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A few days leading up to our climb of Mount Sneffels and ski/snowboard descent of the Snake Couloir on Sneffels' north face I watched the classic Jim Carrey SNL bit "Jimmy Tango's Fat Busters" to get in the right mindset. It worked.
Pulling into Yankee Boy Basin on Friday night around 10pm, we were able to drive to the "biological waste" outhouse at around 11,200'. The snow on the 4WD road for the last bit had been aggressively augured recently with 8 foot snow walls on either side of the muddy yet passable road. Sleep came fast this the warm night and we woke up to the bright light of the moon before skinning directly from the car at 6:30am. The snow was firm and gave way fast skinning into upper Yankee Boy. We skinned as long as possible up toward Lavender Col on the crusted snow. Andy was able to skin to the col but Sarah and I gave up a bit early, shouldered our skis/board and booted up the left side.
We continued to boot it up to the top of the couloir above Lavender Col before digging through a small cornice to exit the couloir and get onto the final face below the summit. We reached the summit around 9:30am and snacked as we decided if we thought conditions were good to go in the Snake. From the summit we could see the upper half of the Snake and it looked like nice soft wind blown snow. Thinking back to Jimmy Tango uttering the words, "Ride the Snake", we decided to go for it. A nice, recently-installed anchor about 70' down from the summit allowed for a short 50' rappel through a channel down into the Snake. (I've seen anchor webbing on the summit before but if the anchor existed there this time, it was buried and would require a long rappel so we didn't look.)
The snow in the Snake was as good as it looked. Soft and slightly wind compacted but still very skiable and fun. After the hard right turn it was a bit harder but certainly far from icy. And after the narrow choke it opened up to pretty heavy, wet snow that was a joy to ride/ski despite requiring a bit of leg muscling.
We skied down and right past obvious rocks/cliffs before switching back to touring mode to start the hump out. Turns out one can skin/climb over Dyke Col (~13,000') between Kismet Peak and Cirque Mountain instead of humping it up an extra 500' to go back over Lavender Col. This allows allows for a more direct and steep ski back to the trailhead with little to no traversing. We followed a solid skin track up to Dyke Col, ripped the skins off one last time and made fun, wide open turns back to the car. Satisfying!
A waning moon made getting up before sunrise a bit easier and, later, kept us company as we ascended up Yankee Boy Basin
The snowpack is a still a bit deep
Andy ascends above the Lavender Col on the standard ascent route of Mount Sneffels
Our objective of the day was to ski the Snake Couloir on Sneffels' north face. An in-situ anchor allowed for an easy 50&#
I stayed up near the summit to take some photos of Andy making the initial turns of the Snake. Below him the couloir makes a
We lucked out with soft wind-packed snow in the couloir. Andy slays it.
Down near the dog leg was a bitchin' cornice. Sarah indulged me by making some sweet turns just below this cornice and do
Hard charging down into the crux of the ski descent, ca. 50 degree slope into a narrow choke. Wild!
Below the choke we were really able to open it up and make some big, fun turns in the soft snow
Time to skin back up, over and ski out. We went over Dyke Col for less skinning and a more direct ski to the trailhead
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Yeah, you guys got some great conditions in there, way to ride the snake! Sunday... I did not do much other than sleep, house work, and work work with beer. I'm assuming your truck was ok? Mine seemed fine, other than a small dent from one of those deep ruts...
We lucked out with the snow in there...good stuff! And nothing wrong with some sleep and beer. But house work and work? Easy there! Our truck did turn out to be fine. Thankfully the porcupines or whatever critter it was aren't all-nighters.
There was an anchor off the summit 2 weeks ago. I think someone moved it since the materials looked the same when we skied the Trilogy this weekend (and I had time on the summit to dig around and couldn't find the old one). Great conditions- wish the temps would cool off a bit so this ski season would keep rolling.
The snow was pretty deep on the summit this past weekend from the previous weekend so it might still be there. I've been ”that guy” to remove the summit anchor in late spring in the past, though, so it's entirely possible it's been moved/removed. I really liked the location of the anchor we used (thanks to the folks that put it in!) It allowed for a single 50' rap (we had a 30m glacier rope) to a nice stance for getting skis/board strapped on.
I hear you...would be nice to see it cool off for a while longer (and for Utah to keep its own dust!)
Jason - Awesome TR, as usual, and thanks a ton for helping us move beyond our comfort zone (again) and for providing much needed mental support (as always). This was such an amazing day, and I'm mega-pumped to finally have this line under my belt.
Frank - Thanks a ton for the beta you sent my way last week. Sarah and I were definitely a bit nervous about this one, so we really appreciate your help.
Ben - This was the best day I've ever had on skis in the San Juans. Granted, I haven't notched 1/10th as many centennial descents as you, but I really do think you will have a blast on this one.
Beautiful photos, I mean really beautiful. Did you happen to take any pictures or notice the conditions of the south face, aka birthday chutes? Are they still skiable?
Were you able to drive all the way to upper 4wd trailhead at 12,400 feet?
The Birthday Chutes looked good to go and fun skiing. See the first two photos at http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/peakstatus_entry.php?recnum=3000 for shots from jmc5040 from last weekend.
The road is plowed to about 11,100' (solar outhouse) and that's it. Deep snowpack beyond that allows skinning right from the TH.
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