Snowdon Peak

Route: Naked Lady Couloir + South Snowdon
Posted On: 5/6/2023, By: Geckser
Info: Day 2 of Silverton ski trip with Arthurspiderman. We started the day (7:30) by heading towards Snowden peak before cutting to the right and reaching a small lake at 12,000. From there we traversed over to South Snowdon. If some wisely you can avoid 98% of downhill. We booted up South Snowdon and had a middling ski down m and back to the base of Naked Lady. At this point it was 9:30 and someone else had already gone up and down, cutting us a nice booter. We followed this to the saddle, pretty steep couloir on hard snow. The crux was, as SnowAlien said, the climb from the top of Naked Lady to the Summit. Pretty heads up. We started skiing at around 11:00 and were treated to fearfully hard snow but we both made it down by 11:20. At which point a 5 pound rock busted ass down the line and hit Arthurspiderman square in the leg. He was down for a little while but was ultimately good to go after a few minutes. A nasty bruise and a serious reminder about rockfall danger. If it was bigger or if we were higher up in the couloir it could have been a trip a to the ER. Glad we started early. Great line though! South Snowden is a real gem. 

Route: Naked Lady couloir
Posted On: 5/4/2023, By: SnowAlien
Info: Finally checked out this classic that's been on my radar for some time. I bet there would be some tracks and a booter after a weekend. Looked like about 8 people skied it, at least the lower half. Surprisingly, the steepest part wasn't the top part of the couloir, but the section between the couloir and the summit - almost felt like a vertical snow climb. I very carefully upclimbed and downclimbed it. Once on the summit, looked like the weather was moving in, but then it dissipated pretty soon. Couloir finally warmed up by 2pm (I left TH around 10am), and made for some exhilarating turns in the upper half. Transitioning in the couloir was very challenging. Great experience overall at the upper end of difficulty, up or down. 

Route: The naked lady couloir
Posted On: 11/16/2022, By: smartt
Info: The couloir snow was stable for now. Saw some sloughing snow on the NE slopes of the mountain. Took me 6hrs rt from Andrew's lake parking lot. 

Route: Snowden Peak Standard NE Ridge Route
Posted On: 7/2/2022, By: angry
Info: Cruiser trail from Andrews Lake to the ridge. Easy route finding with a short class 3 scramble to the summit. 

Route: Naked Lady Couloir
Posted On: 5/29/2021, By: supranihilest
Info: From Andrews Lake you have a great view of the couloir, but the approach kind of sucks. The trail is difficult to follow in the dark and still largely covered in snow drifts. A GPX may be helpful. At a metal registration box turn left and follow a trail towards the peak. It will lead through swamp with standing water at a couple of points, and the trail is hard to follow in the forest due to snow and deadfall. Stay in the general direction of the peak and eventually you'll pop out in the basin below it. The couloir is obvious from there. The bottom starts off somewhat moderate and on good snow, and very gradually increases in angle towards the top. Max angle is probably 50ish degrees. There's a rock band about 2/3 of the way up that you have to zig-zag through but you can stay on snow through it. At the top of the couloir there's a small saddle where you'll want to traverse about 15-20 feet straight across, and then about 50 feet of Class 3 scrambling on solid, exposed rock. Don't climb the slabs to the right of the saddle, they cliff out. Atop the Class 3 there's some additional Class 2+ scrambling to the summit. We continued to "South Snowdon" and thus can't say what down climbing the route is like. Gear: crampons and axe mandatory for the couloir. A second axe was nice but probably not necessary. Flotation was nice even in the morning, since the snow in the forest was garbage. Microspikes will NOT be sufficient for the couloir. 

Route: Snowden Peak Standard NE Ridge Route
Posted On: 10/2/2020, By: 14RBND
Info: Start at the Andrew's Lake trailhead and follow the well established trail through the switchbacks into the forest south of the lake. There is a metal trailhead registration box where you take a left. If you continue without turning left you hike out to Crater Lake. Turn left at the registration box and proceed past the small ponds into the meadow and continue in a south east heading towards Snowden Peak. The trail continues into the forest and passes a waterfall just prior to getting into steeper terrain. Stay on the trail and continue past the boulder field and proceed up the steeper trail to the top of the left saddle. There is a cairn marking where you turn right to begin climbing the rocks that follow the spine of Snowden. There is a trail that is just off to the right side of the beginning of the spine that takes you to the obvious light brown dirt saddle before the hands on section. Once past the light brown saddle, continue up onto the larger Class 2 and 3 rock and work your way up on the left side of the spine. There are cairns that are fairly easy to follow up to the summit and no snow at all this date. 

Route: North Ridge Ascent, Descent to East Bowl
Posted On: 9/4/2020, By: supranihilest
Info: From Andrews Lake take the Crater Lake trail south up a set of switchbacks. When you reach the trail junction with the registry box take the left/east branch. Continue on the trail as it snakes through meadows and forest. Eventually it will begin ascending to the saddle with "N 1"/Point 12,628, a soft ranked 12er. The ascent to "N 1" is on grass and talus if you wish to tag it. From the saddle begin scrambling over the ridge as it narrows and curves around towards Snowdon. There are some cairns along the way but for the most part following the most beaten-in dirt path is the best option. I was on the ridge crest proper very little, mostly on ledges climber's left/east of the crest. When you near the summit the ridge narrows dramatically and then drops off into a huge notch, blocking easy access to the summit. At this point you should be about 50-75 feet below the ridge crest, with a couple of small cairns visible here. Scramble across the face briefly and you'll come to a narrow chimney-like feature. I scrambled up this at Class 3 for about 50 feet and this lead almost directly onto the summit plateau. The rock on the north ridge is solid quartzite and is mostly Class 2 to Class 2+. The majority of Class 3 is right below the summit. See my "South Snowdon" conditions report for the route over to that peak. If Snowdon is your only peak for the day either descend back down the north ridge or scramble down the south ridge to a double set of couloirs and then descend west down very steep and loose dirt/scree/talus, then head back to the trail. 

Route: West Face
Posted On: 6/17/2020, By: desertdog
Info: Approach and route are completely dry, except for one snow field at the bottom that can be avoided. We descended the NE ridge, which was dry as well. The Naked Lady Couloir did not look in good shape...melted out at the top and icy. Very smoky due to fire near Durango, but a nice day out anyway. 

Route: Naked Lady Couloir
Posted On: 5/16/2019, By: BillMiddlebrook
Info: A drive-by look at "Naked Lady" couloir aka the NW Couloir, on Snowdon. Good coverage and plenty of ski tracks. Even some tracks on the west face. 

Route: Naked Lady Couloir
Posted On: 5/17/2018, By: trailboss88
Info: perfect snow climb conditions, no need for snowshoes on approach but a bit muddy on the way out 

Route: NE and S ridges
Posted On: 7/3/2016, By: TravelingMatt
Info: From lower parking lot at Andrews Lake, take paved trail to far side of lake. Leave pavement for trail heading into woods; this goes to Crater Lake below the Twilights. Follow this trail for about 1 mile to register station where a use trail heads off to the left. This trail can be followed all the way to Snowdon's northeast ridge, although it is a bit faded in marshy areas. Just keep going straight when in doubt. Near the summit, you can stay on the ridge (hard) or follow a cairned route on the east/left side (still class 3, but easier). Descent via south ridge requires negotiating two separate gullies; exiting the lower one is the crux (class 4 on descent, probably easier going up, and the only really hard move on the whole descent). Ridge to South Snowdon does not go. From the col, descend to around 12400', pass in front of the east side of the South Snowdon massif and when comfortable ascend via class 2 scree to summit. Marshes are nasty; after descending from South Snowdon and trying to rejoin trail, my entire left leg sank on one step.