"Angel Knob", North Couloirs, Mod. Snow

Ben has been gunning for his final ranked Sneffels Range peak, and I've been keen to explore the funky traverse into upper Oak Creek, so when he floated his plan to tackle this pig with spring snow cover I was sold. After food poisoning thwarted plans early in the month, the stars finally aligned again at the end of May. We met early in Ridgway and started hiking from the upper Oak Creek/Perimeter trailhead at 3:45 with the aim of having light for the traverse but also getting to the snow before it got too soft.

By 5:30 we had finished with the trail and started ascending west across the meadows high above Oak Creek. Soon we began to traverse the beautiful, steep-sided, Cimarron-esque volcanic ditches, of which there are three plus a handful of shallower ones, all blanketed with fresh ball-bearing pebbles. The first is the crux, with a social trail to bypass a steeper option on the higher contour. After descending 200' into the second ditch, we rounded a hill infested with deadfall, which we found on the return was slightly less tedious on game trails 100 feet upslope. A narrow trail cuts the steep wall on the far side of the third ditch, which we picked up and followed along the 11,100' contour southwest, across verdant meadows and another minor ditch to a neat little amphitheater hosting several waterfalls.

At 11,300' we contoured into Oak Creek and followed it up briefly until it was filled in by snow off the north slopes of Angel Knob. Shortly after 7:00 we switched to boots and crampons and walked up the mostly supportive lower north slopes to access a short, slanting couloir leading most directly to the peak. The snow on this route was thinning and had already softened considerably. Still, we reached the dry and crumbling summit ridge with no drama after a little over an hour on snow.

After soaking in the awesome position of this decomposing pile of choss among the giants of the eastern Sneffels Range, at Ben's suggestion we hiked a bit farther down the east ridge and descended the proper north couloir--steep at the very top and otherwise mellow--which, due to holding more snow and being partially shaded by a jagged spur to the east, had remained relatively firm through the sweltering morning. Glissades of mixed quality led back to the creek, where we retraced our steps out and down to the 80F unpleasantness of Ouray.