Snowmass Mountain

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/3/2019, By: Curve
Info: Trail is destroyed in many areas from some massive Avalanches. In fact, the large lake below the log jam is almost completely filled in with avy debris. Snow coverage starts at around 10000 feet. Got turned around at the lake but have many pictures of Snowmass. If you're interested send me a PM. "Max Snowmass" route seems to be in. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/20/2019, By: Buddyboy27
Info: well...was hoping for a ski decent but my legs decided they weren't having it (no summit condition info). Snowmass Creek Trail is essentially snow free (sporadic snow drifts over the trail that are pretty supportable) for the first 5 miles. Large avalanche debris piles completely over the trail at mile 1.5 (picture 2), mile 4.1 (picture 3 and 4), and a smaller one at 4.8. Somebody added a bunch more logs to the log jam (picture 5)...that was nice of them...Completely snow-covered without resemblance of a trail from mile 5 to Snowmass Lake. Snowmass Creek is flowing all the way to Snowmass Lake. Great snow (6+ inches from Saturday and much more coming) at and above Snowmass Lake (picture 6). Pictures are probably better than my words. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 4/22/2019, By: bandrewcampson
Info: Parked just before the bridge on Snowmass Creek Road. Started at 4 am. Our pace was slowed dramatically by 3 very large avalanche runouts that completely covered and destroyed any semblance of a trail. It was a grotesque mixture of skinning, carrying, and crying to get to the lake around 11. Bootpacked with crampons from the lake to the ridge and onto the summit. Low avy danger meant skiing from the ridge back to the lake. Twas absolutely amazing, took about 15 minutes. After that, it was back to crying about the 8+ miles of depproaching before reaching the car just before 9. Then wrecked shop at the nearest Wendy's as everything else was closed at 10 pm on Easter. Fun 16.5 hour day with lots of Type II. 

Route: West Slope
Posted On: 3/25/2019, By: nsaladin
Info: Pics from a flight 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 3/16/2019, By: jmanner
Info: Flew over Snowmas yesterday: It's very filled in, but the summit has a good crown on it and the headwall above the lake is completely slide. West Face was all filled in, seems like every line in the Elks was skiable. 

Route: West Slope
Posted On: 10/7/2018, By: peakHunter
Info: Left Denver at 1 am. TH took 1:45 hrs being cautious in a very well qualified Tacoma. Left TH at 6:45 am. Great trail all the way up to Geneva Lake, and up to Little Gem lake. Snow accumulation starts around 10,500 ft building up incrementally to Little Gem topping out to about 5 inches. From here it is blind boulder hopping up to the entrance of the gully to begin the last 2k feet. Slow going as footings are covered in snow. Once at the foot of the gully all rock is iced with about 1 inch of snow. The ice is also covered in snow. The storm we anticipated coming in at 1 pm hit 2 hours early and had a long tail on it so we descended at 11,700 ft after it taking 1 hour to go 400 ft up the very sketchy ice/snow covered class 3 loose boulder side. If attempting, bring spikes and an axe as nothing less is going to work. Awesome day, the summit will still be there in a month once snow fills in. 

Route: West Slope
Posted On: 9/10/2018, By: thebeave7
Info: Ascended the West ridge, just loose dry talus, no snow or ice issues. Lots of loose rock on this side so take care.
Descended the standard route (East face), as others have reported there is no snow on the face any longer so just follow the slab. The lower trail is hit and miss as usual, then bushwacky around the lake. 

Route: S Ridge / West Face
Posted On: 9/10/2018, By: hberry
Info: No snow on the S Ridge at all. Route was fantastic with mostly stable rock the entire way. You should be on the ridge proper or just to the left of the ridge for almost the entire route.

West Face has lots of loose rock, seemed best sticking to the right side on the way down. Rock should not roll to far if dislodged. Took 7 hours from Geneva Lake back to the Lake.

Hunters are out so keep your eyes open. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 9/4/2018, By: Istari
Info: As others reported, there is no snow on the route now. This requires some careful route finding and following cairns as there is no "trail". When trying to get to the ridge, it is best to climb around the left side of the cliffs and not through a loose dirt gully. The image below shows the easier route in green and the harder one in red. Going up through the green route is easier and has plenty of cairns. Once on the ridge, you will be able to easily follow the cairns for the scramble to the peak. 

Route: S Ridge
Posted On: 8/30/2018, By: hellmanm
Info: Summer conditions. It's surprisingly stable up there, although every now and then something big will shift so be careful. The class 3 crux bypass looked to have a fair amount of loose dirt -- I decided that the class 4 variation was just as safe, and if you can handle some exposure I think it's the way to go. Same goes for the approach gully. I made the mistake of not taking the rib, and found myself on steep, loose dirt/scree. 0/10 would not recommend...

West slopes descent is loose and full of loose rock (as expected) 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 8/25/2018, By: BenThom11
Info: I agree with previous report about parking. I had to park about a half mile down from the TH, adding onto an already long day hike.
Got to TH Friday night at 12:15 or so.
Various gear related issues slowed me down, but the route is in great shape. I actually found the scree/talus to be pretty solid overall.

One note: when going around the lake, make sure to turn left and take the high route. It is easy to miss in the dark (I did) and the low route is wet and sloppy 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 8/15/2018, By: benlen
Info: Snowmass Mountain is in prime late summer condition, with no snow in the Snowmass. The willows were a bit difficult to navigate in the dark on ascent, but on the way back I was able to avoid most of the mud.

Ample campsites available mid-week, but I'd be worried about doing this peak on a weekend. Of all the folks camped at the lake, only three others were actually intending to climb Snowmass. Most were doing the pass loop, fishing, or just camping at the lake for the sake of it. Many day hikers too crowded the parking area with vehicles. 

Route: S ridge
Posted On: 8/13/2018, By: kinglouie
Info: Ascended S ridge and descended West Slopes. The S ridge was ~95% solid, sustained class 3/4 climbing the entire way. It's an incredible climb but does take between 4-6 hours to ascend. I'd even say 6 1/2 to 7 hours if slow. I consider myself above average pace and took me about 5 hours to summit. The west slope is very dangerous as advertised. I can't see why anyone would ascend it. Going down it was one of the worst 3 hours of my life. Rock fall is inevitable and tough to control. Descending the S ridge could work but I'd imagine it would take a lot longer than going down the West slopes. Pick your poison wisely. Shout out to PRK for his trip report. Lead King Basin was stunning. 

Route: West Slope
Posted On: 8/10/2018, By: Lichen
Info: Thanks to anothernord for his/her 7-23-18 post about avoiding the watery route through the upper grass patch by climbing some Class 3 ledges about 20 yards to the south. The grass patch might have been OK on the ascent, but the water has promoted some brown algae growth on the rock, making it a little slippery, which might well have been nerve-racking on the descent.

On my descent I was able to avoid downclimbing these ledges by going even further south. In the attached picture you can see a narrow, rightward sloping gully, darker than the surrounding rock, to the right of the upper grass patch. The bottom part of this gully is a small waterfall. There's a ledge that runs just above the waterfall which leads easily down to less difficult ground.

One other tip which makes the descent less technical: I climbed up gullies and ribs to reach the summit ridge north of the summit. From that point there were a couple of Class 3 moves on the ridge that weren't difficult, but which gave me some pause when I thought about downclimbing them. I found that you can easily avoid downclimbing the ridge by descending a short distance SW from the summit to the head of a gully which leads down onto the west face.

BTW on my way down to the Lead King Basin trailhead, I discovered someone had blocked the trail in two places above Geneva Lake with dead branches. The sign showing the location of campsite #4 was also removed. No explanatory signs were posted, and no warning of these changes was given at the trailhead. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 7/29/2018, By: cdonnelly0626
Info: "Lollipop loop"...Snowmass Creek TH to summit via East Slopes, descent on West Slope, back to Snowmass Lake via Trail Rider Pass and then back down.

-East Slopes: of course the snow in the snowmass was gone (and probably long gone this year) but the underlying rock was surprisingly solid and mostly fun scrambling. I found that staying near or on the ridge was generally a good strategy for the final portion.

-West Slopes: This was more the rock quality that I expected in the Elks. Loose and frustrating, as advertised. Unless you are much more balanced than me, prepare for lots of falling in various configurations as whatever rock or dirt you try to step on collapses under your feet. It was also wet and slippery due to intermittent rain. I much prefered the eastern approach to the mountain.

-But the scenery on the west side after getting down the gully is completely gorgeous.

Photos: first two from the east slopes (one a bit further down, and then the final ridge), the third is looking back up at the west slopes route, and then just for fun the fourth is the pretty Lead King Basin scenery.