Mt Sneffels, CO

[Jasonst]

I started a thread about 6 months ago, asking for advice on hiking in Colorado. My sincerest appreciation to Dave M and all that replied with their own helpful suggestions. As Darren said, the San Juans are BEAUTIFUL!! Amazing, rugged peaks everywhere!

My family and I were staying a few miles from Durango, visiting friends and I decided I would like to have a taste of a really tall mountain. Due to logistical issues and recommendations, I chose Mt Sneffels, just outside of Ouray and Telluride. What an amazing peak! Since I was going it alone, I chose the classic route which involved about 3k of climbing up loose talus, snow, and rock. Altitude definitely was an issue, as I felt no pain in the legs but a little lightheaded and seriously out of oxygen! I made it up in about 2-1/2 hrs, probably MUCH too fast (as the headache indicated), and the hike down was very fast. Amazing views all around! Thanks again to all who gave advice. Can't wait to hike another.

Jason

 

[WalksWithBlackflies]

I'm doing Sneffels in September. Would like to know more details of your trip. PM me. Thanx.

 

[David Metsky]

Did you come up from Yankee Boy Basin or the Blue Lakes side? It's a wonderful area either way. Glad you had a good hike.

Pictures?

-dave-

 

[Jasonst]

Just arrived home...
I hiked up the Yankee Boy basin side. I have to admit that I learned a lot from this hike (aside from the fact that I want to go back and hike more in the San Juans) I had a 4wd vehicle, and I pulled over way too soon. The actual TH is at 12,200 and I believe I started around 11,500. There were several groups out, hiking up the road. As I arrived at the 4wd parking lot, there were several vehicles there and as I was hiking up the road it became obvious that I could have made it up to the TH. Anyway, the views are magnificent. Also, I learned what a true "knife edge" is - when you are at 13,500 and you gain a ridge that truly drops off the other side - with about a couple of feet to stand on!

As for pictures, I am still a little deficient at posting pics. The summit pics were lacking because a storm was rolling in as I summitted and the clouds got real thick, real fast. I got great pics on the way up though. Dave - which approach did you use? I remember reading that you camped the night before. Did you struggle with the altitude?

J

 

[David Metsky]

My trip report

We camped down at Blue Lakes the night before, coming up over the pass into Yankee Boy Basin. We'd been in CO for about a week hiking at slightly lower elevations, so the altitude really didn't affect us too much.

-dave-

 

[Jasonst]

Dave
Some of your pics look familiar - some dont! Blue lakes looks like a good approach. Wasn't it possible to follow the ridge up to Sneffels rather than dropping down into YBB? I thought I read that as an option from Roach's book. Perhaps too difficult?

I ended up passing a group of 50 - yes, a guided group of 50. It was interesting to hear the comments of other hikers as the noise of the group came into view. Some were quite nasty... Anyhow, it was a great 14er.

J

 

[David Metsky]

The ridge from the top of the pass would have been a fairly technical route, lots of cliffs that we didn't have any desire to tackle. We saw large groups, not quite 50 but probably 20-25 from a nearby ranch. They seemed to be having fun, but clearly a much different experience than we had, hiking in pretty much solitude during the day.

-dave-

 

[WalksWithBlackflies]

I plan on climbing Sneffels via the Southwest Ridge in September. According to Roach, it looks worse than it is. I'll descend via Lavender Col. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[David Metsky]

This is a shot from Lavender Col towards Blue Lakes Pass. The ridge you are talking about (I think) is on the right side of the photo.

Here's another shot, from just below the summit, again looking down on the pass. Parts of it looked pretty hairy from below, but I'm a hiker not a climber.

-dave-

 

[Jasonst]

I read the same thing in Roach's book. I was descending with a local guy who has hiked the mountain quite often and he said that it is more class 3 than class 2. It is definitely doable without ropes though. I am not sure if there is a well defined trail though.

Try this site... It is similar to VFTT but it is for Colorado 14ers. You will need to register for free, and if you want to post, there is a fee. I found the trip reports to be useful.

Fourteener world board

 

[Jasonst]

Here's a trip report from 7/14/04:

Sneffels 7/14

 

[Jasonst]

Here's my first attempt at posting a pic. This was from Lavender Col. As you can see, there is still lots of snow up there!

 

[WalksWithBlackflies]

This guy took some good photos of the (Class 3) SW ridge:

http://www.mattmahoney.net/2001/sneffels.html

 

[Frodo]

I climbed Sneffels via the Southwest Ridge in Aug, 2001. I definitely thought that Gerry Roach's description made it sound easier than it was. Though the hand and foot holds were good (class 3), the exposure was intense! There are quite a few places for a serious fall...
I posted a few pictures HERE

 

[Jasonst]

RICO - here's another one for you...

J

Trip Report—July 28, 2004
Mount Sneffels
Yankee Boy Basin TH
Southwest Ridge Route with descent of South Slopes Route

Dan, Kenya, and I headed towards Ouray Tuesday night in search of the Yankee Boy Basin TH. We headed up 361 and never set our odometer, which ended up in confusion on where the TH really was. (Moral of the story; pay attention to the mileage.) I was surprised that Roach says it’s a passenger car road… it’s a bit dicey at times, but our Forester did fine. Along the way you pass three campgrounds, the third being the Yankee Boy campground, which we later found out (by measuring the distance back to Ouray) is indeed the TH. We camped at the Yankee Boy campground, not sure if we were at the TH, but not wanting to drive much further. To throw another kink in the plans, it had snowed up high that afternoon, putting a nice(?) blanket of snow on Sneffels.

It was a COLD night’s sleep and we woke up at o’dark 30 to frigid weather. We managed to get on the trail and hike the 4WD portion of the road to the 4WD TH. There were a few dicey spots, but it wasn’t incredibly rough—the Forester could have probably done it. A little way’s up the road there is a fork. You want the road on the right. (The reason I say that is 2 guys who were at the campground with us ended up going left and started climbing the wrong mountain. Oops.)

We arrived at Wright’s Lake after an hour, and then at the Blue Lake’s Pass after another hour (2 hours total). There was about 3 inches of snow on the ground. We decided to still go for the Class 3 ridge despite the slippery factor. It turned out to be really fun, a bit dicey at times due to the snow, but still fun. I highly recommend the route when it’s dry; it’s a fun one. The ridge had some route-finding and choices to make. There are cairns sometimes and then they disappear. At one point (after the notch perhaps?) we had a choice of two gullies. We chose the one on the left because it looked easier. It was an ok choice; I’m not sure if it was the right choice, if there is one. There were definitely several class 3 moves. I would give this ridge a solid class 3 rating. We reached the upper ridge, where the presence of snow was a bit scary. Lots of ledges and slabs that would be a no-brainer when dry required much more thought of which way was safest. At this point the summit of Sneffels was in a cloud, so we didn’t really know where exactly our goal was. We just headed up and eventually reached the summit after an hour and a half on the ridge making the ascent 3.5 hours total. In dry conditions, you could probably cut that time down a bit.

We were now in the cloud and had no view whatsoever to the east and occasionally a view to the west. We decided descending the ridge would be too risky, so opted for the South Slopes Route, dreading the "Lavender Col". It turned out to be very slow going to the saddle. We were grateful for footprints to follow because our visibility was nil until we dropped down a bit. We made it to the saddle and headed down the unpleasant scree. It wasn’t awful going down, but I think it would be going up. We finally joined up with the main trail and headed down towards camp taking our good ol’ time, talking with people, photographing the wildflowers which were in full bloom and just enjoying the beauty of the San Juans.

 

[fluffy]

It's a small world. I logged in here to read Cruddy Toes and Stinky Feet's trip report, and saw this thread. We just returned from the San Juans. They are the best. Never made it to Sneffels, but did see it from across Governor's Basin from the ridge on Virginius Pass, where we played around in the snow one day (most intense glissading I've ever done - even our dog slid down on his butt for awhile before getting his balance!) I know both Gerry Roach (author of the book on 14'ers) and Matt Mahoney, who's photos were posted here. I also know someone who carried a 6 week-old baby up the snowfield to the summit of Sneffels.
flluffy

 

[HikerDoc]

Hello, Just back from a week in the San Juan. Started with Sneffels as an aclimatization peak using Lavender Col. Nice snow couloir with neat keyhole move at the top. Then went to Durango for the Chicago Basin peaks. You have to catch the 9am Silverton Railroad ($60) for the 2 1/2 slow ride up to "Needleton" a virtual place from which your 7 mile walk into Chicago Basin begins. Slow and gradual with 3 day pack. Lots of huffing and puffing which those of you who live at sea level like me know. We went in as high as we could to 11,200' to a sigh that says "no camping beyond this sign". Plently of water and huge numbers of wild goats who love to chew up whatever you have peed on. Day 2 we got Windom and Sunlight. Forget the red couloir if you go that way and go to the left, up the scree and straight for the summit. I couldn't quite do a handstand on the summit boulder but touched the summit USGS marker which is good enough. Down to Twin Lakes in a hale storm (happerns every afternoon) and back to camp. Day 3, did Eolus (didn't bother with N. Eolus which doesn't count as a separate peak an did not offer any more attraction. The "catwalk in the sky" is like Katahdin's Knife Edge only easier because it is much shorter. Went out on day 4 to wait for the train back to Durango. Great trip, highly recommended (and of course necessary if one is to complete all the 14'ers). Have now done 38. After Durango we went over to Ridgeway to get Wilson Peak. Some nice hand over foot scrambling. Got a good look at El Diente and Mt. Wilson which we will get on another trip. Hoping to get Snowmass, Pyramid and possibly the Crestones or Capitol in a couple of weeks. This is our 6 year of going out to CO. I would suggest you get the easy ones first (Collegiates, Mosquitos, Front Range), to get a feel for the typical terrain and approaches. If you liked Sneffels and like the challenge, it only gets better.

 

[Jasonst]

Hikerdoc
I was under the impression that El Diente was not an official 14er due to the lack of significant col between it and Wilson. Is that true, or are you hiking is mostly because it's on the way to Wilson? Just curious. That group is impressive looking from Telluride!

Wilsons

 

[HikerDoc]

You may be right. When looking across the ridge from the "Rock of Ages" col, it seems to be a continuous ridge. When we were there we met some locals who did the entire ridge including both peaks in one day and it sounded to me like that is probably what I would do. They went up El Diente and down Mt. Wilson. The older books list it as 2 separate peaks. There is controvery as to what are peaks and what are not. For example are N. Eolus and Eolus separate peaks or not? Depends on who you ask. What about Kit Carson and Challenger Point? If I am going all the way into Indian Basin and have the time, I will probably go for both.

 

[Jasonst]

14er list

I was using this list as my source. I believe is jives with Roach's book but am not sure. Good luck anyway with your pursuits. I've got the bug now for the high peaks but I don't know how possible it will be to get out there enough to do them all. I think it may take 20 yrs or more!! It will give me something to do with my kids!