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 Peak:  Snowmass Mountain
 Route:  East Slopes
 Range:  Elk
 Posted By:  mrschaible
 Date of Info:  9/9/2011
 Date Posted:  9/10/2011
Details

With all the rain recently, the trail is extremely wet and muddy (extremely slippery as well). Horses have also torn up the trail and left quite a bit dung all over it. Once you get to Snowmass lake, plan on getting your feet wet as you cross from the shore of the lake to the scree field/beginning ascent as it is a swamp. We could not find a dry route to get across. Also, the route around the lake is overgrown and very difficult to find and maintain. We followed the GPX way points on this site towards the summit and they took us up a more difficult route with more boulder hopping and scree. I would recommend going further to the hikers right. Head up right next to the exposed waterfall and follow the really small cairns. It is all hard rock fields. You definitely want to head for the notch just to the left of the summit as described in the route guidance on this site. It is a very easy climb and very little exposure. The scree towards the top is wet and very slippery. I slipped more on this than all my other 14ers combined. We did this as a day hike in 10+45 but are in very good shape. The fall colors are just starting to come in. It is a really beautiful hike.


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