5/17/2012 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 5/17/2012, By: seano732 Info: Climbed Sneffels via Lavender route this morning. Car camped at 2 wheel drive TH, you could probably punch it for another mile or so, but then the snowdrifts start. The slope to Lavender col is a giant scree and talus fest, with intermittent snow. The couloir itself is in great shape, perfect pons and axe climbing. One caveat; the exit notch (V) will not go, it‘s blocked with this funky sno, ice, verglass thing. I went about 15 feet higher, needed solid 4th and at least one low 5th move to pull out of the couloir. Better to exit earlier to the S face chutes, which I did on the descent. Absolutely BOMBER weather, 6 hours RT. Pics and full TR to follow. Peace! |
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11/1/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 11/19/2011, By: dotc Info: Climbed Sneffels on Nov 17th. Camp bird road is "driveable" with chains, 4wd etc.. up to the Revenue mine. My vehicle wasn‘t up to it so I walked from below the switchbacks, adding an extra 5k or so to the approach. Deep snow and post-holing form 10,000-12,000‘. Snowshoes are highly recommend. The standard route above the summer upper trailhead is wind blown and relativity easy, however the upper summit couloir has deep snow and poorly bonded windslab in places. The "V-notch" was full of snow and a bit tricky. |
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10/2/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 10/3/2011, By: Rcizzle Info: Hiked into Sneffels during the evening on the 2nd. The route is 99% snow free except for a small 99.5% avoidable patch on the saddle. Did you know 78% of all statistics are made up on the spot? Peak conditions around the San Juans given my view from the summit: the Lake City group is mostly snow free especially on standard routes. The San Miguel mountains are packing a lot of snow on the north faces. See other condition reports. But, all south slope routes on sneffels are snow free but not very dry. West slope high country has been getting some precip. Engineer and Cinnamon are still dry. |
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9/25/2011 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 9/26/2011, By: kushrocks Info: Conditions on the ridge were great. It was t-shirt weather on the summit yesterday and the whole route is almost snow free. There were only two or three little small sections of snow on the ridge in the areas that don‘t receive much sunlight and only one section of about 10 feet where you had to be careful on the snow in an steep section. We brought our microspikes with us just in case but never used them. P.S. This route was an awesome class 3 climb but descending the standard route sucks reminds me of a mix of Columbia and Bross. |
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9/24/2011 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 9/24/2011, By: aerohr Info: Sneffels - Ascended the ridge and descended standard route. No continuous snow, very few snow fields, no impact on your climbing. If I were to climb it tomorrow, I‘d wear trail runners and not think twice. |
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9/9/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 9/10/2011, By: jessebartunek Info: I was rather taken back by descriptions of the approach to the upper trailhead. The hardest part of the road is indeed the "keep right after the restroom pullout." This short section requires short wheelbase with 4wd low. However, if you go left here then stay to the right you will shortly rejoin the same road with very little difficulty. As you do pass through the creek 2x this may be difficult or impassible other times of the year. My real beef comes at the "Recommended Only Short-Wheelbase 4wd Vehicles Beyond This Point" sign. I parked my stock AWD Ford Escape at this point and hiked the beautiful roadway for a mile to the Upper Trailhead. This roadway was far nicer than most of what I had driven up the previous few miles. My take on it is if the water is low...don‘t stop at the restroom parking area, keep driving all the way up to the upper trailhead. And would somebody please make the description more accurate. |
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8/22/2011 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 9/4/2011, By: Wyoming Bob Info: Yankee Doodle basin to base of SW ridge was dry, clear and obvious trail, no dark approach route finding issues, no snow on ridge, technical section prior to top ridge proper was muddy, route well marked as to cairns, no route finding issues to the top, route sees traffic |
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8/14/2011 Route: Standard Route Posted On: 8/15/2011, By: dpage Info: Standard Route from Yankee Boy Basin is free of snow. Whether that makes this route better I‘ll leave up to you. |
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8/6/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 8/8/2011, By: tmathews Info: Summited Sneffels via the southwest ridge. The route is completely clear of snow save one section where you drop down to the climber‘s right into a gully. The gully still has snow in it, but you can scramble up the rock to either the left or the right of it (I went up to the left). I found this route to be much more enjoyable than the standard route! |
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7/20/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 7/21/2011, By: Wish I lived in CO Info: Snow is still present in the upper half of the upper gulley. Steps are well cut-in. Seemed to be moderately soft by 10 am. Regarding snow climbs I‘m guess I‘m a novice, but I‘d recommend an ice axe, cramp-ons wouldn‘t hurt either. One person had an uncontrolled slide in the gulley while there (he is OK). Lower lavender gulley and approach all snow free. Snow free at the top above the upper gulley, including the crux notch move. Will try to post pics or a TR later in the week. |
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7/12/2011 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 7/13/2011, By: Wentzl Info: The 4wd trailhead cannot yet be reached by vehicle. The road is open to the Wright‘s Lake trail. Lots of snow on the road above that and not likely to be open all the way for some time, a couple weeks at least. SW ridge generally snow free except for crux half way up the ridge. I went up and over and didn‘t need an axe, but if traversing under and around one would be useful. Photo of the crux move and summit attached. Descent on standard route. Snow in the couloir above Lavender Col soft and easy to plunge step even at 9:00 p.m. Recent rain really softened up the long descent off Lavender Col making it actually very enjoyable. |
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7/3/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 7/4/2011, By: rleclair Info: Road above Lower TH has 3 small stream crossings and passable snow drifts on the way to the Upper TH. From Upper TH, some minor snow crossings - no snowshoes required at all. Some snow in the gully going to up towards the col - snow was hard in the early AM but a slush pile late AM. The col is full of snow (some rock outcropping now) - crampons/axe were helpful for ascent/descent. The exposed crux move is muddy with some snow at the top of it. Minor snow crossing on the way to the summit but again manageable. |
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7/2/2011 Route: Blaine Basin Snake Coulior Posted On: 7/6/2011, By: Wentzl Info: Trail up to the basin generally clear of snow. Couloir in great shape for climbing, looks like ski season is over. Crampons were useful, its getting hard, but not icy yet. Still enough snow for an easy exit at the top that avoids rock climbing of any sort, but that will melt out soon. Descent on SW ridge very nice. Enough snow to glissade past many of the switchbacks from Blue Lakes Pass down to the lakes. |
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6/25/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 6/27/2011, By: rijaca Info: Road to TH at 11,400‘ is clear. Snow starts ~.5 miles further up the road. Snow is hard in the early am, getting soft by mid-morning. The lower and upper gullys are snow filled. Ice axe and crampons were very useful. |
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6/12/2011 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 6/19/2011, By: Matt Lemke Info: Climbed up Sneffels via Yankee Boy Basin last Sunday. TR to come but will be awhile. I‘ll be making one BIG one for my whole summer climbing in Colorado in mid July. Anyway, I was able to drive up to about 10,000 feet in my little Toyota Camry and lucked out and managed to get a ride up to the roads end with my bike rather than walking the road with my bike. She was headed up to meet a client to guide them up Sneffels. Started hiking around 6:00 am at 11,400 feet elevation and the route was continuous snow all the way to the summit. Definently needed crampons for the Lavender coulier early in the morning however I felt so good I got up to the base of the coulier at 12,700 feet up the valley in an hour and summitted an hour after that around 8 am. I passed a couple people on the way. Sunrise was stunning with the alpenglow on the snow. Was an exciting class 3 move around the rock face to make the final 50 or so foot climb. Had the summit to myself for about 20 minutes before the wind drove me down. Couldn‘t glissade since it was still very early but that was fine. Got back to my bike around 10 am and the whole lot at the end of the road was filled with jeeps. Even met a few people who did Teakettle that morning back at the TH. Biked down the road a ways to my car and was on my way to Silverton as I was camping at Molas Lake all last week. This was one of my most successful climbs as I used crampons for the first time and did a full on snow climb with a slightly exposed class 3 move completely solo. I also climbed nearly 3000 feet in a couple hours. It was a big leap in my mountaineering comfort zone. Starting this Friday I will be gaining at least 1 summit for 20 straight days...can‘t wait! Keep an eye out for my big TR to come in mid July that will describe my June/July adventures in Colorado. Should have tons of photos as well. Hoping for 30 summits and lots of backpacking. BTW, last Saturday I also did Challenger Point with no snow. |
