1/15/2022 Route: North ridge Posted On: 1/16/2022, By: Will_E Info: Did Snowmass from Marble as a day trip today. The snow conditions are really great right now, I was pleasantly surprised how nice breaking trail was, I genuinely enjoyed it (until having to redo portions of it on the return;). There were snowmobile tracks on the road from Marble to Crystal, not sure if this is normal or not, I was pleasantly surprised. After passing Crystal I broke trail up to Lead King, and then on to the start of the North Ridge. I left my snowshoes there and switched to crampons, left them on all the way to summit. The snow is really a mess on the N ridge, you don't know how deep you'll go when you step, it was really tough coming down. On return this afternoon something else had packed down the road from Crystal to the Lead King turnoff, and there were some other tracks around the Lead King trailhead. |
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10/15/2021 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 10/17/2021, By: samacmcbride Info: Hiked to Snowmass Lake and the final 2mi of the hike in was in 3-6” of snow so we spent the night at the lake and hiked out the next morning. Absolutely beautiful up there right now but LOTS of snow above 10.5k. |
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10/3/2021 Route: Four Pass Loop Posted On: 10/3/2021, By: thurs Info: Last round of storms are done, leaving generally 1-3" above 11,000ft. South and east aspects already melted below 12,500ft. |
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9/26/2021 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 9/26/2021, By: durkan Info: - Backpack up to the lake and camped Saturday, summit and backpacked out Sunday. - No. Snow. Sure that'll change soon but the summit did not live up to the name. Only way I'll redo this route is with snow in late winter or spring. - Aspens are either full bloom or will be within maybe a week? |
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9/15/2021 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 9/18/2021, By: ericd01 Info: Conditions permitted a 16hr day summit! HWY11 is open on backside of Snowmass Village, convenient to the TH. A 07:20 sunrise with a 03:00 start was perfect with headlamp turned off on logjam at dawn. Logs across are definitely thinned out upstream! Snowmass Lake is a slice of paradise right now in mid-September! Top of talus couloir above lake is arduous after much sliding hillside but travel across the large heather slabs certainly rewarding "in the moment". Notches up to ridgeline were super cool "gates to the summit". Poles helped most of the way across loose summer rock. Back in time for dinner at hotel! |
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9/11/2021 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 9/12/2021, By: MountainBuhn Info: I understand the appeal of doing this during winter conditions, but the Boulder field leading up to the ridge is tons of fun (if you're not too exhausted at that point). We did the whole thing in a day 5am-5pm. Wildly difficult that way. One of my new favorites although the scree gully is as bad as advertised. We stuck to the drainage, but watch out for slick rock. Saw 3 people on a Saturday. Peak to ourselves from 11-11:45am. Pretty unreal. Plenty of open spots at the lake to camp if you choose to. |
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9/9/2021 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 9/11/2021, By: mickknu16 Info: Summer conditions and a bluebird day. Rock stability overall felt nice after such dry weather recently and I had no issues with loose rock. Feels like a great time to get on the East Slopes. Lake was crazy busy like usual, but saw only 6 people on the mountain all day and had the summit to myself for 45 minutes. Was in Aspen for the week and barely saw a single cloud the whole time! But was feeling the smoke a bit after for sure... Leaves are starting to change up high |
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9/1/2021 Route: S Ridge Posted On: 9/15/2021, By: sctbke Info: Drove my Honda Pilot all the way past Crystal Mill, through town, and up to the beautiful campsite just above the second switchback on the road. Road to Crystal Mill is tight and rocky, but there's not too much for major obstacles. Crosstrek type vehicle will make it. Past Crystal , the road gets rougher, I made it without scraping but it took some navigating. The sharp left turn after Crystal gives an idea of what is to come. If you can make it to the big campsite after the second switchback it's well worth the effort, it's a great spot to camp and park with plenty of space. Road after that is steep, loose, and not worth driving IMO Hike from this campsite was beautiful, one of my all time favorites! Beautiful views! Don't miss the sneak peek (Peak? :) at the Maroon Bells along the way. The road isn't a bad hike, and the trail is gradual and scenic until you reach the boulderfield. It is possible to avoid most of the loose gully. I entered the right gully, ascended about 100 ft, and then climbed the steeper but obvious smaller gully option on the right side of the main gully, just before the main gully got much narrower. It was difficult class 3, but felt safer than the main gully, and was much shorter. The smaller gully topped out on a face that was an easy and very stable class 2 scramble up the ridge just alongside the main gully. I descended the same way. All the rest of the route was fun and solid with beautiful views. I am of the opinion that this should be the standard summer route, but I didn't see a single other person due to the weekday and bad weather forecast. Left car at 3:15am, summited at 7:08, back to the car at noon. 16.9mi RT and 6500 vert |
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8/28/2021 Route: S-Ridge ascent, West Slopes descent Posted On: 8/29/2021, By: soundchaser2112 Info: Route completely dry except for some water flowing down the middle of part of the west slopes gully. Started at 7:30am, summited at 2:30pm, finished at 6:30pm. Didn't run into anyone else the entire route and had the summit to ourselves. |
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8/20/2021 Route: West Slope Posted On: 8/21/2021, By: halfapackofapache Info: It snowed roughly 3" on Thursday night (8/19). I couldn't believe it. Snow was VERY wet and melted fast below tree line as soon as the sun hit. My feet were soaking wet all day. Above tree line and scrambling the last 2000 or so feet on the west slope was rough with the fresh snow on every single rock I put my feet on. I made my way down from the summit around noon and there was still snow to deal with until tree line. Once back into the trees everything was pretty dry already. Route finding was very straight forward. Once I got a good look at the west face it was easy for me to tell where I was heading. I ended up taking FR 314 (instead of FR 315) past the crystal mill and through the town of Cystal to reach the trailhead. It was a beautiful drive. After the town of Crystal the road becomes VERY rough, but my old 95 ford ranger with a set of 31" A/T tires did just fine as long as I took my time. |
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8/4/2021 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 8/4/2021, By: BethL Info: We hiked to the lake on 8/3 for a summit attempt on 8/4. We bailed on summit plans after hearing and seeing LOTS of rockfall / rockslides last night and this morning on the mountain, including one above and into the scree slope. Lots of unstable rock conditions due to all the rain. Photo shows several of the slides we witnessed. |
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7/18/2021 Route: S ridge Posted On: 7/19/2021, By: CaptainSuburbia Info: Took the high road to Lead King trailhead. It was manageable with clearance but not fun. There was no snow on route. Started at 3:35 and summited at 8. The approach trail was thick with wildflowers (waist and chest high) and willows. We got very wet from the morning dew. Went down west slopes which were also snow free. |
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7/10/2021 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/10/2021, By: jryor121 Info: Trail is getting really close to summer conditions. Most of the snow on the slopes is avoidable up to the last 50-100' until the notch. Just requires a bit more tallus walking, I would recommend staying to the right of the main snow field on the tallus to avoid as much snow as possible. No need for an axe (no harm in bringing one for safety), just spikes for extra traction on the warm unfrozen snow. Left TH: 3:45 Summit: 8:45 North Snowmass: 9:12 Back at TH: 1:12 https://strava.app.link/hg0wD07YMhb |
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7/4/2021 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/5/2021, By: BrookStout Info: Direct route is still in. Standard route, depending on preference, you can choose a snowier or mostly talus line. I did the standard with spikes and an axe. Would imagine crampons are still needed on direct, but hey, saw a trail runner do it with an axe and no traction. Also saw a dog do it. Go with whatever makes you most comfortable. A few pics of snow conditions. |
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7/4/2021 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/6/2021, By: ktfoote628 Info: Direct route is definitely done. Showed up at trailhead around 11:30 AM on Saturday and cars lining the road for .5 miles from trailhead. We hung out and were able to grab some spots of people leaving. Encountered a park ranger who was extremely upset about the parking situation but it didn't sound like he could do anything about it. He asked us whether we had a bear canister etc. I found the trail to the lake less scenic than I expected considering all the day hikers. Much less flowers than capitol Creek but still green. Thanks to the folks who rearranged the log jam, especially appreciated on our way back with wet slippery logs. Had plenty of choices for campsites but they filled up later that evening. Lots of mosquitos, especially at dusk but even in the heat of the day. Left camp around 3:45 AM and immediately soaked my shoes in like the first steps around the lake. Took indirect route and was extremely grateful to have microspikes for the significant snow patch that follows the trail. Over the ridge, everything is dry. I think we were two of four that summited today... one of the quietest 14ers I have done perhaps ever, except San Luis. We basically avoided snow by rock hopping the way down. We found a new trail through the willows to head down from 12k but then it crossed almost a waterfall of runoff (see pictures below). It was relatively easy to cross but it led to very sketchy mud scree on the other side. When we were butt sliding, it started to hail. Then we got whipped in the face with wet willows. One and done for me but beautiful view. My boyfriend lost his white Black Diamond climbing helmet on the descent around 12-13k, please let me know if you find it. |
