6/25/2024 Route: Standard Route Posted On: 6/26/2024, By: Grover Info: A little snow in the gully, but avoidable if you want. I tossed microspikes in my backpack but never used them. Obligatory chossy talus from 12,400 up to 13,000 at the saddle with Kismet. No snow on the trail / route from the ridge run and up to the summit. Summit register is on the West Summit, with loose paper and a mechanical pencil. Probably could use a refresh. The route up to the East Summit (apparently the higher one now) is chossy and loose. |
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7/7/2023 Route: Standard S Posted On: 7/10/2023, By: slawrence2011 Info: Inspired by Blazintoes report, but we were not able to find a continuous snow route up Cirque any more, though there are some discontinuous lines that cliff out. So took the standard up, class 2+ ish. On the way down, I skied into Blaine basin off the saddle, regained Lavender col via East couloir (which is continuous up to a couple hundred feet below the col, and it was possible to ski low on YBB road by staying skier's right from Lavender col, and around under Gilpin. In general, good snow on the N side of the basin, but S side is melting fast, no more continuous lines on S side of Teakettle or Potosi visible sadly. |
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6/24/2023 Route: S couloir to Snake Posted On: 6/24/2023, By: blazintoes Info: Cirque du sol Snake Up Cirques south couloir from YBB with bullet proof snow. 800 climb. Totally awesome cruiser climb to the summit. Great views of Teakettle. Then headed down into Blaine Basin. 1000 descent. Got on Sneffels North Butress and connected to the Snake. Sorta terrifying and time consuming because of class 5 solo climbing and lose rock. Definitely 60 degree snow and no fall territory a couple times trying to get into the Snake. Once I found passage at 13,700 the snow although cooked all morning by the sun was supportive. The final push to the summit was a class 5 scramble on solid rock and ice. The Snake is totally filled in. Looks like a good ski. The descent off Sneffels via Lavender was cruiser. The bottom is very dry. YBB is open and you can drive ~1/2 mile up the 4x4 road. Climb and ski Snake while you can. Stay off the North Buttress. A rope wouldve been nice today. |
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5/29/2023 Route: South East Slope Posted On: 5/29/2023, By: VeraUndertow Info: Yankee Boy is caked with snow, if you were wondering if your line is in up here, it probably is. This route is straightforward as can be. Road is plowed to the outhouse (still locked) then you walk up the road for 1/4 mile then start climbing up some moderate gullys north then work around the cliff band and up to the summit. Great conditions with a great freeze today. Snow started getting sun around 7, I could have dropped at 9:30 or 10 but dropped around 9 and it was still a little firm but such is life. Skied all the way back to the trail head in about 10 minutes. |
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9/25/2022 Route: From Yankee Boy Basin Posted On: 9/27/2022, By: dwoodward13 Info: YBB Road->Cirque->Gilpin-YBB Road. Left the road where a stream comes in near 11.5k' and hiked up mostly grass to the base of the gully coming off the Kismet/Cirque saddle. There is a pretty well defined trail in the gully up to the saddle. A pretty easy stroll from the top of the gully to Cirque with a few small cliff bands to negotiate. The most stable/enjoyable peak in the Basin IMO. We descended back down and linked up with the road, walking it to the Sneffels TH. We hiked a little up the Sneffels trail, then cut off toward Gilpin in a route that looked best to us. We ascended up to the ridge on a nice grass section. From there we made our way over lose talus/dirt up to Gilpin's summit ridge. As the TRs suggest, its best to hug all the outcroppings as best as possible for the most stable talus. There are use trails. Easy stroll from the top of the ridge to the summit. Descended back to the Wrights Lake spur then back to the car. |
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7/19/2022 Route: Yankee Boy Basin Posted On: 7/20/2022, By: JasonKline Info: Summer conditions. Much more pleasant than the other Yankee Boy Basin Bicentennials. |
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7/2/2021 Route: Yankee Boy Basin Posted On: 7/3/2021, By: MC.Ikema Info: Route is snow free to the top. A surprisingly good trail emerges from the rocks around 12,500 and runs to a seldomly visited summit. Right peak looks taller, but a scramble over to Right made Left look slightly higher... I think? Touch em both and let the USGS decide come revision time. |
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5/30/2021 Route: Standard Yankee Boy approach Posted On: 5/31/2021, By: CarpeDM Info: We may have gotten lucky with the weather. The night was clearer than forecasted, which probably helped the snow stay firm. Our decision to leave snowshoes behind was a good one. You can find good snow from pretty close to the road up to the saddle. We left the road a little early and had an easy off-trail walk with a couple of leftward contours to get onto the snow. But once on it, the snow was good for crampons. From the ridge over to the summit pitch, it was a mixture of snow and rock. Getting around the unnamed point felt a little dicey in a couple of spots, since we were sidehilling on firm snow without crampons. But kicking steps did the job. The ridge from the unnamed point to the summit pitch was corniced, but you can find a route across that avoids that danger. The summit pitch was smooth sailing except for the loose 8 foot step at the start and one snowy step above that. On the way down, the snow was still in good shape for walking down in crampons. We only post-holed a little down low. All photos taken on the way down. |
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10/1/2020 Route: SW Ridge Posted On: 10/1/2020, By: desertdog Info: A few snow patches on the ridge, which can be avoided. Dry otherwise. |
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9/13/2020 Route: from Yankee Boy Posted On: 9/13/2020, By: tjf242424 Info: Dry all the way to the false summit, but a substantial cornice for much of the way across the cirque (see photo) to the true double summits. We made it work with approach shoes and micro spikes with poles. I also attached a photo of Teakettle/Potosi, which look mostly dry. There's a fair bit of snow on the descent ramp from Coffee Pot to the black gully. We could not see the gully from our vantage point. |
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7/3/2020 Route: From Yankee Boy Basin Posted On: 7/4/2020, By: WildWanderer Info: A little bit of snow in the gully, as well as some water, but passable and otherwise snow free and summer conditions. |
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10/15/2019 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 10/16/2019, By: osprey Info: The route is summer conditions. Cirque is, for the most part, a well mannered mountain without the loose scree on its neighbors Sneffels Lavender Col and Teakettle/Coffee Pot. A very pleasant climb. |
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7/7/2019 Route: From sneffles Cirque saddle Posted On: 7/7/2019, By: cottonmountaineering Info: Mostly dry , will want to have some traction along the Ridgeline as consequences for falling are high |
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9/28/2018 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 9/28/2018, By: TravelingMatt Info: From the toilet (lower 4wd trailhead) at 11,300' in Yankee Boy Basin, walk the road for about ¼ mile. Leave the road and tack northwest towards the gully between Kismet and Cirque. (Not NNE into the Cirque/Teakettle gully!) The route starts on gentle terrain, then steepens, then around 12,700' you run out of grass. A use trail exists through the scree but good luck walking up it. Ridge is generally a walkup to the summit with one or two short, slightly loose class 2+ segments. Point 13500 can be bypassed to the north (left). The western summit is probably the highpoint but the eastern summit offers better views of the ridge over to Teakettle. Traverse between summits has slight 2+ near col. From the Governor Basin turnoff it took me 2½ hours to summit, and from the toilet I summited in just under two. |
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6/7/2018 Route: Standard Posted On: 6/7/2018, By: illusion7il Info: All clear. |
