"S what? Six already starts with an S, it's not Ssix, that's just redundant. Wolc... Wol... c..." Who cares, like 17 people have ever heard of these mountains so here's your trip report.

"S 6" is most often done from Blue Lakes up and over the saddle between "S 3" and "S 5" (these names are "S 0" good... get it?) or from the Iron Mountain trail on the Telluride side of the Sneffels Range. Wolcott Mountain just isn't done, because nobody cares about unranked thirteeners. Those people are wrong, I might add, wrong. Anyway, "S 6" is your typical Sneffels Range pile of happy go lucky fun times. I'd already done "S 6" before with Whiley and Yusuf (Bombay2Boulder) via the Iron Mountain trail and while it wasn't the worst I've done it does rank pretty low on the list of enjoyable peaks.

On the other hand I knew absolutely nothing about Wolcott. Wolcott's southwest side looked most approachable (that is, lowest angle and fewest cliffs) when dry but since most Sneffels Range peaks are vastly better on snow I figured I'd save myself the scree sufferfest and climb it on snow. Some eastern couloirs looked good on satellite photos so that was settled. Heather needed both peaks so we figured we could also climb "S 6" from the north after doing Wolcott via a number of couloir-like features. Both mountains could be approached from the northeast via the Blue Lakes trail, which would also save us a lot of route finding and bushwhacking trouble. Heather came out and stayed at my place and we did Silver Mountain by Ophir on Saturday with Garrett, then planned to do this dynamic duo Sunday. We started stupid early to avoid crappy snow - 4:32am - but fortunately it's not that long of a drive to Blue Lakes from my house.

All told we only had about an hour of darkness before we had to ditch the headlamps. Even then we had the bomber Blue Lakes trail to assist us. This may be the easiest approach for some of the western Sneffels peaks there is. We took the trail to about 10,400' where the trail crosses an intermittent stream. We left the trail south of the crossing at a break in the trees, which meant zero bushwhacking for the day. Great start!

We hadn't brought snowshoes today but we did put on our crampons right at the trail. The snow was icy and we'd be climbing very soon. We took advantage of the open slopes below "S 4" directly to our south and made quick progress into the upper basin.

It wasn't long before we were in the basin high enough to see Wolcott's summit and east face, which was split by our couloirs.

We continued passing under "S 4"'s towering walls and spires and then across the massive rock glacier spilling off "S 6"'s north side. It's close to half a mile long! Thank god for the snow cover, since we crossed it three times over the day. Once we reached the bottom of the couloirs it was game time. Left or right?

We began up the snow, which was already a bit soft in the early eastern sun. We knew we wouldn't have a lot of time on Wolcott but that was OK. The climbing was in the Moderate Snow range and we made quick time up the couloir.

Creamy snow led us ever higher. Some small towers, oddly dropped mid-couloir, needed to be worked around. It was strange they weren't eroded away, but who am I to question nature's ways?

We had no real difficulties on this couloir. We carried a second axe in case but it was never needed. About 700 feet of the good stuff led is to the ridge, which was partially blocked by a small cornice we dodged to the right.

From the ridgetop it was a few minute's short walk to the summit. Wolcott is barely above 13,000 feet so the views of the northern Sneffels Range were huge and wicked.

It was a couple of minutes after 7:40am when we reached Wolcott and the sun was beating down, so we didn't stay long. We reversed the ridge to the couloir and quickly made our way down. In hindsight it would have been fun to go down the couloir we didn't go up, but it's not like this wasn't also fun.

We were soon back on the rock glacier spilling off of "S 6" and hiking towards the latter. The rock glacier was an easy affair, low in angle and smoothed by snow. Undoubtedly it would be miserable dry. We passed by a couple of other more southern couloirs slicing up Wolcott's east face.

As we got closer to "S 6" we were again presented with a dual choice: left or right. This time our decision was easy. We knew from as far away as Wolcott that there was a truly enormous cornice hanging over the righthand (northwest) line and we weren't about to mess with that. The lefthand line was also that much closer so there was no point in going out of our way.

As we approached the apron we crossed a few large, frozen piles of wet avalanche debris. We'd have to be fast to avoid any wet avalanche danger.

For most of the couloir the climbing was again easy, in the Moderate Snow range up to maybe 40 degrees. We enjoyed the climbing and the mutual company. Heather is just as much of a snow climbing maniac as I am and it's always a blast getting out with her.

Approximately halfway up the couloir we reached a fork. Surprise surprise: left or right? We'd already gone right up Wolcott and now left up "S 6" so obviously the correct answer is climb directly up the choss cleaver in the middle.

We sort of split the difference on this one. I went left, Heather went right. We planned to meet at the summit and hoped our respective lines would get us there. Neither of us could tell where they ended. My side ended up being easy breezy until it curved further left towards the top and turned into a beautiful Steep Snow finish, 50 degrees or just a bit higher. Just what I was looking for to knock off the climb. Front pointing ensued for this short section.

From the top of the snow climb there was only steep, somewhat exposed ridge to climb to the summit. Surprisingly there were some recent climber's tracks leading up the ridge, but I couldn't tell where they'd come from. Certainly not the north side like I had.

It was actually a bit hard to tell where the edge really was as I climbed up the ridge. The cornice was broken into precariously hanging pieces and the tracks mere feet away. I figured the tracks were safe but climbed swiftly nonetheless.

I peered down slightly to the west of the summit, being careful not to get too close to the edge, considering I couldn't see where the cliff began under the snow. I couldn't see Heather nor any of her tracks below me, so I sat and waited. It turns out her branch had been steeper and continued to fork. She'd tried a couple of the forks and none worked. The most promising ended in a nearly vertical wall of shattered, extremely loose rock surrounded by cornices. For good reason she stopped there and turned around before climbing back down and taking the left branch I'd gone up.

It wasn't long before I saw her coming up the way I had. At that point I wasn't sure why, as we hadn't been able to communicate yet, but she made quick work of the rest of the couloir and ridge.

When Heather arrived on the summit she relayed her story to me. I didn't see photos until after the trip, but her description was enough to know she'd made the right choice. We drank in the views, which were among the finest we'd ever seen.

Now that had been worth it! Wolcott by itself would have been a fine prize for me, but "S 6" really rounded out the enjoyment of the day. We could even get down for a nice lunch if we were fast, so having had our fill of mountains we departed back down.

I went down the couloir first as Heather took some photos. We both agreed that this one was particularly awesome and worthy of the time and effort it had taken us to climb. The top was steep enough to down climb facing in, and Heather soon joined me on the last bit of glory.

After a couple hundred feet facing in we were able to turn around and plunge step down, then eventually glissade all the way back to the rock glacier.

The rest of the hike back to the trail was zippy, and once back on the trail even zippier. There were a few cars at the trailhead when we got back but we didn't see anybody all day. We rounded out the day with beer and wings at Ouray Brewing Company, and then took naps. Is there a better day than climbing two great peaks, eating and drinking delicious food and beer, taking an afternoon siesta, and overall having a great time with your buddy? I think not.

Statistics

Climbers: Ben Feinstein (myself), Heather R.
Trailhead: Blue Lakes/East Dallas Creek

Total distance: 8.8 miles
Total elevation gain: 5,433 feet
Total time: 7:23:03
Peaks: One ranked thirteener, one unranked thirteener

• Wolcott Mountain, 13,040' (unranked)
• "S 6", 13,455'

Splits:

* I reached the summit of "S 6" significantly before Heather but didn't keep track of time well. There's some play in these numbers.