9/9/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 9/10/2011, By: jessebartunek Info: I was rather taken back by descriptions of the approach to the upper trailhead. The hardest part of the road is indeed the "keep right after the restroom pullout." This short section requires short wheelbase with 4wd low. However, if you go left here then stay to the right you will shortly rejoin the same road with very little difficulty. As you do pass through the creek 2x this may be difficult or impassible other times of the year. My real beef comes at the "Recommended Only Short-Wheelbase 4wd Vehicles Beyond This Point" sign. I parked my stock AWD Ford Escape at this point and hiked the beautiful roadway for a mile to the Upper Trailhead. This roadway was far nicer than most of what I had driven up the previous few miles. My take on it is if the water is low...don‘t stop at the restroom parking area, keep driving all the way up to the upper trailhead. And would somebody please make the description more accurate. |
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8/22/2011 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 9/4/2011, By: Wyoming Bob Info: Yankee Doodle basin to base of SW ridge was dry, clear and obvious trail, no dark approach route finding issues, no snow on ridge, technical section prior to top ridge proper was muddy, route well marked as to cairns, no route finding issues to the top, route sees traffic |
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8/14/2011 Route: Standard Route Posted On: 8/15/2011, By: dpage Info: Standard Route from Yankee Boy Basin is free of snow. Whether that makes this route better I‘ll leave up to you. |
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8/6/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 8/8/2011, By: tmathews Info: Summited Sneffels via the southwest ridge. The route is completely clear of snow save one section where you drop down to the climber‘s right into a gully. The gully still has snow in it, but you can scramble up the rock to either the left or the right of it (I went up to the left). I found this route to be much more enjoyable than the standard route! |
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7/20/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 7/21/2011, By: Wish I lived in CO Info: Snow is still present in the upper half of the upper gulley. Steps are well cut-in. Seemed to be moderately soft by 10 am. Regarding snow climbs I‘m guess I‘m a novice, but I‘d recommend an ice axe, cramp-ons wouldn‘t hurt either. One person had an uncontrolled slide in the gulley while there (he is OK). Lower lavender gulley and approach all snow free. Snow free at the top above the upper gulley, including the crux notch move. Will try to post pics or a TR later in the week. |
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7/12/2011 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 7/13/2011, By: Wentzl Info: The 4wd trailhead cannot yet be reached by vehicle. The road is open to the Wright‘s Lake trail. Lots of snow on the road above that and not likely to be open all the way for some time, a couple weeks at least. SW ridge generally snow free except for crux half way up the ridge. I went up and over and didn‘t need an axe, but if traversing under and around one would be useful. Photo of the crux move and summit attached. Descent on standard route. Snow in the couloir above Lavender Col soft and easy to plunge step even at 9:00 p.m. Recent rain really softened up the long descent off Lavender Col making it actually very enjoyable. |
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7/3/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 7/4/2011, By: rleclair Info: Road above Lower TH has 3 small stream crossings and passable snow drifts on the way to the Upper TH. From Upper TH, some minor snow crossings - no snowshoes required at all. Some snow in the gully going to up towards the col - snow was hard in the early AM but a slush pile late AM. The col is full of snow (some rock outcropping now) - crampons/axe were helpful for ascent/descent. The exposed crux move is muddy with some snow at the top of it. Minor snow crossing on the way to the summit but again manageable. |
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7/2/2011 Route: Blaine Basin Snake Coulior Posted On: 7/6/2011, By: Wentzl Info: Trail up to the basin generally clear of snow. Couloir in great shape for climbing, looks like ski season is over. Crampons were useful, its getting hard, but not icy yet. Still enough snow for an easy exit at the top that avoids rock climbing of any sort, but that will melt out soon. Descent on SW ridge very nice. Enough snow to glissade past many of the switchbacks from Blue Lakes Pass down to the lakes. |
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6/25/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 6/27/2011, By: rijaca Info: Road to TH at 11,400‘ is clear. Snow starts ~.5 miles further up the road. Snow is hard in the early am, getting soft by mid-morning. The lower and upper gullys are snow filled. Ice axe and crampons were very useful. |
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6/12/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 6/19/2011, By: Matt Lemke Info: Climbed up Sneffels via Yankee Boy Basin last Sunday. TR to come but will be awhile. I‘ll be making one BIG one for my whole summer climbing in Colorado in mid July. Anyway, I was able to drive up to about 10,000 feet in my little Toyota Camry and lucked out and managed to get a ride up to the roads end with my bike rather than walking the road with my bike. She was headed up to meet a client to guide them up Sneffels. Started hiking around 6:00 am at 11,400 feet elevation and the route was continuous snow all the way to the summit. Definently needed crampons for the Lavender coulier early in the morning however I felt so good I got up to the base of the coulier at 12,700 feet up the valley in an hour and summitted an hour after that around 8 am. I passed a couple people on the way. Sunrise was stunning with the alpenglow on the snow. Was an exciting class 3 move around the rock face to make the final 50 or so foot climb. Had the summit to myself for about 20 minutes before the wind drove me down. Couldn‘t glissade since it was still very early but that was fine. Got back to my bike around 10 am and the whole lot at the end of the road was filled with jeeps. Even met a few people who did Teakettle that morning back at the TH. Biked down the road a ways to my car and was on my way to Silverton as I was camping at Molas Lake all last week. This was one of my most successful climbs as I used crampons for the first time and did a full on snow climb with a slightly exposed class 3 move completely solo. I also climbed nearly 3000 feet in a couple hours. It was a big leap in my mountaineering comfort zone. Starting this Friday I will be gaining at least 1 summit for 20 straight days...can‘t wait! Keep an eye out for my big TR to come in mid July that will describe my June/July adventures in Colorado. Should have tons of photos as well. Hoping for 30 summits and lots of backpacking. BTW, last Saturday I also did Challenger Point with no snow. |
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6/8/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 6/11/2011, By: ilium Info: An absolutely ideal climb. I used my snowshoes all the way to and from 12,700‘. Then it was crampons. There is some post-holing going on up there, so you may use somebody else‘s footprints, but expect to sink farther. The snow is rotting out. The final culoir to the summit is in pretty good condition and totally snow-filled. Axe is necessary. After glissading thousands of feet, the descent only took an hour! |
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6/2/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 6/6/2011, By: E-dorvs Info: Road is open to "lower" summer trailhead (at the restrooms). Still a lot of snow above that, although the Ouray district road and bridge mentioned they were starting on the "upper" trailhead soon (not entirely confident in that assessment after being up there). The route is 100% snow from the parking lot to at least Lavender Col. We were up in the area just bumming around skiing so we didn‘t get a good look above Lavender Col. The route up to the Col is 100% and very wide. PM if you would like some pictures from the upper basin looking up the route. |
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6/1/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 6/3/2011, By: Beachrodney Info: Skied Sneffels on june 1, upper trail plowed to just about the summer TH, had a good overnight freeze and the skiing was great around 11am. There is a little bit of snirt here and there but not too bad. Plan on hitting it again or something else in the basin june 6 or 7 |
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5/29/2011 Route: Blaine Basin approach, lower snake Posted On: 5/30/2011, By: Gueza Info: Did the approach from blaine basin to the base of the Snake couloir. The first 2 miles is dry, last mile and a half to the basin was a bush-wacking, route finding slush fest. To steep for skinning or snowshoes on the two headwalls, many waste deep post-holes over hidden dead fall and on the slope were made. Not sure if there is a well established trail there (we certainly did not find it). The snake has plenty of snow in it, however it is still a wintery snow pack up there and is no where even close to isothermal. We did not get the overnight freeze we were looking for and on top of that there are numerous wet layers inside of the snowpack. On our way out, we saw the aftermath a monster wet slab avalanche on an identical aspect to lower snake that wasn‘t their when we came in. Looked like it ripped near to the ground, taking most of the snowpack with it. The snake should be ski-able into mid June. I would not recommend the blaine basin approach however. |
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5/28/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 5/31/2011, By: Wentzl Info: Yankee Boy road is open to the pit toilet. Great snowshoe/skiing conditions on Saturday. Shallow wet slab slides all over the place, but nothing running deep. Standard route packed out with steps. I ascended on the rocks from Lavender Col and dropped into the gully for the descent and brought about 3 inches of the snowpack with me and watched it run into Blaine Basin. Pretty exciting. |
