7/22/2018 Route: West Slope Posted On: 7/23/2018, By: anothernord Info: The entry into the couloir by the upper grass patch has a bit of a river running down it, so be prepared to get wet or take a 3rd class entry ~20 yards to the south. The gulley is starting to get pretty eroded from many boots, but solid rock exists to the looker's left of the gulley. R/T was ~9 hours from Lead King. |
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7/14/2018 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/14/2018, By: Flyingfish Info: The route up is dry except for the path around the lake being boggy and wet through the willows. Any snow left below the ridge is easily avoidable. The traverse to North Snowmass is dry, stable, and fun. |
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7/1/2018 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/2/2018, By: DevonK Info: There is not much snow left but enough to make bringing microspikes helpful. It is melting quickly though and there probably won't be much left up there in a couple weeks. Other than the loose rock the route to the summit is easy to follow. |
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6/30/2018 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/2/2018, By: kircher Info: Snowmass no mas. Be prepared to wrestle with a lot of rocks. |
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6/23/2018 Route: S-Ridge Posted On: 6/24/2018, By: r_grizz Info: Ascended S-Ridge, descended West Gully. Beautiful conditions in Lead King Basin with wild flowers in full bloom. Route is bone dry and in great shape. After having ascended both of the "entrance" gullies now, I STRONGLY recommend using the one on climber's right. It's much wider, drier, less steep, and much less loose debris. At the crux wall of the S-Ridge, I chose to ascend the slabs and then traverse to the right for a couple of very exposed, but very fun, moves - a total rush! Everything else is straight forward. We only encountered one other group on the route and descended down the primary West Gully with them so as to avoid rockfall on each other. The descent down that gully, as it is well documented, is horrendous. Lots of steep scree, loose rocks, dangerous stuff. There is still a ribbon of snow in the lower half of the gully that we moved into for ease of travel, but it's totally avoidable if you wish. The gully exit is very wet and muddy right now with significant runoff flowing, making all options very slick. Be careful there. Other than that, it was an excellent trip and redemption after two failed attempts aborted due to weather. CAUTION: We came across a VERY large, male bear along the road to Marble on the way out of the basin just after you reach the high point of the switchbacks (I just caught a quick photo as he was headed back into the trees). He had clearly been eating well and wasn't all that afraid of us. Please take care to hang or otherwise store your food. I'm sure this big boy wouldn't have any problem sampling someone's delicious Cliff Bar or Mountain Fare meal (or leg)! |
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6/23/2018 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/24/2018, By: Misi197 Info: Straightforward 8 miles to the lake. The log jam is firm and stable. The trail that hugs the south shores of Snowmass Lake through the willows is narrow and at times calls you question if this is truly the correct route, especially if you are passing through by headlamp. The climb up the scree slope is as challenging as other scree-fests (Bross, Columbia, Little Bear), but if you can find the cairn just below the waterfall section and cross over onto the north side of the gully, it can be made much easier. Image 6 shows this exact spot. The snowmass itself is still holding a decent amount of snow. We took the standard route with spikes and an axe and were glad to have both, particularly for the start of the descent. There are some stairs knocked into the upper section of the snowmass before the ridge. The ridge itself is easy going scramble, snow-free and a straightforward section of the trip. There are still very good glissades coming back down the snowmass, but there a few sections where it won't be long before rock starts to get exposed. Slide down carefully. Streams are running hard and clean, so you can save some weight on water and refill along the way. Forest Service rangers were out checking to make sure overnight campers had bear canisters, permits and waste removal plans/equipment. 22 miles is a damn long commitment. For me, the distance alone made Snowmass one of the more difficult of the 14ers to complete. |
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6/19/2018 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/20/2018, By: kevmonster Info: Climbed Snowmass as a 2 day trip up the east slopes route with a camp at snowmass lake. I left camp at 4am, 3am may be better if trying to get the crunchy snow. Despite the rain over the weekend I was able to ascend the snowmass with crampons on nice melt/freeze. On the way out the snow softened considerably. It wasn't unstable so much to create post holding. However the steep slopes with wet snow can be a slippery combination. When I came off the ridge back onto the snow I tried to follow the steps I had kicked. The second step washed out and I went whizzing down the slope, ice axe is a must. Rock scramble to the ridge is dry. Approach is dry. One patch of snow going around snowmass lake. |
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6/18/2018 Route: South Ridge Posted On: 6/19/2018, By: wondering_hough Info: The approach gully we used to gain the ridge held some snow that was fun to negotiate. The ridge was dry an a nice surprise considering how much rain we had on our trip. Descended the West face which held snow. We did not use traction but it would help in places. |
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6/12/2018 Route: West Slope Posted On: 6/18/2018, By: PBR Powered Info: Trail is almost entirely clear of snow to the summit. We (party of three) experienced one posthole the entire day and it was during our decent down the mountain. Only one " major" (~50 yard) snow crossing in the basin to gain access to the steep climb up snowmass. We summited in almost 5 hours and glissaded down most of snowmass to the basin. There's not much snow left up there and glissading could get pretty sketchy as the snow continues to quickly melt away. Other than a few minor trees that have fallen in the trail the path is unobstructed. Its almost scary how nice the climbing conditions are for mid-June. Stay safe and happy climbing. |
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6/10/2018 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/11/2018, By: JQDivide Info: Lower snow is melting quick. Trail is snow free to the lake (a few tiny patches that should be gone by next week). Patches of snow abound the lake and willows. Gully is almost bare except for the very top, but melting out fast. Direct approach held good snow. But no boot pack because the soft snow gets wiped off as soon as someone slides down the notch. Backside scramble is free of snow. |
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6/3/2018 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/3/2018, By: graberz Info: What a mountain! The trail is almost entirely clear to the lake. The real challenge now is getting from camp to the scree field we elected to go right up a snow field out of the scree which was mixed snow and scree to gain the standard route. From there I went to the direct route. There is a cornice there that you can squeeze around and gain the ridge. Ridge was clear or avoidable of snow. We got a good freeze overnight so climbing was solid snow. Glissading was rough but we did slide down a. Good way. We only saw one other person on the summit today. We did use snow shoes to get back to camp around the lake but was likely not worth bringing them.we started 3:30, summit about 6:40, back to camp 9 ish. |
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6/2/2018 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/2/2018, By: dwoodward13 Info: I concur with the last report. We had a hard freeze the night before the climb which made snowshoes unnecessary. Only minor postholing traversing around the lake in the afternoon which didn't make the extra weight of snowshoes worth it. If you don't get a hard freeze prior to you climb I'd bring them though. Crampons/ax/helmet required. |
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6/2/2018 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/3/2018, By: madadraw1 Info: Left TH 8:45AM. Set up camp at Lake 1PM. Summit 8PM! Camped at lake and hiked out AM 6/3. Yes, this was by design based on great weather report 6/2 and questionable report for 6/3. We thought it paramount to be off ridge before losing light, which we did. Agree w/ recent reports between 6/2 - 6/3 (axe, crampons, snowshoes). Most annoying part of hike is getting around lake. Surprisingly slow going. Since we summited late, had much different conditions. Wonderful kick stepping to summit ridge w/ bare boots and axe. BUT freeze starts kicking in fast. Most of descent I was sure footed but on scree field some short sections of unavoidable snow where crampons would have been key. Miscalculation on our part and fortunately things worked out for us. We took standard route up, descended direct route. At this time, standard route has steeper snow than direct route (given the latter now has gap between snow and ice on hikers right). But, really fun snow climbing. Probably 50 degree pitch give or take. |
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6/2/2018 Route: West Slope Posted On: 6/4/2018, By: dbarnes Info: NOTE: Found along Route: Uniden 2-way radio just below Geneva Lake. Road to Lead King Basin Trailhead from Crystal is completely free of snow. Trail is clear and easily passable until about Little Gem Lake, then postholing and mush begins. Still plenty of snow to contend with above 12,000. |
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6/1/2018 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/2/2018, By: WildWanderer Info: Trail dry until 1/4 mile before the lake. Log jam easily navigable. Snowshoes extremely helpful around the lake if you're not a fan of postholing. Lots of recent avalanche debris in the area. Lake is almost completely melted out. No snow in first gully, the mass is full. Ridge mostly dry. Crampons, helmet, and ice ax required, Get an early start on this one. |
