Mt. Sneffels

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 8/11/2024, By: KHay
Info: After rain the night before, caught a cloudy day for Snuffles. Up the SW Ridge and down the south Slope. Route funding up was straight forward until the final section. The scramble looks stouter than class 3 but its an easy, solid route on the ridge. The route down was harder to find. We missed the notch and ended up in a gulley lower down. When you descend the obvious dirt trail from the top, stay toward the upper, leftmost gulley that lines up with the top of the saddle. Eventually we found a few cairns in the lower gulley and were able to down climb into the right location. Started at the trailhead around 5:30 and back to the car before noon. Overall a great day. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 8/8/2024, By: ssowalskie
Info: Summer conditions. The slope and gully are a slog, and the notch is dry and passable. I found more solid rock by sticking to the left side of the slope on the ascent and the left/center left of the gully. The notch was easy on the way up, just a little trickier on the descent, so depending on your comfort level you may want a spotter. Saw about half the climbers with helmets and half without (including some people that only had running shoes and a water bottle - please make sure to bring the necessary gear). Car to car it took just under 4.5 hours from the outhouse parking area. 

Route: Southwest Ridge
Posted On: 8/3/2024, By: catward77
Info: Did the loop up SW, down South. Started from outhouse parking around 4:15am; Subaru outback drove up easily. Cut through Blue Lakes Pass past Wrights Lake instead of taking the road the rest of the way. Saw 10+ shooting stars. SW ridge was a super fun class 3 climb. Summit was busy. Descended south slopes which was just a bunch of loose, steep scree that I didn't enjoy as much. Recommend ascending SW ridge if you're comfy with just a tad more technical sections; it's very worth it in my opinion. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 7/29/2024, By: PearsonJohnP
Info: Wonderful day. I did the Southwest loop to the summit and then down the South side. On trail by 7, at the 2WD junction, and back by 1. Clouds came in around 12 but no rain. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 7/29/2024, By: Abowser7
Info: Great day on Sneffels, full summer conditions. Started at 4, summit at 5:30, back to car at 7. I drive a 4runner with a 3" lift and 33's and was able to make it about a half mile short of the upper trailhead. There is a large parking spot where myself and about 7 other cars parked. I would not attempt the upper upper trailhead unless you have even more clearance. There are a few sections of rock that just look like a staircase, only two cars made it to the upper trailhead and they were both very heavily modified tacomas. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 7/23/2024, By: ECF55
Info: Hiked Sneffels today from Blue Lakes, up SW Ridge and down the South Slopes. The heat dome has done a number on the snow bank in the Lavender Col gully. Now all that remains are piles and piles of rocks! Seriously, that descent is really unpleasant. Basically summer conditions all around. 

Route: Southwest Ridge
Posted On: 7/22/2024, By: sean23
Info: Went up SW ridge today and down slopes. There was no snow on the ridge, and the one patch of snow in the lavender couloir was avoidable. No traction needed. Altogether perfect conditions. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 7/12/2024, By: AndrewJCraigie
Info: Snow still in the gully below the v notch, but like last report said, can stick to the right and make your way up. Poles helped out. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 7/10/2024, By: Marcos
Info: Snow in the gully above 13,700' was definitely the crux of the day. The snow was pretty much bulletproof when we got to that point at 8 AM. We stayed to climbers right and were able to use the rock wall for handholds. Axe and spikes made things more comfortable on the descent. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 7/9/2024, By: lylecwong
Info: There is still snow just below the "V Notch"- poles and microspikes for comfort. Most that didn't turn- back went up the the gully just to the left of the snow (including myself- apologies no pics). There is a bit of snow to traverse(a little more difficult coming down) and some class 3 just before rejoining the standard route and bypassing the V Notch- manageable without microspikes. 

Route: Southwest Ridge
Posted On: 7/4/2024, By: nohandz
Info: Parked at the outhouse, though I didn't realize there are several pullouts further up that I could have made it to, below the official upper TH. The upper TH might be doable in a stock 4wd truck, no worse than Massive past Elbert, IMO. It was definitely nicer hiking the Wright spur instead of the road to BL pass. It was 33F when I left, but warmed quickly. Some water crossings, but nothing that soaked my approach shoes. No issues with the route up other than it is hard at time to match up the pics on here at times. There was one snow patch that was easy to go around in a gully. Some wind at Wright and more at the pass, but sheltered as I went higher, and enjoyed the sun as I popped back over from the BL side of the ridge. I decided to follow others down the standard route instead of reversing. As noted in a recent report, there is snow at the top of the v-notch gully. One climber slid down it today with spikes on, so I went to the right to avoid the gully and traversed back in below the snow (see my pic with the finger, looking up from below where I dropped in). Some others didn't drop back in and ended up in class 4 terrain. The loose dirt on this descent is as awful as everyone says. HOWEVER, I stayed in the backpack-sized rocks to the right on descent and it made it _much_ easier. I would still go up the ridge, but makes this descent easier. About 3+hr up and 2hr down. Beautiful scenery and day. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 6/29/2024, By: mtalll
Info: Route is dry to about halfway up the last gully, where deep snow starts. Climbers coming down said to avoid the snow, and several people scrambled on the rocks to the left of the gully. I went that way as well, rock was secure, and route finding didn't seem too hard, though harder than the standard route. 

Route: Southwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/27/2024, By: dgriff
Info: We went up and down the SW Ridge and parked at the outhouse. Getting up to the outhouse was subaru-able but definitely took some experience driving rougher roads - however, once there was able to get a nice flat spot to sleep. From above the the out house, the road turned into a bit of a river and I would heed caution before driving higher. Hiking from there, the road streams took some navigation to cross, none were risky other than a wet shoe but it could definitely ruin the day. Getting up to Blue lakes pass there was minimal snow crossing, all very low angle but was already a bit soft at 4am so it may be quite soft later in the day. Once on the ridge, if you are comfortable with 3rd class terrain you can hug the rocks and stay off the snow. Even in the gully, if you take some time to route find, you can get up a bit higher on the rocker and then hug the wall staying out off of the steep snow. We had microspikes and an ice-axe which would have been well needed if we had ended up in the snow. After that, its clear roads to the summit which was excellent. We went back down the ridge which went quite smoothly and talked with someone on the summit that came up the standard route and noted that it would have been a steep snow decent. 

Route: Southwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/25/2024, By: Gibson135
Info: Most of the route is snow free. Between the Yankee Boy Basing trailhead and Blue Lakes pass, there are a couple of small flat areas of snow to cross, but not a big deal at all. I don't think it even went below freezing the night before (at least not for very long) because it felt pretty soft at 4:30am. After the pass, there were two small areas of snow. Heading up, with the only light being my headlamp, I used an ax and crampons and went directly on the snow when bypassing the pinnacle in the defined gully and turning left around the steep rock, as described in the route description here on site, pictures 19 and 20. Coming back, it was fine to just avoid the snow going around on the side - just couldn't read it well enough beforehand in the dark. It was a great day! I was wearing boots that I forgot had worn out soles so that was not good. Approach shoes would have been fine all day honestly... maybe with gators here and there. I had microspikes and never got them out.. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 6/23/2024, By: Gertine
Info: There were maybe 4-5 easy and short snowfields to cross lower down, we did fine on those without microspikes but there was a little bit of post holing on the way down as it warmed up. The really brutal part though was the couloir leading up to the V notch. There was maybe 200 feet (Im bad at estimating) of icy snow in the couloir that would have been much more comfortable to climb with ice axes and crampons. We did it in microspikes and poles and kicked in steps early in the AM. It felt very stable but I would be okay if I never had to do that again. When we were coming down two hikers going up said another two had climbed up using the rocks on the left of the couloir but I have no info about that option. We parked just below the outhouse and that drive was fine for us in a 4x4 van with a lift.