7/7/2023 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 7/10/2023, By: skz of Skrzynsko Info: Snow in the upper couloir, we had ice axes and crampons on the way up; although someone walked up after us in just boots. I wouldnt be comfortable doing that with the snow/angle and conversing with him he indicated that he didnt really know any better and he turned around when he saw the v-notch. Dry from v-notch to top except for the 9-ish meter traverse or the col just past the notch. I plunged stepped with ice axe, no crampons, on the way down the upper and parter decided to down climb with just the ice axe and no crampons. |
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7/7/2023 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 7/7/2023, By: Wentzl Info: Just thought it would be fun to post photos showing how quick the snow is melting. The images on this report are taken from near the same points as my condition report of 6/19. Major changes include the V Notch being totally melted out and dry. Lots of snow above and below that point. Not ready for trail runners just yet! I carried crampons but not at all necessary. Used the axe for just 4 steps up the SW Ridge route and for much of the descent off South Slopes. Snow on the S Slopes route was very friendly for plunge stepping and sliding. Crampons or spikes NOT recommended. |
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7/3/2023 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 7/5/2023, By: DaisyofColorado Info: There is still a lot of snow at the upper couloir. We used ice axe and microspikes but crampons would have been better. Going up the couloir around 10:30, snow was still hard in spots. We down climbed it around noon and the conditions were perfect. |
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6/25/2023 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 6/29/2023, By: syrupgravy Info: Lots of snow from just below the switchbacks driving up to the high trailhead. The South Slopes route is melting out on the south face and will probably have a clear path soon (was loose wet scree or ice and scree). On the ascent we took the large couloir on the left to the Southwest Ridge. Couloir climbed excellently! On the ridge its mixed conditions so be ready for snow, ice, and climbing rocks with crampons on. Final pitch was a dry scramble to the summit. Came down the standard route and had deep snow all the way down to Lavender Col. Would not recommend downclimbing the Southwest Ridge in these conditions. |
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6/19/2023 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 6/19/2023, By: Wentzl Info: The word of the day is SNOW. Somehow, there is more snow up on Sneffels now than when I climbed it last month. Crazy. Anyone thinking about the SW Ridge route, bring all your snow skills. It will be that way for a while, couple weeks at least. I used crampons as early as the Wright's Lake trail cut off and kept them on until getting above the crux of the SW Ridge and onto the crest of the ridge proper. Didn't use them again at all, as the snow on the descent down the South Slopes was in decent condition and fun for plunge stepping. I would suggest anyone thinking about using the SW Ridge as a descent, if you have not been there before, wait for the snow to melt off a bit. |
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6/10/2023 Route: Snake Couloir Posted On: 6/11/2023, By: GreatGlissader Info: Still so much snow up there. Approach is rough from Blue Lakes TH. Creek crossings are okay, I had to move a few logs for the first crossing. Lots of snow on the approach, but not continuous. Side hilling steep snow on the final traverse to Blain Basin. Took us a lot longer to get to Blain Basin than expected. Camped in the basin at 11,100. Started at 3am with crampons on and had continuous snow to the top. Couloir was in great shape with very firm snow. We took the class 4 gully to the summit, 730am, it was pretty sketchy with unstable snow, no rope. The optional exit Roach mentions to continue east on the couloir is a pretty bad option right now because it involves steep down climbing and the top of the snow is corniced and very steep. Coming down from the summit to the v-notch was steep firm snow that still needed crampons. We walked down the easy couloir and glissaded 1000ft down the east side of Lavender. Great climb, but with all the snow I would wait another few weeks for the snow to melt to make the approach and final climb more enjoyable. The snow will be around for a while. |
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5/30/2023 Route: Birthday Chutes Posted On: 5/30/2023, By: Christensenje Info: Skiers left chute is a much better ski right now than lavender. Had a blast on really smooth snow. Dropped at 10:30. Corn in lower half. Slightly firm still on the top portion. Lavender is a tougher ski with how much its been traveled. Do this one instead. :) |
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5/29/2023 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 5/29/2023, By: runningbuff Info: Continuous snow from the trailhead. Icy enough in the morning (started at 7:30) to boot up the entire way to the summit, but it was softening up fast by 10:30 or so. Skiied lavender col from the notch near the top. Catchy, wet snow in the top section going down at about 11ish. Much nicer in the main couloir until getting down below the upper trailhead. |
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5/29/2023 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 5/29/2023, By: Agstrohmeier Info: Agree with previous conditions. Skied today, dropped at 10:30. We started early but waited quite a while at the top for it to soften. Upper couloir skied decent but was pretty muddled with the bootpack in the middle. Great skiing from lower couloir, down the scree slopes and to the car. Notch is probably easier in it's current condition than in summer conditions, a pretty easy step through. Then easy ridge walk to the summit. Some of the chutes off the top looked connected through but there's a lot of wet slide debris. |
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5/26/2023 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 5/26/2023, By: durkan Info: Drove up to lower 4wd th (stock 4runner). Snowshoes not needed in the morning, but the heel bar proved effective all the way to the top of the south slope. Transitioned to crampons after, and notch was filled in enough to keep them on until summit. 2 skiiers and one other hiker out. |
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5/8/2023 Route: Up South Slopes, Down Snake Couloir Posted On: 5/11/2023, By: Nobleman Info: Ascended the south slopes, skied Snake Couloir on Monday, 5/8. Overall conditions on Sneffels are quite good. Used ski crampons to the Lavender Col at 13,500, and used ski crampons on the re-ascent to Lavender Col. We had a couple inches of snow from Sunday's small system windblown into the Snake (strong WSW winds the previous days) that made for some surprisingly enjoyable dust on crust. This new snow did not bond particularly well to the crust, but did not form a slab, and only minor sluffing was encountered. The underlying crust was vey firm, but quite edge-able. The choke is well filled in, and the apron and descent back to the car was some of the most perfect corn I've ever had the pleasure of skiing. The day's weather conditions were perfect for spring skiing, which definitely helped. Check the Ouray County Road facebook page for up to date info on the road status: https://www.facebook.com/OurayCountyRoadandBridge. The road was closed at Atlas Mill, but plowed through the 2wd TH (about a quarter mile or so from the road closure) and up into the 4WD road. They do seem to be aggressively trying to plow out the 4wd road up to the 4WD TH, and when we got down on Monday the 4WD road was plowed significantly further than when we left earlier that morning. Kinda a bummer for the skiers, since the current closure/plow work necessitates a bit of a walk up the road before you hit skinable snow. I expect the closure/parking situation be be dynamic through the next couple weeks, and hopefully they open to the 2WD TH pretty soon. The new snow forecasted for this week (5/10-5/12) should help freshen things up further, although obviously keep an eye out for potential surface snow problems, especially in the Snake which, depending on wind direction and speed, can load significantly more snow than the ascent route. Enjoy! |
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5/5/2023 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 5/6/2023, By: Wentzl Info: Started at 10:30 and snow was firm, no snowshoes used going up. Snow and blowing snow made for wintry conditions. Got as high as Scree Col and turned back, crampons would have been useful to continue and I wasn't dressed for the cold. Easy plunge stepping down entire S. Slope. By 2:00 snow softened up enough to make snow shoes useful. Cold enough to freeze camelback hose. Update: there has been a lot of traffic up this way this year and right now there is a bootpack up from Scree Col to the summit that makes this relatively quite easy. If you have been thinking about Sneffels as a snow climb, now is about as good as it gets. Photos from today (5/8/23) added. |
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4/16/2023 Route: Snake Couloir via Lavendar Couloir Yankee Boy Posted On: 4/17/2023, By: billyg3 Info: Road still closed at Winter Closure with Road Closed signs as low as Angel Creek CG. Parked at Winter Closure. Road dry to ice park then single track bulldozed up to Revenue Mine/Camp Bird. Objective hazards from icefall and wetslides on road to be heads up on in heat of day. Walked up ~3+mi to Camp Bird, then transitioned to skins. Easy approach to Blue Lakes/Summer TH and up to Col. Good bootpacking up Lavendar. Birthday Chutes appeared in decent condition with no major wetslide debris, but some talus and exposed rock to weave through that would break up a clean top to bottom descent. Descended Snake Couloir. Set up Anchor (looked around and could not find any old anchor, or summit register for that matter). Top half above dogleg was stout and challengeing dusty windboard with varying coverage of minimal powder. Below dogleg, 8" of soft powder that sloughed on crust it sat on as soon as it was touched. Crux was wide with enough room to make tight turns through. Nice turns out the apron. Snow in basin was wet with afternoon solar but ascent pitch back to Lavendar col in late afternoon was still wintery conditions with mix of powder, dusty windboard and variations of the two. No wetslide concerns while ascending back to col on this day. |
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2/20/2023 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 2/20/2023, By: RobLowe Info: Social trails for ice climbing first two miles (this section of road was plowed by the time I returned for the downhill). Snowshoes after that until base of Lavender. Lavender Couloir not firm until final 10%. Upper couloir firm and closer to what Crestone Needle and Crestone Peak were. V notch filled in with 3-4 feet of wind-loaded snow. Went up chimney to the right of v notch. Went down a chute and traversed rock back into upper lavender (a route Dan and I have used in spring) because that chimney is not the best fit for me. A+ day outside. Saw no one. Best part—home before dark (a rarity for me in winter). |
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2/12/2023 Route: Snake Couloir Posted On: 2/13/2023, By: Snow_Dog_frassati Info: Snake was in but snow was rather crappy skiing. Special thanks to Chris Fisher for setting the bootpack/skintrack up Lavender Col/Couloir. The snake itself was styrofoam crust to hardpack. It's only February, but the Cruz was definitely a lil thin. Made for challenging steep skiing. The climb out to lavender col was also barely edgeable hardpack which made for ideal cramping conditions, but was difficult/impossible to skin Annoying that the mine has plowed the road so far up Yankee Boy Basin. Made it a lil more difficult to ski all the way back to the car as the road is bare in many spots down low. Conditions will change drastically with the storm this week. We observed many near surface facet layers and wide spread crust layers. I'd expect things to get fairly dangerous fairly quick with new snow |