Route Description

From Glenwood Springs, drive approx. 27 miles south on CO 82 to the small town of Snowmass. Turn right on the Snowmass Creek road and begin measuring mileage. Drive 1.7 miles and turn left to continue on Snowmass Creek road. The road turns to dirt at 7 miles. At 10.7 miles, turn left and cross a bridge over Snowmass Creek. At 10.9 miles, turn right at another junction and continue to the trailhead at the end of the road (11.3 miles).

Details:

From the trailhead (Photo #1), hike south up the Snowmass Creek trail. The start of this hike goes through private property, so please stay on the trail. In the first mile, pass through one or more fence gates (Photo #2) and reach a small trail junction after about 1.5 miles. The West Snowmass trail drops down to the right – stay left on the main (Maroon-Snowmass) trail. Near 4 miles, there’s a great view of Snowmass Mountain up Bear Creek - Photo #3. After over 6 miles, you’ll reach the infamous log jam (Photo #4) at the north end of one of the large ponds above 10,100’. When the area is thawed out and the water is not raging too hard, the log jam provides a relatively easy way to reach the remaining trail on the other side of the creek. Carefully cross the log jam - Photo #5.

On the west side of the ponds, follow the serpentine trail (Photo #6) south for 1/2 mile before it turns right and switchbacks up a slope. After gaining a couple of hundred feet, the trail turns left (south) and reenters the forest near 10,400’. Hike through the forest for 1 mile to reach another trail junction - Photo #7 and Photo #8. Continue straight toward Snowmass Lake. Hike another 1/4 mile to reach the stream outlet just below the lake - Photo #9. Finally, after over 8 miles of hiking, you’ve reached Snowmass Lake near 11,000’. At this (east) end of the lake, there are tent sites on each side of the stream outlet - Photo #10.

Before reaching the lake, turn left and cross a small log bridge that spans the stream - Photo #11. Turn right and pass through a short section of forest to reach a clearing near the lake’s shore. This is a great place to walk over to the shore and study the remaining climb beyond the lake - Photo #12, Photo #13 and Photo #14. Photo #15 is a closer look at a key section of the route – a scree slope above the west end of the lake. Photo #16 is a closer look at the route above 12,000’.

From the clearing, locate a small trail that heads southwest into the willows - Photo #17. Enter the willows and continue along the side of the lake - Photo #18. The trail weaves through the willows and crosses a few open areas before reaching the west end of the lake - Photo #19. Swing west to reach a boulder field west of the lake - Photo #20. Carefully follow small cairns northwest up through the boulder field as you climb towards the gully that drains the mass of snow (snowmass) above. Near 11,300’, the boulders get smaller and you’ll reach the base of the scree slope, left of the gully - Photo #21 and Photo #22. Climb several hundred feet along the left side of the water gully on loose scree. There isn’t much of a trail here and hikers have tried many different variations to reach the top. If there isn't much water flowing in the gully, you may find it easier to hike up the smooth, larger rocks in the gully. Photo #23 looks down from approximately 11,700’. Above 11,800’, the pitch eases. Before getting too high, find a spot to cross to the right (north) side of the drainage/gully - Photo #24. Reach easier terrain above 12,000’ (Photo #25) and continue up to the snowmass - Photo #26. The remainder of this hike is usually easier with firm, stable snow and many people climb this route before too much snow melts out in late summer.

Once on the snowmass, locate the summit and a large bump to the left of the summit - Photo #26. The bump provides the easiest way to gain Snowmass’ southeast ridge, before climbing to the summit. From the easy terrain near 12,000’, hike about 1/2 mile toward the summit (Photo #26 and Photo #27) to gain another flat area just above 13,000’ - Photo #28. If the snowmass is mostly snow-free (sometimes in late summer), check out the Notes section below for a possible variation. Otherwise, turn left and continue west toward the bump on the ridge - Photo #29. Aim for the break in terrain on the left side of some cliffs (Photo #30) and climb moderate snow or large rocks - Photo #31. A mountain axe can be very helpful here and crampons may be necessary if the snow is firm. As you approach the ridge, the pitch gets fairly steep - Photo #32. Taken just below the ridge, Photo #33 shows the terrain. Continue up (Photo #34) to reach the ridge crest at 13,700’ - Photo #35.

The summit is over 1/3 mile away and there’s plenty of Class 3 scrambling along the southeast ridge - Photo #35. This is a good place to put on your helmet. If there isn’t too much snow along the west side of the ridge, the easiest route to the summit stays below the ridge crest on the west side. Pass over to the west side and continue just below the ridge crest - Photo #36. After a short distance, the remaining climb becomes a bit more obvious - Photo #37 and Photo #38. Look for cairns and continue below the ridge crest - Photo #39. About half way between the bump and the summit, you may find it easy to scramble right along the ridge crest for a short distance - Photo #40.

Drop back below the ridge and continue toward a large point on the ridge - Photo #41. Stretching down to the left of this point is a small rib of rock that will force you to stay well below the ridge crest – Photo #42. Locate a break in the rib (Photo #43) and scramble over the rocks to see the remaining route - Photo #44. Continue under large rocks to reach a loose, dirt/scree section that climbs back to the ridge - Photo #45. Hike up to a point just below the ridge and turn left to see the final pitch - Photo #46. Traverse left across the face for a short distance (Photo #47) and climb large rocks to reach the summit - Photo #48, Photo #49 and Photo #50.