Route: East Slopes Posted On: 9/8/2024, By: taylorharris50 Info: Summer conditions. Amazing day in the Elks. |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 8/6/2024, By: Isaac1621 Info: Quick update on the stream crossing at 11,600 ft. The snow melt has slowed so the standard route can be followed and stream can be crossed at 11,720 ft. without getting wet. That being said, the scree slope on the standard route is quite difficult, we still found it easier to cross at 11,600 ft. and climb up between the 2 streams. You will need to pick your way through a few willow patches, but footing on the grass and rocks felt much more solid. All snow can be avoided climbing standard route. We found the rock gully leading up to the ridge to be fairly solid, the loose rock is most noticeable on the left side of the ridge as you make your way up to the summit. We preferred the ridgeline direct for the final summit push (last 75-100 ft. of gain). Wildflowers are in full force, happy peak bagging!! |
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Route: West Slope Posted On: 8/4/2024, By: bangerth Info: We camped at the Lead King Basin which is in fantastic shape with wildflowers abounding. Then hiked up the S Ridge and down the West Slopes. The ridge is outstanding, with long and sustained class 3 climbing. The West Slopes I did not enjoy so much with how steep and loose it is. It's all summer conditions. If you have a bit of time, make the detour to Siberia Lake, which is just a pleasure in blue, with plenty of brook trout with bright red fins. |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 8/3/2024, By: frodacious Info: Did one push from car to summit and camped at log jam. Very much regret bringing traction and ice axe. Never deployed either of them. You can do the whole thing without touching snow if you want to. Helmet is a pretty good idea though. Mosquitos are pretty gnarly right now. The willows and the scree made this one pretty punishing. |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/29/2024, By: terribletigzy Info: Route is mostly dry, there are some snowfields above 13k, but they are low angle. I didn't put spikes on, but I would bring them depending on your comfort. You could probably avoid all of the snow if you really wanted, but it would take some unnecessary zig-zagging. |
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Route: S Ridge/West Slopes Posted On: 7/30/2024, By: climbingyogi Info: My group and I ascended the S Ridge and descended the West Slopes yesterday. After bailing on the East Slopes route in June (about 500 ft from the summit), we decided this route looked like a good option for us. We were very happy to see this side of Snowmass and to get to experience all of the major routes up this mountain (with the exception of Satan's Ridge - ew, lol). We started hiking just after 5am fom the Lead King Basin TH (thanks to Brandon for his capable vehicle!). It was a pleasant hike up to Geneva Lake + then Little Gem Lake. Around 8:30am, we got to the base of the access gullies + rib. Upon further inspection, we decided the class 3/4 rib looked like a good option for us. There was a short class 4 section at the start of the rib that two of us chose - one of us chose to find a class 3 line there. The rest of the rib was easily class 3. I don't feel like there's much to report on the S Ridge, other than make sure to stay as close to the ridge as you can. There were times we would venture off just slightly left of the ridge, but I think we stayed close to ridge proper for the majority of the climb. This might've been the most sustained class 3 route I've been on with non-stop, fun scrambling. We did encounter the class 4 crux and all of us opted to go for it. It definitely was harder than the rest of the ridge but wasn't too bad overall. If you feel hesitant, then I suggest taking the notch bypass on climber's left. We got to the summit of Snowmass at 11:26am and hungout until a little after 12pm. We had a wonderful day of mostly blue skies and very little chance of rain, which was great for this route! And while we intended to descend the S Ridge initially, we changed our minds and decided to descend the West Slopes route instead. I believe it took us about 2 hours to descend the West Slopes, and we were back at the TH at 3:30pm. The uppper part of the West Slopes was definitely the loosest and steepest, but it got much better the further we descended. Super great day out and so lucky to get to experience Snowmass from the South/West side! The wildflowers are out of this world over here. |
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Route: West Slope Posted On: 7/29/2024, By: lauradaughtry Info: Pure summer conditions. I drove to the Lead King Basin Trailhead in my '17 4Runner in 4WD Low and had zero problems; the drive took about an hour and a half from Marble. (Beware: the road is narrow at some points, so you may need to negotiate passing others.) You will have to do a little bushwhacking (overgrown plants and some muddy willow sections) on the trail up to both Geneva and Little Gem lakes, but it's worth it; you will see miles of meadow with wildflowers. It was gorgeous and perhaps the only thing worth experiencing both the ascent and descent of the 2,500' vert gully. The gully is as daunting as people say: assume every rock moves (because they do) and check every hold/step. It's a slog and will mentally/physically test you. |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/29/2024, By: Miles P Info: Please read this long post in its entirety if you are planning to climb Snowmass for the first time, AND will be potentially climbing the boulder field / scree slope that is past/above Snowmass Lake in the dark. My climbing partner and I made a massive mistake yesterday which I think others could potentially make. The result of the mistake put us in a dire situation - in 40+ years of hiking/climbing in the Rockies and 40+ Fourteeners summited I've never found myself in a worse or scarier situation. On this page you will find several Condition Updates about the East Slopes route posted over the past few weeks which recommend crossing a waterfall / stream at about 11,600 feet. I'm not saying those condition updates are wrong and I don't want to get into an argument with their authors. However I crossed at 11,600 feet according to my Garmin GPSMAP 66i (which is highly accurate) and ended in a heap of trouble. Hear me out: Imagine you have just hiked past Snowmass Lake. The lake is now on the climber's right - to the north / northeast of you as you hike west toward the boulder field / scree slope which looms high above you. Photos number 11 and 12 in the 14ers.com route description give a great view of how you will hike up and along the climber's right of this massive field. As others have pointed out, there is a stream that runs down this field and you need to find a good place to cross it (from your left to your right). Approaching the boulder field / scree slope in the dark you won't be able to see the "stream". As you approach the boulder field you will hear running water far off on your left. Ignore this - it has nothing to do with anything you have to cross. Put it out of your mind and climb on. As you push up into the boulder field / scree slope you will eventually begin to hear running water on your right. This is the stream that you need to focus on crossing at some point; it is the stream (or sometimes "waterfall") that is referenced in several Conditions Updates over the past few weeks. There is a nuance to crossing this stream and here is what it is. Think of the upper case letter "Y". The stream that you are hearing on your right, at least at first, is the lower part of that "Y"...it is formed after two steams emanating from higher up on the slope come together about mid-way up the slope. The upper right branch of the "Y" is a highly flowing, heavy stream that plows down through boulders and scree and skirts several cliffs from the far right side of the upper slope and in some places forms many strong waterfalls on the upper part of the slope; if you hike up in daylight you will unmistakably see it on the right high above you as it barrels down. The upper left of the "Y" is a much smaller stream which enters the scree slope more toward the top edge / center of the scree slope; in daylight you could probably spot this smaller stream but it would be far less obvious. These two streams converge together mid-way down the scree slope and then flow as one on the far right side of the slope (climber's right) . Various paper and digital maps and route files do little to nothing to make this clear, and you certainly will not be able to see this nuance in the dark hundreds of feet still ahead of and above you. THE STREAM THAT YOU NEED TO CROSS IS THE SMALLER ONE WHICH IS THE UPPER LEFT OF THE "Y" AS I DESCRIBED IT ABOVE. Do NOT under any circumstances cross the stream at it's lower part (the lower part of the "Y"). I made this mistake. My GPS read 11,600 so my partner and I crossed this fairly formidable lower part of the "stream" in complete darkness...it was a huge error on our part which we compounded several times over by making a series of stupid upward moves up unhospitable terrain to then try to find the trail on the other side and stupidly climbed onto increasingly dangerous ground (there is NO trail over there, just danger). According to my Garmin GPSMAP 66i, the point at which these two streams converge is actually at about 11,660 feet. Later that day, on the way down, we found that the best place to cross was at about 11,700 or perhaps 11,725 feet. But GPS can be wrong so instead of arguing online about altimeter readings HERE IS WHAT YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED TO KNOW: If you find yourself crossing a stream that has significant flow, could arguably called a fast-moving, rolling creek, and where if you slipped would result in you getting wet to at least your knee, if not your lower thigh (I'm 6'2"), then you are crossing at the WRONG point...TOO LOW on the slope. You need to keep pressing straight upward, forward, higher until you pass the point at which the two upper streams (the two upper arms of the "Y") have converged. By passing this convergence point and then crossing, you will actually be crossing the smaller stream (the upper left branch of the "Y")...this is a stream which as of July 28th is flowing at a rate where if you stepped in it would perhaps result in getting your boots or ankles wet. It is much lower flow - this is the CORRECT stream to cross. Effectively by crossing where I am describing you will end up between the two arms of the "Y" as you push upward, and from there you will find a trail that continues up to the top of the scree slope and on to much easier terrain. If you do what my partner and I did, you will cross at the bottom part of the Y, and end up entirely on the climber's right of this "Y"...and let me tell you that is a bad, bad place to be. I hope I've adequately described this. I'm sorry for the long post, but I'm hoping it will prevent anyone from making my mistake and putting themselves in severe danger. If you are concerned and have questions please PM me. There is of course an easy way to avoid this predicament. Either go with someone who has been up there before, or wait to push up through the boulder field / scree slope until the sky gets light enough for you to read the terrain that is high above you - you will still have plenty of time to summit. Otherwise: conditions good. Log jam is easy. Plenty of water along the trail if you have filter or iodine. There is running water coming off of the highly melted snow mass so you can still get water in the 12,000 to 13,000 foot area. Snow mass is highly melted. I used an ax and crampons to be safe but saw other people get up with microspikes and trekking poles. One person went up without any traction (just boots / shoes) and slid down about 50 feet and luckily stopped well short of some rocks. Very windy once you cross over the ridge on the way up. Waterproof your boots as there are plenty of streams and muck. On the way down saw a lone large cinnamon colored Black Bear about 15 feet off the trail 2 miles before we got to the parking lot; scared the poor guy half to death I think - have never seen an animal disappear so quickly. |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/24/2024, By: Dan Kearney Info: Hiking up to the bottom of the snowmass has no challenges. Logjam is stable, and the trail around the lake was easy to follow, albeit with some face level willows. On the snowmass, I took the standard approach, and was absolutely fine with spikes and an axe. Crampons are 100% not needed. You can easily get onto rocks before the snow gets too steep. Ran into a group who ascended the direct route the day before, and they ascended with only spikes and an axe, but that looked a bit spicy for my beginner level snow travel acumen. Sorry for the lack of photos, my flip phone camera is the definition of useless. |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/24/2024, By: sunburnt Info: Did this two part. Hike in to lake was fine, camped at lake. Did both the 16,600 cutoff up and the 16,800 down, that 200 feet makes a difference, go lower. Hit the snowfield at 7:30, normal route was dry so opted for direct. On top by 9, used crampons and axe. Top 2 of snow was loose, lots of kicking in twice. Tried to scoot down direct instead of down climbing, broke free and barely missed the rock pile below. Not fun, down climb it. Glissaded the rest of the way after that, still fast. |
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Route: West Slope Posted On: 7/15/2024, By: princessproton Info: Beautiful area. Trail a bit overgrown in some places. Some willows in mud to negotiate but easy to still find trail. Lots of water available. Once you get to base of climb the real work begins basically straight up. Easy to find the grassy knoll once you are there. We went up and down the gully, sometimes choosing to stay more on the rocks, other times more on the looser more traveled area. Definitely are loose rocks and recommend helmet. Able to keep it class 3. At top of gully look for cairn on right side of gully to aid getting to the summit. 8hr 15 min round trip with short break. There is snow but easily avoidable. |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/14/2024, By: PJ88 Info: Basically the same information as recent reports except for a little less snow. Great, mellow hike in to the lake. The first log jam crossing you encounter was a piece of cake. Scout out the lake trail up to the point where you need to turn off away from the lake. It's a much more pleasant hike up there than following the shoreline. Cross the waterfall at 11,600 instead of the noted 11,800 on route files. We left camp at 2AM and snow conditions were perfect when we hit the snowmass at about 5AM. The direct route looked in but we opted for the standard route. Would probably not have made it up the final slope without crampons and an axe. Be careful with all the loose rock on the west side of the mountain, but it was still a fun scramble. Snow in good conditions to glissade on the return although it is starting to get a little iffy with rocks getting exposed. Lots of bugs out at the lake made it pretty miserable to hang out at camp. Mosquitos love me and I have a ton of bites despite using spray all weekend. |
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Route: S Ridge / West Slopes Posted On: 7/16/2024, By: Kbrown321 Info: Ascended S Ridge and descended West slopes from parking at Lizard Lake. Almost fully summer conditions with snow only in left gully to S ridge and middle of the gully on west slopes (both very bypassable). S ridge had the sustained scrambling all other TRs mentioned; agree with the assessment that taking the crux wall head on pushes 4th class while the rest is all solid 3rd. West slopes descent reallyy sucked. Overall ~20 mi and 6200 vert from lizard lake though we hitched a ride back for the last ~2 miles |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/12/2024, By: SageCanaday Info: Did the full 22-mile round trip from Maroon-Snowmass trailhead 1975 to the summit and back via the East Face. Highly recommend ice axe and crampons still despite the snow field starting up pretty high (around 13,000'). It is melting out fast though! We were able to gain the final ridge via "The Direct Route" because we had traction and axes (would have been very slippery and hard without as the final pitch is quite steep). Snow was certainly melting out fast and got pretty soft by 8am. After summiting we took the ridge down the the standard route and there was certainly some punchy spots in the snow around the rocks and potential post-holing which required some caution. Could be done without crampons here (I took mine off) although I would have still recommended them on the way up...and still also highly recommend an axe (we were very happy to have axes and crampons). I had fun glissading down a bit here, but my partner as well as another climber used axe and crampons to descend off the rocks/ridge ridge on the standard route as it is still snow covered and quite steep. As others have recommended it's probably best to do the "stream crossing" above Snowmass lake at around 11,650' to find a trail in the bushes/trees/rocks. There is certainly some potential rock fall and erosion in the area on the South side of the stream up higher. |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/10/2024, By: coreilly Info: Like previous posts, crossing the running water at 11,600 was a good move (not 11,800 like GPS says). Snow was great for climbing when I hit the standard route at about 5:30 am. Crampons and an ice axe were useful. Would not have made it in microspikes. Perfect glissade conditions on the way down entering from near the main notch on the direct route. ***I lost a Black Diamond Contact Strap Crampon near the top of the southeast ridge on the standard route. If found, please message me or email at coreilly28@gmail.com. Appreciate it. |
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Route: West Slope Posted On: 7/8/2024, By: rivrrapids Info: Climbed Snowmass via S Ridge, then traversed to north summit, descended west rib/west slopes. Left gully holding some snow but can be bypassed by climbing right side of gully, but snow still goes, its solid but with axe and no traction its mellow enough to climb no problem. Ridges dry. West rib dry. West slopes have minor snow but can mostly be bypassed. |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/5/2024, By: shapovalovm Info: Everything from the last report still stands true. The trail on the map (e.g. Gaia) takes you up 11800 before crossing. Horrible idea. Just cross at 11600 and you will soon find a tiny trail up. We did that on the way up and it was great, but on the way down decided to follow the "official" line and regretted it almost immediately. We used crampons and axes and used direct route both up and down and snow conditions were perfect. That said, we only put crampons on at ~13k. Snow starts a bit lower, but we just walked on top, as it is not steep and not very slippery. Snow becomes soft by ~7:30am. There's no snow on the other side of the ridge, so we had to take crampons off. In my honest opinion, for direct route, especially in the early morning, crampons are pretty much mandatory. The top section before reaching the ridge is very steep and the snow is hard, microspikes might be a dangerous (at least until the snow softens a bit and you can start kicking it in). |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/6/2024, By: Tcash Info: Ascended with only microspikes and decided it was unwise for us beyond ~13,600. Our first non-summit out of 30 14ers. My friend made it with just microspikes, but he's more risk tolerant and enjoys spicy climbing than the average bloke. Lots of snow remain for the final 1,000'. The only others we saw that made the summit had crampons and an ax. We heard the west route was more clear and an easier ascent this week. Be very careful crossing the waterful just above the lake and scree field. Hidden ice footings in the morning and when we recrossed it on our way back, the melting snow picked up and the flow was 2-3x what it was in the early morn. Bring extra socks because there are a lot of water crossings and post holing as the snow softens. Hoist your clothes at camp too! The marmots ate my flip flops, beanie and dirty socks while we were out of camp. |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/6/2024, By: amlynczak Info: Wholeheartedly agree with each of the previous two updates, especially with shapovalovm in that crampons are pretty much mandatory early in the morning particularly when approaching the ridge via the direct route. Probably mandatory on the standard too. Also agree in that the trail on the map takes you too high to cross the creek/waterfall. Cross at 11,600. There are no carins or other markers here and it's difficult to spot in the dark. Snow is melting fast - get out there while the getting is good! |
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Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/7/2024, By: AJPlescia Info: Excellent conditions beyond Snowmass Lake until about 12,500 feet. From there we hit endless snowfields until the ridge. I managed with just microspikes, but an ice axe would have made the climb a lot more reassuring. Once you start sliding, it's not easy to stop without it. We were told the snow stays pretty icy in the morning and that crampons would be required if you get an early start. So we waited until about 8:30-9 before starting the snow climb. This worked out pretty well as we could glicade down nearly the entire field. All that being said, the weather is warming quickly. Next weekend could be an entirely different story. Always best to be prepared though! |
