Mount Sneffels 14,150′
Colorado 14ers
Total Time: 6:00
Distance: 5.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 2960′
Crux: Class 3
Trailhead: Yankee Boy Basin, no services
Mount Sneffels is one of the most photographed 14ers in Colorado after the iconic Maroon Bells. The prominent summit dramatically rises over 7,000′ from the town of Ridgeway, and is visible from many points in Southern Colorado. It is also a popular springtime climb, the south facing route melting out much of the snow up to 13,300′, leading to an east facing chute several hundred feet below the summit. With San Luis ticked off, it was probably the easiest 14er in the San Juans I had left to attempt. After a full rest day in Ouray, I woke up at 4:30 feeling relatively refreshed and ready for Colorado 14er #30. I drove the remaining distance to the lower trailhead, the road into Yankee Boy Basin in excellent shape up one miles before the lower trailhead. I parked here, with the road immediately past still buried in spring snow. Having learned my lesson from San Luis Peak, I strapped snowshoes on my pack and started out at about 5:30, only needing my headlamp for a short while before burying it in my pack for the day.
The road to the higher summer trailhead and Wrights Lakes was mostly snow covered, but the patches largely held my weight, still frozen from the nightime temperatures. The north facing slopes to my left had fairly continuous snow, although I had heard that the slopes on Sneffels tended to dry out relatively quickly. I left the “road” once the snow became continuous and headed directly up slope, using microspikes for some quick extra traction without taking the time to put on crampons for the day. I reached the summertime trailhead 2 miles from the start in under an hour, pleased with my time considering the patchy snow conditions.
I signed into the register, only 5 other names having logged in for the entire year. The trail crossed the basin and quickly reached a junction, the left heading towards Blue Lakes Pass, and the right leading to the use trail to the summit of Sneffels. Although I was interested in the south ridge route on Sneffels, I stuck with the standard route and turned into the broad south facing gully, a large portion of which had already melted out for the spring.
The use trail itself was difficult to follow with the patches of snow, but I did my best to avoid the loose scree to climbers right and talus hop all the way to the ridgeline at about 13,000′. While the saddle at the ridgeline was dry, the route entered a steep gully that was completely buried in snow.
I put on my crampons here and started up the slopes, still using the talus when possible with the sun starting to soften the slopes ever so slightly. While the traditional route follows this gully as long as possible before exiting at the crux “V Notch,” it was notorious for holding snow even into mid summer. I spotted some boot prints that exited early to the left and decided to give them a try.
The slope steepened considerably at this exit, maybe close to 60 degrees, and I buried my axe to the hub for support and climbed what was essentially a ladder of boot prints in the snow. I exited on to dry rock as quickly as possible and found easy class 3 scrambling to regain the ridge above the V Notch, which I found to be impassable from above.
The wind was intense on the high ridge and out of the gully, and I moved quickly and carefully through mixed class 2 and 3 terrain and patchy snow the remaining several hundred feet to the summit. I immediately ducked behind some rocks out of the wind, unfortunately facing north away from the other nearby fourteeners, and had a quick snack and drink. My phone battery had died from the cold, although I was able to rewarm it in my down jacket for enough juice to grab a few more summit photos before heading down.
Although the wind was relentless, it was probably helping to keep the snow firm in the early morning sun, and I was able to reverse the steep snow slope back into the normal gully and down to the dry saddle. I put my crampons away here, hoping the loose scree would allow me to plunge step 1,000′ down to the base. Unfortunately the layer just beneath the surface was still frozen creating more of a ball bearing on a smooth floor effect, and I quickly shifted back to the more stable talus for the rest of the descent. Two patches of snow near the base were low angle enough to glissade down and I quickly reached the junction where I had cached my snow shoes for the return.
The snow was softer in the flatter basin, and I put on the flotation once I passed the summer trailhead for the road descent. A group of 5 backcountry skiers were skinning up the opposite slopes in the valley, and they paused to watch the lone climber stumbling down the road in snow shoes.
It was near 11:30 by the time I reached the trailhead, and I unburied a beer I had cached in the snow at the trailhead and enjoyed it while taking off my gear. Once finished, I left Yankee Boy Basin and the Ouray area for Telluride to attempt the combo of Mount Wilson and El Diente the following day. Despite the 2 AM wake up, the conditions were not to be. I reached about 13,000′ on the south face of El Diente by sunrise, but the snow dramatically softened as soon as the sun peaked into Kilpacker Basin. The steep route, normally class 3 when dry, could no longer safely hold my weight, and I turned around 6 hours into what had already been a long day. Good to have a reason to go back…
