Snowmass Mountain

Route: West Slope
Posted On: 6/20/2015, By: taylorzs
Info: Somewhat continuous snow starts at Geneva Lake. Skins or snowshoes are pretty essential above the lake. The west face is in from the summit with only a little bit of Davenporting at the top and downclimbing of a few cliffs at the bottom. We had good corn snow and a solid freeze despite an overnight low of 40F above treeline. Radiative cooling and a breeze helped freeze the snow overnight. Great corn at approximately noon. 

Route: West Slope
Posted On: 6/9/2015, By: Lindyhapa
Info: Trailhead: Forest Road 315 (Lost Trail Road on Google Maps) to Lead King Basin is clear for 3.8 miles past the center of Marble. At that point, there is an impassible snowbank (see picture). Going this direction will add about 9.6 miles round trip to your climb. There are no vehicle tracks in the snowbanks coming from this direction. However, there are vehicle tracks in snowbanks farther down the road. Based on this, I believe that the trailhead can be accessed by a capable 4x4 via the road from Crystal. Climb: I started hiking at 9pm. The road has some long sections of snow, but is mostly clear. I made it to the trailhead at about midnight and began climbing the trail to Snowmass. The trail is completely clear of snow until a couple of avalanche debris fields on the beginning of the ascent by the waterfalls when the trail rejoins the creek before ascending to Geneva Lake. The slides were not fresh. They were frozen over, dirty, solid ice that has been melting for some time. From this point on, I had a hard time route finding. There aren't any footprints on the hard ice and it's easy to miss places where the trail switches back under the ice and snow. Also, be cautious about following my footprints in the snow above this point. They won't all lead you where you want to go. The area around Geneva Lake is completely covered by snow. There's no way to follow the trail. You'll need to make your own, so bring a map and a powerful flashlight if you're doing it in the dark. Snowshoes are also necessary as of Geneva Lake. It was a beautiful clear night and I could just see the outline of Snowmass against the dark night sky. A bright half moon had just risen and lit up the snowfield as I began to climb past Geneva Lake. At exactly 2am, I heard a loud BOOM. Thinking it was thunder, I looked up at the sky. Then I heard the sound of boulders crashing down the side of the mountain. The sound wasn't close, but it quite powerful even at a distance. An avalanche had broken loose. It was still to dark to see where, but it seemed to come directly from Snowmass. Last weekend, the mountain showed me signs that it wasn't ready to be climbed. This time, the mountain spoke to me directly. I imagined what could have happened if that slide had come down at 3 or 4am when I was ascending the slope. I listened to the mountain and began my long trek back to the car. My opinion is that the mountain is not yet ready to welcome us. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/2/2015, By: Lindyhapa
Info: There were only a few small patches of snow on the trail approaching the logjam. About half a mile past the logjam the snow increases and quickly becomes a solid mass of heavy wet snow with very few breaks up to Snowmass Lake. Snowshoes were a must. We camped the night and started hiking up from Snowmass Lake at 3am. The snow hadn't completely frozen overnight. We quickly ran into a fairly fresh avalanche slide that had gone down into the lake. In the light of the almost full moon, we could see more similar slides in the upper basin leading up to the summit ridge. Seeing this, we decided to turn back. You may be able to see some of the slide activity in the attached picture. 

Route: West Slope
Posted On: 9/17/2014, By: desertdog
Info: Beautiful day with summer conditions. No snow on the route. Upper part of the gully is super loose as advertised. The 4WD road took one hour to drive the last six miles in my 4Runner. 

Route: West Slope
Posted On: 9/14/2014, By: dritse
Info: Beautiful day on Snomass. Road is dry to Lead King trailhead. The route up the S-ridge and down the west slope was completely dry with only traces of snow between the rocks above 13,500. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 9/8/2014, By: kumo1341
Info: The trail up to the lake is muddy in some places. There are some black ice on rocks early in the morning in the loose gully but melts out once the sun comes up. The direct route to the notch is in good condition. The traverse to north snowmass is mostly free of snow except small patches down climbing snowmass(avoidable). The exit gully between snowmass and north snowmass is quite loose, but it is a good option if the weather is moving in fast ( helmet recommended). Enjoy! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 9/3/2014, By: mtn_nut
Info: all of the snow reported on 8/24 is gone. did the east slope with trail runners without a problem. west slope looked good too. some patchy snow between snowmass and north snowmass, but easily avoidable. 

Route: West Slope
Posted On: 8/25/2014, By: rang0044
Info: 1st snow hike of the season! The climb up was slick with new snow above 12,000. Fortunately the sun came out in the afternoon melting and softening the snow making the descent much easier. Realized part way down that my black patagonia jacket had fallen out of my pack if anyone happens to find it along the way. After doing the loop through Crystal and down via Lead King Basin, I would definitely recommend Lead King Basin approach for a much easier drive. I did hear that it can be difficult if wet or raining. Overall a great hike! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 8/22/2014, By: The Legend
Info: Snowmass Mountain was mostly snow free. There are a couple of snowfields that can be avoided. The direct route is free of snow too. It was a simple climb up to the notch. On the backside of the mountain, the rocks were covered with ice, which was mostly hidden until you touched them. Also, look for the route on the grass section in the beginning. There are some orange tags helping to route find around the lake. Follow them, it is the correct path. 

Route: West Slope
Posted On: 7/27/2014, By: alan and beth
Info: West slopes are good to go, avoidable small snow fields on lower slope. FYI the trail starts by stepping over a big log in the parking area. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 7/21/2014, By: aliciaf
Info: So. Much. Horse Poo. It was ridiculous. All the way to Snowmass Lake it was a game of hopscotch. Log jam was much easier to cross than I anticipated. Stable logs and easy to navigate across. Dry trail all the way to Snowmass Lake. Snowmass starts well above the top of the headwall. We ascended via the ridge around the bump and descended the direct line. Direct line to ridge has snow all the way to the ridge. Firm snow in morning and heavy/wet by noon. We followed HikerGuy‘s crampons steps down with microspikes and an axe with no slipping and sliding yet. Once an open, rock free path was available we glissaded down. Descent from camp was wet due to rain and had even more horse poo. Ugh. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 7/13/2014, By: mspalding
Info: Beautiful dry trail all the way to the lake. The water has lowered a bit so the logjam is stable. The scree climb up the waterfall is also dry. The snow in the basin made for easy kick stepping at 7am. But by noon it was sugar snow and too loose to plunge step down. However it made for easy-to-control glissading. Bring an ice axe. You‘ll need it if you slip on the way up and it is helpful but not necessary on the way down. Crampons are not needed. The back side ridge route is clear of snow except for one really dangerous snowfield. At 10am it was kickable in some parts and had impenetrable ice just below the surface in others. It was too steep to stop a slip with an ice axe. Climb the rocks above it instead. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 7/3/2014, By: Cool Hand Luke
Info: Approach is dry until Snowmass Lake, the headwall from the Lake to the basin is dry too. After the basin approach the easiest way up is to gain the ridge line on the left (looking at Snowmass) and traverse. There are still a few cornices left so be wary. The scramble from the ridge on is mixed, but mostly rock. I prefer to stay close to ridge proper due to better rock quality and less chance of rockslides. An ice axe is necessary, did not use crampons but had on rigid boots. Four Pass Loop is still holding a lot of snow on the back passes. Trail Rider and Frigged Air both looked socked in and would require axes at the bare minimum. Seems like it may be another 2-3 weeks... 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/21/2014, By: esagas
Info: The log jam was doable by taking it easy and testing every log for stability. There‘s still plenty of soft snow as one gets close to the lake (put on your gaiters!). The route is in great shape and the snow was firm. We started at 2:30 am and reached the summit via the notch. There‘s a cornice that is easily bypassed on the right, as indicated in previous reports. From there, I followed snow to the climber‘s left, while my buddies decided to stay on the ridge. The snow around the lake, however, is getting very soft and will make you wonder how long the lake really is! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/11/2014, By: BillMiddlebrook
Info: Since this page only allows for 8 photos, I added an "extended" conditions report as a trip report: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=14959