Mt. Sneffels

Route: Southwest Ridge
Posted On: 10/1/2012, By: mountain hiker
Info: SW Ridge route- The final pitch to the summit is free of snow. There is snow in the small gullies. Doable but you must be careful.

The standard route has some snow too, especially the gully above Lavander Col. It is still easier than SW ridge route.

Also, the trails on both sides of Blue Lakes Pass have snow. Winter boots should be fine. 

Route: Southwest Ridge
Posted On: 9/27/2012, By: Wentzl
Info: Recent snow of a few inches makes route dicey in places. Snow and ice the whole way up, even where usually windblown and dry. 

Route: Southwest Ridge
Posted On: 7/2/2012, By: altidude
Info: The SW Ridge and Standard Routes on Mt. Sneffels are completely snow free, get some! 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 7/13/2012, By: cardinal010
Info: There's a short section near the top of the couloir holding snow, some icy. It's probably mostly melted by now, but be careful because it's easy to slip. Otherwise, good and dry. 

Route: Southwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/19/2012, By: Wyoming Bob
Info: Road - dry; hike to Blue Lakes Pass - dry; climb to substantive couloir - dry; couloir - avoidable snow; climb up onto ridge proper - dry; ridge- dry; Lavender Col- snow in upper portion; climb to upper col - dry; approach trail (std. route) - dry 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 6/12/2012, By: itsallgood
Info: Only one patch of snow left on the road to the 4WD trailhead. It's only about 30 feet long but it is DEEP. There was a guy up there from Ouray Bridge and Roads(?) that said he was going to bring a dozer up and clear out so I would imagine you'd be good by the weekend.

Route up to Lavendar Col is completely dry. You can make it about 200 feet up the couloir until you reach snow. We didn't try to go any further as we did not have spikes or axes and it would have been a little too sketchy for my comfort level. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 6/3/2012, By: Tony1
Info: Mt. Sneffels standard route from Yankee Boy Basin.

Starting from the 11,200' TH, the 4x4 road has a few small water crossings that can be easily navigated. There are a couple small snowfields to walk over, or you can go around them.

The beginning of the actual trail is all clear and easily navigated with only one small snow area at not much of an angle - super easy!

The big gully (first picture) is completely melted out except for the very top, but getting over the snow at the top of the gully is not difficult at all. Just walk up and over.

Lavender Couloir (second and third pictures) is partially dry - between 1/3 and 1/2 the way up, the snow starts and the angle is roughly 45 degrees. However, there are good steps everywhere, and the snow is very suncupped. It is doable without an axe and microspikes, but would be a little sketchy. If you have them, take them for sure. The sides of the gully should be melted out within the next several days.

The V-notch (fourth picture) is a little wet from melting snow but the holds are very solid and trustworthy.

Past the V-notch up to the summit is dry. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 5/29/2012, By: letourneau41
Info: The gully from the col is still full of snow. Traction is recommended. V Notch has some snow in it but easily passable. Here is a youtube video taken from the Notch up to the summit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gErsFjwpn0 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 5/19/2012, By: 275climber
Info: Snow is melting fast on the road. As of today you can currently drive about 1/2 mile past the lower TH, about 11,600ft or so. Then there are some big drifts over the road.
Great climb, as the previous report said the exit notch "V" is blocked by ice/snow, but you have two choices do a little rock climbing or go back down and follow another snow filled chute up. 

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! 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.