5/6/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 5/10/2011, By: Wyoming Bob Info: Attempted Sneffels on May 6th. Conditions were . . . road closure is 3.5 miles from the hard road out of Ouray. (I think this gives about a 7 miles one way distance for the climb) Road is snow covered all the way from the closure but for perhaps 100 yards near the bottom. There is a dozer parked at the closure but the road being open to the Camp Bird was a pipe dream. Maybe later . . . The snow gets deep after the cut out section of the shelf road, talking 3 to 6 feet. We had night frozen snow for the approach through the 2WD Th and through the 4WD TH with a 5 a.m. start. The snow went to $#!) for us about 1/2 mile beyond the upper TH. The Lavender Col was loosening and the upper arm was a mire of softening snow. Our alpine start was late, too late for our chosen route to have any hope of nice steps, instead we "kicked" those soft compacted "steps" you hope hold in warming conditions. We turned the climb at the top of the left arm of the Col, just short of the summit, due to lack of ability to get a belay in to make the final sloping rock climb (covered with snow) So close but . . . no cigar. Many wet sloughs in evidence in valley so we stayed low on the outbound leg, on snow shoes all the way out. Flotation was excellent with shoes, no fun without. |
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7/31/1997 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 8/2/2021, By: MartaG Info: Summitted Saturday July 31. Thunderstorms on the Western Slope and a cold night turned into some snow and frost on the South Slopes route over the weekend. Some of rocks were slick on the first scree slope and small hard snow patches were present into Lavender Col. The snow had mostly loosened up by the time we descended, but it was a good reminder to be prepared for any type of weather in Colorado at any time. |
