Snowmass Mountain

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/5/2021, By: pirates14
Info: Left trailhead at 4 am, summit by 11 am. Snow around the lake sucks, even in the early morning. Snow starts at around 10.5k at this point but is melting fast. Took the direct route up to the ridge. Crampons and axe were nice to have. Ridge itself is dry.The snowmass was relatively solid, even on the downhill. Super fun glissade. Won't be this way for long I don't think with warming temps.

Logjam is a bit of a mess right now, but with great zeal and balance you can make your away across fine. This might change if water rises more.

Awesome day. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 8/31/2021, By: goldenrad
Info: Attempted peak in one day. Left TH at 3:00am Had to turn around 1/3 way across the lake. Problem with my micro spikes and shoes were soaked. Crampons might be better. With the warm days snow is melting quick. I couldn't find a dry way across log jam. Plan accordingly. Soft snow a mile before lake at 6:00am. I should have used snowshoes. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/5/2021, By: goldenrad
Info: Attempted peak in one day. Left TH at 3:00am Had to turn around 1/3 way across the lake. Problem with my micro spikes and shoes were soaked. Crampons might be better. With the warm days snow is melting quick. I couldn't find a dry way across log jam. Plan accordingly. Soft snow a mile before lake at 6:00am. I should have used snowshoes. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/1/2021, By: zachgonzales91
Info: Peak is in fantastic ski conditions, if you can survive the post-holing to camp. Logjam is in good shape and easily crossable - see photos 1 and 2; water level is low and slow-moving presently, such that crossing was not a problem. Past the log jam, first snow drifts appear around 10.5k. Expect intermittent post-holing for the last 1.5 miles to Snowmass Lake, and almost continuous rotten snow / postholing for the last ~1 mile to the Lake. Photo 4 is from ~10.8k a half mile or so below Lake. Even with gaiters and waterproof boots, postholing passed knee several times led to pretty wet conditions, particularly in the last half mile. Prepare to get wet and bring extra clothing/socks.

Very few good camp sites on East side of Lake. Anyone that arrived after 5pm Saturday had to make camp in the snow - recommend tarp/shovel etc if coming on busy weekend next couple of weeks.

We left camp at 2am to maximize firmness of snow; with flotation, south side of lake is in good shape - not too much postholing. Recommend crampons and ice axe for direct line (angle to ~40 degrees) - though there is an excellent step trenched into the direct line. We skied down around 8am, and with morning sun warming snow pack, was perfect ski conditions down. I imagine it would have been very slushy for anyone descending after 10a. One word of caution - the bottom of the East Bowl is littered with rockfall and we could hear it coming down throughout the night. Particularly as weather continues to warm, please be careful and wear a helmet (should go without saying, but there were some groups without).

Start early after overnight freeze, bring flotation and traction and helmet, and prepare for wet conditions, and should be a good time! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/1/2021, By: Wimyers
Info: Many dry tent sites are available at the lake, I counted 18 tents Saturday night. No one in our group brought snowshoes/flotation and we did not feel that they would offer any value, provided you start early. We left the lake @ 1:30am and had firm enough snow until sunrise, at which point we were starting our descent. Had only ankle-deep post holing through the basin and took the standard route across the ridge. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/2/2021, By: kyrawhitworth
Info: Started from the car at about 6am and got to the log jam around 10am. Right now it was easily crossable. Snow at around 10,500ft and we found snowshoes helped to get through that. Arrived to camp around noon. Started up the standard route from the lake at 2am and summited at 7:30am (took longer than expected). Snow was crusty/hard and great conditions in the early AM. Used snowshoes until about halfway up the snowmass and switched to crampons and an axe when it got very steep. We were able to shortcut most of the ridge thanks to a defined trail up the steeper line. We stayed high on the rocks on the ridge and that was favorable compared to the snow. Conditions rapidly turned to soft/slushy snow on the descent. We could glissade some which was nice. Put snowshoes back on to go down the last gully and back around the lake. Got back to camp around 11am and back to car at 5:30pm (backpacking back was pretty slow going for us). Definitely were glad to have helmet, snowshoes, crampons, and axe despite the extra weight. Things melting very quickly up there so be sure to go very early for the summit so you aren't hiking/sliding up steep slush. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/30/2021, By: soundchaser2112
Info: I solo dayhiked the east slopes and it took me a whopping 20 hours to do so. I started from the trailhead at 12:30am and got to the lake at 6am, which proved to be way too late a start to ascend Snowmass if good conditions are desired. With the sun already rising and me not even at the gully yet I knew I was in for a miserable day of continuous postholing and I should have just turned around then but I didn't want to rehike the approach another time and the weather forecast looked good all day. I very slowly made it up the gully in just spikes (but crampons would've been nice to have) while the snow was still firm but the rest of the endless snowfield was slushy posthole hell. There appeared to be slide activity near the standard route up to the ridge so I aimed for a more direct route up, but not "the" direct route as indicated in the route description. I slowly kick stepped my way up the steep snow wall (ice ax was a necessity) and was afraid of the wet snow sliding, but fortunately it held. The rest of the ridge was easy class 3 scrambling, however the ridge still has a lot of snow between the rocks which was very wet and slushy at the time, and if it slid there'd be no stopping down the exposed mountainside so I stuck to the solid ridge as much as possible. I finally summited at 1:30pm. On the way back down I "forced" a very messy glissade as far as I could then postholed the entire way back across the snowfield. I was able to properly glissade down the gully though as the snow was very slick. Getting back around the lake on the hillside also took some time since the snow was also very slick and I didn't want to slide into the lake. I finally made it back to the approach trail around 4pm, did more postholing up until the just before the logjam. On my way back I used my microspikes while crossing the logjam to help grip the logs and it made a difference compared to my trip out in the morning when I did not. After crossing, the remaining snow-free 6 miles was smooth sailing but after a long strenuous day it felt harder than it was; made it back to my car at 8:30pm. Needless to say if you're going to dayhike Snowmass you should wait until at least the approach trail and around the lake are melted out, that will make it that much less extra unnecessary work, and start very early. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/28/2021, By: coopereitel
Info: Did not summit Snowmass. We camped at the lake at 10,100' just past the logjam which is still good. Left camp late at 5:00 and turned around at 9:00 just above 12k' due to rapidly warming snow which got mighty slushy and ankle deep pretty quick. Ideally it would have been nice to be descending around that time. We didn't feel comfortable with the climbing conditions and rocks were falling too. We did get a nice ski though (not enough to justify hauling all that crap up that far...). Also, we went around SM Lake.

Trail starts continuous snow around 10,500'. Downed trees along the approach weren't bad either.

This peak is very doable, just get up super early if the weather is going to be sunny and climb fast for the best chances. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/27/2021, By: Bccrhp
Info: Camped at Snowmass Lake on 5/24 and summited Snowmass Mountain on 5/25. Only three other cars at the trailhead. No issues crossing the logjam. Lots of snow beginning ~1 mile past the logjam (~3 miles from the lake). Unless you're wearing snowshoes, expect to posthole to the knees every few steps for the next few weeks. Only a handful of dry camping spots were available at the lake, and it dropped into the 20s the night we camped. Best to depart from the lake as early as possible (ideally no later than 5 AM) to maximize ideal climbing/glissade conditions. By late morning, the lower part of the snowmass was starting to get sloppy. The snow on the upper snowmass/final summit ridge was pretty stable even at 10 AM, but if you don't have an ice axe (we didn't), it's a good idea to stick to the rocks (which were surprisingly good, despite the Elks' reputation) all the way along the ridge to the summit.

Bottom line: a tremendously fun hike all in all, but ideal conditions for a snow climb won't last much longer, IMO, as it continues to warm up. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/22/2021, By: joflyer22
Info: Camped overnight at the lake Friday night and climbed Saturday. The trail was mostly snow-free for approximately 4 miles and then there were intermittent patches. The logjam was relatively easy to cross. Continuous snow started around 10,400' and continued to and beyond the lake. The lake has some ice and slush but also open water. Access to the snowmass from the camp requires circumnavigating the lake (~0.6 mi). I used snowshoes from the camp around the lake and also on descent from camp to 10,500 but my partner did not and didn't think the post-holing was too bad. Even in snowshoes the snow was very soft and some post-holing was unavoidable.

From the lake up to the summit, there was continuous snow - mostly supportive in crampons throughout the morning and with only some post-holing later in the afternoon. The recent rain down low translated into about 500' of POW off the summit. Still good ski conditions from the summit to the lake.

Great day climbing with Climbingcue! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/31/2021, By: graberz
Info: Similar to previous reports. We backpacked in night before using snow shoes for the last mile or so to the lake. There was a lot of people up camping including a larger cmc group, so it was tent city for bare spots. Most groups left between 2-4 am. In morning no snow shoes were needed getting around the lake. Post holing on the back side of the lake. Snow was soft enough for kick steps but restively supportive on first incline. In the upper poles there was minor post holing, but I did not use snow shoes. I took summer route up and direct variation down via ridge proper which had some fun scrambling. the direct variation all ready has great kick steps in place. The snow warmed up quickly in the morning making for more post holing on the way down. I was able to glissade majority of the way down, which got hard to control speed at times in the steeper angles. I used snow shoes getting from the bottom of the first incline where the rocks are to the side of the lake where it was supportive. The hike out from camp at 11 am required snow shoes for that first mile to the top of the switch backs. There was plenty of sign of rock fall on route and we heard one large rockfall around 10 am. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/30/2021, By: graberz
Info: We used snow shoes starting about a mile from Snowmass lake, the rest of the trail was dry. There was a good 25 or so people climbing Snowmass Saturday, part of it a big cmc group, so probably plenty of reports to come. Everyone seemed to have left camp relatively early 2-4 am. I did not use snow shoes on the peak until getting back to the lake mid morning. It was actually supportive around the lake probably due to the volume.. I took the summer route up and the direct route variation down, down climbing a ways and then glissading on and off to the lake. It did warm up relatively quick so an early start is definitely warranted. Some skiers and one snowboarder today.We did hear one rock fall late morning from camp and there was definitely sign of rock fall throughout the climb. Also some sign of wet slide activity. Someone did do some work on the log jam as it was much easier to get across on the way back so thaaaaanks. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/30/2021, By: graberz
Info: We used snow shoes starting about a mile from Snowmass lake, the rest of the trail was dry. There was a good 25 or so people climbing Snowmass Saturday, part of it a big cmc group, so probably plenty of reports to come. Everyone seemed to have left camp relatively early 2-4 am. I did not use snow shoes on the peak until getting back to the lake mid morning. It was actually supportive around the lake probably due to the volume.. I took the summer route up and the direct route variation down, down climbing a ways and then glissading on and off to the lake. It did warm up relatively quick so an early start is definitely warranted. Some skiers and one snowboarder today.We did hear one rock fall late morning from camp and there was definitely sign of rock fall throughout the climb. Also some sign of wet slide activity. Someone did do some work on the log jam as it was much easier to get across on the way back so thaaaaanks. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 4/27/2021, By: SnowAlien
Info: On the approach, continuous snow starts around 10k, so about 2 miles below the logjam. The creek is starting to melt, winter snow bridges are gone. We all had serious skin glopping issues. Camped at the lake for couple nights. We went right after a 2-4" storm, so conditions were powder after the logjam. We skinned to about 13k, where we encountered wind slab issues. The steeper, more direct line didn't work, so we accessed the ridge via the lowest angle point, the summer route, snow was in better shape there. The ridge traverse was long and tedious with a lot of snow. It took us about 6 hours to summit from the camp at the lake. For summit ski descent, I again encountered wind slab issues at the top and had to downclimb small sections while still trying to traverse the face, I was kicking wind slab with every move. The entrance to the east face also had some windloading issues, but past that, it was smooth sailing back to camp. 

Route: Up S-Ridge, down West Slopes
Posted On: 10/10/2020, By: HikesInGeologicTime
Info: Could be a different story after Sunday, but on 10/9, Snowmass was snowless (including, according to the summit view, on the East Slopes).

Partner left new registers and pens on this summit as well as N. Snowmass'.

ETA some thoughts on the West Slopes now that I've gotten some sleep: partner and I were initially gung-ho to go back down S Ridge based on the horror stories we'd heard about the looseness of the W. Slopes, but the lateness of the day when we started descending + having had an adequate daily serving of spice ascending the Ridge prompted us to do the loop.

The Slopes are indeed loose most of the way. There's a brief section of decently exposed Class 3 just below the summit, but this is pretty solid with only a couple places where you'd need to pay extra-close attention to your next holds. Below that, in our opinions, it was a standard-issue Class 2 gully: long, tedious, and a bit better with microspikes for the loose dirt segments, but no more technically difficult than what you might find in some sections of standard routes in the Sawatches or Mosquitos, and definitely not what I was expecting (which was along the lines of Mt. Wilson via Kilpacker, but with even bigger rocks).

Would recommend making a good effort to beat the sun down to the last section scree/boulderfields at the base of the slope, as finding the route through and past the cliffs there is not much fun in the dark after you've already had a longer-than-anticipated day.