2/4/2023 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 2/5/2023, By: paulbarish Info: Superb conditions! Get it while it's good! Great snow for skiing (wish I had my real skis instead of silveretta binding/mountain boots) Trail breaking was easy and the snow in the lavender Couloir was stable and easy to travel in. The v notch had a cornice and was full of snow but the feature immediately right of it was super chill and secure. Great day in the mountains! |
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10/16/2022 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 10/17/2022, By: Wentzl Info: Nearly summer conditions. Photos show only snow still on SW Ridge. Easily crossed without traction, axe not necessary. V notch on S Slopes route still has some ice that makes it difficult |
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10/15/2022 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 10/15/2022, By: Outbounder Info: The route is completely dry except for the short approach (~50 feet) to the V notch and the V notch itself. I used spikes and an ice axe for this portion. I'd advise the spikes (I think you can leave the ice axe at home). I found descending the V notch with my back to the notch easier, as I didn't have a spotter and could more easily gauge my footing. The surrounding peaks are covered in snow and the views are gorgeous! |
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10/10/2022 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 10/10/2022, By: kalestew Info: Standard route is fine, navigable without traction. The notch has snow loaded on the left so you do have to keep right which makes it only a touch more challenging. Gorgeous as always. |
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10/8/2022 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 10/10/2022, By: blonde_dinosaur Info: Climbed up via Southwest Ridge and down via the gully on the standard on Saturday 10/8. There was snow at the start of the trailhead, but mostly navigable without traction, especially in the morning when it was hard and crunchy. **Bring waterproof shoes.** The final scramble up to the summit had almost all dry rock, but some rock up to the ridge was wet and frosty. We did not use traction climbing up but I put on spikes to descend the gully, which had mushy snow during our descent. There were a few sketchy spots where ice axes would have been helpful (though we did not bring them). Saturday had beautiful weather and lots of sun. |
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9/26/2022 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 9/26/2022, By: ngreenster13 Info: Road to the Outhouse really ain't that bad with AWD (did it in a Crosstrek), just a couple iffy spots from washouts. I do not really get why the ridge isn't the main route, solid rock basically all the way up and way better than the gully on the standard route. Snow and ice all gone at the summit. Gorgeous day today. |
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9/23/2022 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 9/24/2022, By: gschmidt Info: Started from the end of the 2WD road, which was in bad shape from recent rain but still straightforward with some careful driving. Ascended SW ridge, descended south face. About an inch or two of snow was present on the south face, and there was some frost on rocks near the top. Missed the keyhole on the way down, but never exceeded class 3 climbing on the gulley just to the left. The SW ridge is mega-classic, secure, and never exceeds class 3 (though I'm a sport climber, so what do I know?). The route finding is fun and not difficult if you pause at the forks to assess. I straight up don't understand why the south slopes is the standard route; it sucks and yet still requires class 3 scrambling. |
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9/23/2022 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 9/24/2022, By: gschmidt Info: Started from the end of the 2WD road, which was in bad shape from recent rain but still straightforward with some careful driving. Ascended SW ridge, descended south face. About an inch or two of snow was present on the south face, and there was some frost on rocks near the top. Missed the keyhole on the way down, but never exceeded class 3 climbing on the gulley just to the left. The SW ridge is mega-classic, secure, and never exceeds class 3 (though I'm a sport climber, so what do I know?). The route finding is fun and not difficult if you pause at the forks to assess. I straight up don't understand why the south slopes is the standard route; it sucks and yet still requires class 3 scrambling. |
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9/17/2022 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 9/18/2022, By: hsharma1414 Info: We started at the 2WD trailhead at 7 am. By the time we reached the upper trailhead all the snow if any had melted. |
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9/11/2022 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 9/19/2022, By: razikimzungu Info: This is my 28th 14er summit. I have just finished climbing Sneffels on the weekend of the 11th under the impression of the South Slopes being a lower-end class three throughout. The latter part of the south slopes route required all climbers (several parties) on the day of my climb, to travel directly up a loose area of the slope, requiring scrambling almost the entire way. The veteran climbers to this peak brought helmets and harness to tackle the final 100 meters of the south side which in my experience reflects a higher rating than 3.0. The lower incline (12k-13k elevation) section of the route should have switchbacks to provide a path that minimizes the chance of rockslide within this zone, as there are several areas of loose gravel zones. Until switchbacks are implemented, I would strongly consider an upgrade of this path rating to 3.5, to ensure the safety of all new climbers on Mt. Sneffels. I have depended on the ratings of 14ers.com for all of my routes for 18 years now and this is the first time I have considered sending a review for your usually excellent route estimates. Appreciative climber and member, Josh |
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9/7/2022 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 9/7/2022, By: taylor4al Info: Hiked Mt. Sneffels this morning…fun climb for the most part, but the initial slope up was rather treacherous, both in the ascent and descent in my opinion due to the amount of loose rock coupled with the steep slope. Wear boots at a minimum and pants in the event you slide like I did. |
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8/27/2022 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 8/27/2022, By: shapovalovm Info: Up SW Ridge, down S Slopes. SW Ridge is waaaay more fun than S Slopes. Relatively easy class 3 (maybe 3-4 truly class 3 moves, the rest is just holding on to rock for balance), obvious navigation, mostly avoidable exposure (or not, if you prefer). Pure joy. The route was mostly wet at 8am (and mostly in shadow) and it was ~36'F when we started, so from now on I would assume there could be ice on the route. S Slopes: The V-notch on the way down is just a few minutes below the summit and is easy to miss if that was not the way you went up (and some people did miss it). The notch itself is easy (harder for shorter people, but my wife who is 5'2'' managed). And collects traffic. The summit and the way down were super busy, but the views from there are fantastic! Managed to get to 2WD TH in a Honda Accord with no issues. |
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8/6/2022 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 8/7/2022, By: ScottHendrick Info: We parked at 11000 feet because our CRV couldn't quite make it past the recent road damage up to the "restroom parking area". We were on the trail at 7am, using the standard route. There are quite a few large puddles and stream crossings while walking up the jeep road for the first part of the climb, which is super scenic. The flowers were in full bloom everywhere and the area looked like a movie backdrop. Summer conditions. The first part of the trail was well defined and became a bit rocky, no problem. Then we started the climb up the "loose slope", which had no real defined trail and people were scattered all over the mountain. This part of the climb could REALLY benefit from a CFI project - more on that later! We recommend staying to the far left on the way up - the rock is better there with less loose scree. The couloir up to the notch was steeper and required good route-finding skills, we recommend staying to the far right on the way up. The notch was pretty tough for short people, we saw several people basically being hoisted/flung into the notch (including a couple of small children) with good teamwork. This is definitely a Class 3 move. The final climb to the summit is only about 5 minutes, but requires scrambling and careful footwork. There were about 5-8 people on the summit when we were there, including a guy filming a drone video - that was a first for us! The way down was unpleasant. The notch and the upper couloir were the same difficulty as the ascent, but the "loose slope" was much worse. That was the longest half-mile of my life - changing directions and postures frequently with lots of slipping and sliding. We were extremely happy to exit that part of the climb and return to the trail. We encountered some mild rain on the way down and were back at the car at 4pm. |
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7/23/2022 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 7/29/2022, By: ltduffy123 Info: Not that crowded, fun at the top, miserable in the col. Longest mile of my life! |
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7/3/2022 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 7/6/2022, By: kyrawhitworth Info: SW Ridge was completely free of any snow and ice heading up. Route was wet in spots from rain that night but no traction needed. Definitely some loose rocks going up various gulleys on the route but that final ridge was excellent rock. |