but overall great conditions. Steep flows are pretty much gone. Some good ice at far right too. What snow there is above the ice is pavement.
Lincoln is coming along nicely. Good sticker ice, along with some warm weather/early season weird chandeliering. Not really in its full glory yet.
By Leo Paik Administrator From: Westminster, Colorado Oct 28, 2002
From a friend Sat, 10/26/2. Wow! 25 people at least. Beware of climbing under other folks. One guy nearly lost a leg or even his life when someone/something caused a TV-sized boulder to fire down the Main Gully. Very crowded in the early season!
Lincoln falls. Looking good overall for this time of year. Healing well. Pillar is in and doable (tough climb) curtain is in and good. Bowling Alley is a bit thin at the head wall but very good for this time of year. The major issue is the PEOPLE!!! At least thirty prosent on the hill by mid day Nov 2... Crazy. Everyone was cool and things went well. So all in all, no big!!
Climbed here on Friday. Bowling Alley in except for snow/rock right before middle belay. Pillar and central cave curtain are in nicely, but ice seemed generally still very warm and water flowing quite fiercely. Snowy, but Avy danger low.
Helen Hunt Falls- Starting to freeze and getting plenty of water, but still too thin for anything. Also, very warm; go around 5am for most stable conditions. Heed my advice until it gets colder: the whole right side had collapsed and is now a pile of ice chunks lying at the bottom!
My friends and I went up on Sun. 11/10. The approach took 2+ hours in the knee to waist deep pow-pow. Scottish gully on the left had about the same amount of snow in it as well. Beware of avalanche conditions!The area above the ice flows looked like it was loading up heavy.Have fun.
Climbed at Lincoln on 11/22. L & R main flows in, but still little or no ice on the flatter section of the left main flow and top pitch options appear a bit thin still. Main Falls in pretty fat but getting chopped out. Pillar on right is VERY chopped out but down (TR only I would guess). There's a cascade in very fat around the rock buttress to the left of the left gully. We didn't go over there but saw it from the top of the main falls. Looks sweet but short (maybe 20-30 ft. high).
Indeed, it's in and pretty good, but needs more time to fill in all of the climbs. The far right, pillar, is broken at the top now and may fall on a lead. The rest of that wall (usually fills in with hanging 4-5 ice) isn't in at all. Right flow is in, sections of WI3 near the top. There are enough good lines for at least 6 parties to have independent lines. Left flow is in at 3 for first pitch, then a long snow gully with some ice below (low angle WI1+), second pitch has a great 3+ line and a couple of 4 options without going into questionable areas with just touching icicles. A little more time, but it's very in and very good. :)
Overall, Lincoln is looking good. The Bowling alley is it's usual fat self, but the upper head wall hasn't fully filled in. There are still several good lines though. The middle curtain looks good and is in, as is the Scottish Gully. The top curtain of the Gully is no longer existant, but the WI 2+/3 bulge is fat. Rock or frozen dirt/rock/snow finish @ trees. The far left is beginning to form with a short curtain up high. The pillar to the right is looking ugly, very thin. It was MUCH better two weeks ago. Too warm? The approach is not a problem if you stick to the center of the boulder field. Otherwise it's a bit of snow wallow thru the field.
Anyone have any info regarding the leader fall on Sunday Nov 24? There were several of us @ the trees when he fell and hit the deck. Poss broken leg. Any info out there on his wellbeing? Email me... physique1@mindspring.com. Thanks
Main flow is thick and wet. The large curtain to the right of the main flow hasn't seen developement in awhile, its a bit hacked. The slender piller high on the right side is fractured at the top and is currently a time bomb. Hopefully the water will start diverting soon and the surrounding climbs will see some more formation.
Conditions haven't changed much over the last couple of weeks, other than the curtain to the right of the main flow is even more hacked up and is brittle and the pillar up high on the right is even scarier looking.
I added a rap station (slung block and a quick link) on the left side (looking up) of the main flow (about 1/3 the way up) to hopefully relieve some conjestion on the bolts that are on the right side. Ice is starting to form on the slab below the bolts, so hopefully some more climbing will be available.
Little has changed except the scary pillar is no more and the slab to the right of the main flow is continuing to fill in. It makes for a nice, thin, and spicy lead.
I found a v-thread hook at the base. If it's yours please email me.
The three main WI3-4 falls are in but the ice is brittle especially pulling onto bulges above the short vertical WI4 sections. The WI5 pillars (on the right side) are not in and do not look likely to be in this year based on current snow conditions.
We were climbing up here yesterday Sat. the 15th. Cold ground temp but absolutely fabulous mixed condition day. According to a hitch hiking local snow boarder that we gave a ride to the area has received new snow over the last fews days. This is good for building new ice, but there hasn't been a lot of temperature differential day to night so the new ice isn't bonding to the old as would be hoped for. And in fact that is what we found to be the case on Lincoln. Phat ice just underneath a layer of chandeliered crust. A little gardening usually allowed for some pretty sticker ice. If this new layer doesn't get trashed or hacked out it should lead to great climbing conditions soon. Be aware that the underlying snow pack has sublimed out badly and has NO bonding to new snow or surface rock. The walk off descent felt oddly vibrational so take CARE. It would probably be best to rap off the routes.
Was there on Tuesday, the 18th I guess that makes it, and the ice was in pretty decent shape, albeit under a layer of non-bonded crud. A little gardening yeilded solid placements.The temps were just at/above freezing so the water was running, which is promising given the cold nights we've been having. Took the advice to avoid the walk off and rapped instead.... sank up to my waist in places wallowing to the upper chains. A day out ice climbin' = a damn good day. To the guys from Golden that gave us a lift in the back of the Nissan... a big THANKS.
Checked out Lincoln Falls on 10-7-03 following up on what looked like a good start one week prior. Now there is nothing! 4-6 inches of snow were present however on the summit and leeward slopes above 13,000'. Come on winter!
Checked out the area on Sat. (10/11/03), dripping with a touch of ice on the right, center, and main flow. Should be something to climb after a spell of cold weather.
Main flow is in. The large curtain to the right of the main flow is 3/4 of the way to touching down. The upper curtain (to the right) is in but hacked.
How is the ice formations as of Feb 1? Does anyone need a partner. Rock climb quite offten but do not have all the gear to ice climb. If someone has extra gear and would like a partner let me know.
Lincoln is looking lean for this time of year. The lower falls are there but not "good" yet. There is rock on the top of the lower falls. The upper falls are still in the sun and still wet and not yet built up enough to be steep. Maybe WI 3 if that... Middle gully is a walk up. Needs some time to develop. Middle curtain, no touchy. Scottish gully, same as upper wall. Far pillar, interesting but still a bit funky. Too many people up there hacking up what there is. All of it is "climbable" but not great. With these warm temps and not much snow, it might be a couple of weeks (at least) before Licoln is up to it's true self. If you choose to climb keep it clean and don't hack it up... Should be a great year. We need some patience. BTW last year this time was 10 times better!!!
Why do you think [Hoosier Pass] is so crowded? Because everyone gets on these stupid [websites] and blabs all over the place! My ethic, you can't tell anyone anything or your private stash is covered by out of state gapers!
Conditions are fairly good. Main flow is great. The large flow to the left of the main flow is in, with the upper curtain looking excellent. The curtain just to the right of the main flow is pretty much non-existant. The steep curtain up and right is in but hacked, the thin pillar is gone. The ramps and short vertical to the left of the aforementioned is in thick.
Anyone have any info on routes they may have been done on the large rock buttress to the right of Lincoln Falls. We tried to give a line a go on Sat. but retreated under sketchy conditions.
George, it's not even November yet. The sooner you start TR'ing the pillars, the sooner they will fall apart, especially on "warm" days. Do the rest of the climbing community a favor and wait a few more weeks and let everything fill in a bit.
Hey all, I checked out Lincoln again on Friday Nov. 4 and found conditions quite a bit better than the previous week. Things are really starting to ice up well though maybe are only still 2/3 or so "in" in terms of things getting really good and big. All of the thin top-outs reported earlier are pretty well iced up though thin spots do still exist. The right line of the middle formation was the most solid, again leading to a much more filled in, varietal and completly iced up (even on the top-out) upper head wall of the bowling alley. Plenty of good screw placements can be found. The first pitch of the bowling alley looked much less good, but appeared to be easy enough to offer no trouble except to perhaps the most beginning of leaders. The crux of the earlier mentioned lower middle area is solid WI 3, perhaps 3+ depending on one's exact line. Now, the cool juice is in the pillars!! MAJOR kudos to whomever redirected the water above the large right formation area, as it is actually quite thick and fully touching down. Here's the kicker though-it is hard! Most of the surface ice was very chandeliered and the climbing quite strenuous. I found it to be fairly insecure and the screw placements bad until 3/4 of the way up. After placing this third, and only good, screw-before which I nearly pitched off-I was so pumped that I hung on a tool for the first time in eight years, put in a great stubby and lowered off. My partner and I each took only one run on TR so as to not hack it up, and still found the climbing hard under the conditions, about WI4+. The topout was good though much thinner and would probably accept some good stubbies. The other pillar variations here are looking steep, very wet, and not quite there yet, with the ones in the center of the middle area looking like they will be awesome when they touch down and thicken up a bit. Back to the pull-ups and some more days out there for me-email me if you would like to get out some time-Cheers!
Just to clarify for the AC who was chastising me for climbing on a pillar early in the season. The ice we climbed was plenty fat, and we did not beat it up with our 2 runs each. There was plenty of other thin stuff that we avoided both out of concern for the future welfare of the ice and ourselves.
Trust me when I say that if the ice is thin enough to be in danger of getting beat up by a few runs on top rope I am way to big a wuss to try climbing it.
Hey all, so looking at the topo, the falls appear to be relatively safe from avalanches, as they look like they would split to either side, but does anyone know if that is true? There is plenty of terrain for it from above, has there ever been one over the falls?
If anybody came across an old yellow North Face jacket and pair of Dakine gloves in the Lincoln parking lot after Dec. 10, 06 - please respond to this post or call (970)314-5292. Thanks - have a good winter.
Hoosier Pass/Lincoln Fall
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