My brother Jeff Nunn and I climbed Mount Sneffels on July 30, 2024. I had climbed Sneffels in 2008 and I was surprised at some of the things that I did not remember. I thought I would write a brief trip report that might help some other people.

The road to Yankee Boy Basin trailhead is steep and a little rough, but I would say passable for most passenger cars with a little clearance and a little power. If you can make it to the 2WD trailhead at 6.7 miles, the road doesn't get much rougher between there and the "outhouse" 0.8 miles further up. That gets you to about 11,350. If you are a real purist then you might want to walk back down the road a little bit to get down to the point where you gain 3000 feet. We didn't quibble about 50 feet or so, since we figured we would make it up somewhere anyway.

There is ample parking at the lot near the outhouse. I saw signs that said "no camping beyond this point" on the way up, but I also saw signs that said "no parking beyond this point" on the way up, which is of course ridiculous since there is a large parking lot at the outhouse. Definitely room to park and car camp in the lot by the outhouse.

After the outhouse, the road does become much narrower and rougher. Probably not drivable unless you have a tricked out vehicle or a 4 wheeler.

If you are starting early, WHICH YOU SHOULD, watch carefully for the right hand turn off of the trail at 12,700 feet. The turn off from the main trail is very faint and is easy to miss in the dark. If you continue on the main trail it takes you west towards the Blue Lakes approach and towards Dallas Peak. If you confuse Dallas Peak with Sneffels then you will probably be very discouraged looking at Dallas Peak and thinking that you have to climb it!!! If you get to a sign with an arrow points right and slightly backwards towards Sneffels, then you have gone too far and just need to backtrack a little and look sharp for the trail turnoff to the north that will take you on the standard route (south slopes) to Sneffels (ask me how I know).

Hike up the south slopes trail (faint at times) to 13500 feet to the Scree Col aka Lavender Col. If you have even marginal class 3 climbing skill, stay to the far right or far left in the col and use the solid rock to ascend, rather than trying to hike or crawl up the ball bearings in the middle of the col. This is a good place to practice easy scrambling that you will need to do later in the route anyway.

From here, follow the route as described in the route description (https://www.14ers.com/route.php?route=snef2) and/or Roach's 14ers book until you reach 14000. You can go 20 more vertical feet up to a notch which provides a good view. At 14000, you will make a hard left and have to go through a V-slot which has a fair degree of exposure to your left. Going through the V-slot is just awkward, and I have not seen it described in any route description. I did not remember it from 2008 (when I was very much a novice and more sensitive to exposure than I am now). Greenonion told me that the V-slot used to be filled up with rocks, which made it easier to negotiate. In any case, just be prepared mentally for the V-slot ahead of time. Neither us nor a group of 3 that were coming up as we were descending were mentally ready for it, and it took us a minute or 2 to get our heads right and our "loins girded up" to maneuver through the slot. You want to get a good firm hold on at least one of the rocks that is jammed tightly in the slot before you commit to moving your feet into the slot.

If you don't mind climbing steep, solid rock, then you could possible avoid the V-slot coming up by exiting the gulley a few hundred feet early to the left and climbing a different gulley up to the far side of the notch, but that gulley is quite a bit steeper, and you won't be able to avoid the V-slot on the way down anyway, so it is probably better to just deal with it on the way up and learn from it.

From there climbing to the summit is 2+/easy 3.

If you left early there was probably almost no one at the outhouse parking when you headed up. When you come down, there will be about a million people in Jeeps or on Razors all over the place beginning at the top end of the road if the weather is good. A little bit annoying to have to stop and let them go by on the narrow 4WD portion of the road. I guess the mountains are for everyone though.

Overall, Sneffels is a beautiful mountain. As Roach and others have said, if you have only done class 1 and 2 climbs and want to see what something a little bit harder is like before attempting the Crestones, the Wilsons, or the Bells (highly recommended), Sneffels is a great place to do that. With only 3000 feet of climb from the outhouse, it isn't as long or as difficult as the aforementioned harder 14ers, so you aren't committed to being above tree line for nearly as long.

If I can acquire some pictures from my brother I will attempt to add those in later. Technology is not my middle name.

Sean Nunn

Peculiar, MO