Do you like the book or movie Dune? Do you wish you could go to a place as forsaken and impenetrably vast as the deserts there? See the Snow Mesa group in the winter!

Lured by past trip reports of a beautifully groomed snowmobile track across the snow mesa making for easy hiking and a great weather forecast, Eric, Ryan, and I made a plan for the Snow Mesa group. We all ideally wanted all four but would see what the day would bring. We stayed in Lake City on Friday night and departed at 5:25am for Spring Creek TH. It was a snowstorm! Slow going over snowy windy roads. Upon arriving at the TH just after 6am, the snow cleared up.

We geared up with snowshoes and chatted with our friends Kyle and Jake who had camped out and were planning to ski cinco. We were almost instantly greeted with a killer trench on the CDT. Wow, what luck! We winded and cruised through the trees along the wonderful trench. Just above treeline as you climb up to a ridge, the trench stopped. Not to fear we thought, we’d only need snowshoes for a bit until the snow mesa thanks to the groomed snowmobile track or worst case the ridge to no es. (Reader, this was not so.)

Once above the ridge, the wind was cold and the slog had begun. We stopped for a bit so I could put on my heated socks then continued to gain the saddle between no es and cinco. The basin was loaded with unconsolidated snow. The ridge also required snowshoes to our dismay. There were some corniced spots up to no es to avoid but nothing crazy. It had taken us twice as long as expected to summit the first peak at 10:15am. Eric waited for us to catch up on the summit, we took some pics of the imposing lake city 14ers and made our way back to saddle for cinco.

We opted to keep snowshoes on heading up to cinco to take advantage of our heel risers. We made quick work and summited at 11am. Looking over to 13168 didn’t seem all that far. I knew there was a good descent route from over there onto the snow mesa (and the foretold groomed track) so we continued on. By this point the winds had died way down so that it wasn’t as cold. A curious fox followed us for a while, looked really nice and fluffy. He was the highlight of my day honestly.

From the summit of 13168, my body was feeling pretty run down. Eric and Ryan analyzed the ridge up to 13505 and it was too corniced and loaded to be a safe option they thought. Eric decided to see if he could find a rib to drop down into the basin further then climb back up. Ryan and I started to descend towards the snow mesa and Eric rejoined us shortly as the rib didn’t go. There would have been option to drop further down into the other basin but daylight would have run out as the amount of loose snow would have been very slow.

Our descent route was low angle based on past trip reports and caltopo but we heard a ton of whumpfing. The snow was thick and loose then randomly more solid. The trudge down the slope across buried willows was not fun. When we joined the CDT where the groomed snowmobile track we thought would be it became increasingly apparent we were in for a long trudge across the mesa without any track to aid us.
There were no signs at all that there had been any grooming all season so I believe that the track is now a thing of the past.

~waaaa aaaaa ahhhuuuuaaaa~ Dune movie soundtrack playing

It was now exceptionally hot with the sun beating down and reflecting up from the mesa. This is a forsaken insanely vast place in the winter. The views of the San Juan’s on the horizon seemed so very far away. Eric led us trenching and trudging through the flat and several uphill treks. It really felt like Arrakis trying to protect ourselves from the sun and also not pass out. Those Dune suits would have made perfect sense. We all drank through our liquids and ate through our food as it took multiple hours to cross the snow mesa.

At long last we connected with our tracks from the morning and rejoined the trench. This made for easy going on the final stretch thankfully. We made it back to the car before sunset
Side note: our friends ended up turning around on their skis due to the cold AM winds and unfavorable snow of dense fluff and crust.

Final stats: 3 peaks, 13.6 miles, 11 hrs, 3723 ft of vert. (Plus the food rapidly ingested in Creede afterwards.)