S 4 Trip Report 05/31/2007

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	"S 4" - 13,256 feet
Date Posted	05/31/2007
Date Climbed	05/28/2007
Author	SarahT

Sneffels area 13er - a fun snow climb
"S 4" - 13,242 Mt. Sneffels Wilderness Area From: East Dallas Creek TH Approx. 8.8 mi, 3850 ft Partner: Dominic This was our third consecutive hike from the East Dallas Creek TH and we were hoping it would be relatively short as we had to make the long drive home afterwards. UN 13,242 is known as "S 4" by the San Juan Mountaineers (S is for Sneffels) and it is located 2 miles west of Mt. Sneffels. It is a gnarly, interesting peak with complex towers and steep slopes guarding and confusing any route to the summit. The only TR I found was written by Kirk Mallory - he'd climbed it in August and reported ascending a loose scree filled gulley on the south side. His route topped out west of the summit and he reported some 3rd/4th class climbing along the ridge to make it to the top from there. This weekend conditions were wildly different - there was a ton of snow. On our climb of "T 0" two days before we had scoped out possible routes up "S 4". The south face looked really steep, but we'd seen a nice little cornice free couloir on the southeast side that looked very inviting. Today's plan was to climb it even though we had no idea whether we could actually get to the summit from the top of it. The route turned out to be a heck of a lot of fun, even though it wasn't the most efficient. Since we wanted to hit the couloir early and be and back in Boulder at a reasonable hour, we started hiking at 3:45. I wasn't exactly looking forward to another trip up the Blue Lakes Trail, especially the horrendous side hilling part. Several parties had signed the trail register since our first trip indicating that they intended on going to Blue Lakes, but I had serious doubts that the casual day hikers in shorts and sneakers really went that far after seeing the conditions up there. I remained hopeful, but unfortunately I was right. This time we didn't waste time hiking all the way to the lower lake. About 0.2 miles before the lake we left the trail and continued north up an initially treeless area. After 0.15 miles we made a sharp turn west and followed along the north side of the drainage that passes under the south slopes of "S 4". The map indicates a stream here, but it was completely hidden under the snow. We stashed out snowshoes around 11,700 feet and climbed up scree to reach the base of the couloir at 12,200 ft. The sun was just starting to hit the snow (it was shortly after 6) and it was in great shape. Crampons and an ice axe were of course necessary. The climb was fairly short, about 500 ft. I'm not very experienced at estimating slope angles, but Dominic and I guessed it was an average of 35 degrees with a short 40-45 degree section near the top. I was a little worried because it was obvious that the short climb would leave us still several hundred feet below the summit. Would there be a reasonable ascent route from there? When we topped out we found ourselves on the southeast ridge of "S 4". A short, very loose, snowy, scrambly section was the first obstacle and crampons and an axe were still necessary. An impressive, impossible looking tower blocked progress from there. We were fairly sure that it wasn't the summit and began to traverse around the south face at the 13,000 foot level on rock and steep snow. The sun hadn't hit this side of the mountain yet and the snow was ideal. We took our time and were cautious on the steep slope. The runout was rocky in places but self arrest would have been pretty easy with the current snow conditions. When we got closer to the summit we considered two possibilities: a snow and rock gully on the west side that looked a little challenging, and a steep little couloir disappearing into the unknown on the east side of the summit. Since it was the closer of the two, we decided to investigate the second option first. The slope angle became steeper (maybe 45 degrees) as we climbed toward the summit ridge. We couldn't see the top until we reached it. We were happy to discover that another steep, narrow ~15 ft snow climb was all it would take to get to the gentle summit. There was a lot of snow in it and I have no idea how it would go dry. The views from the summit were spectacular. Dallas was right across the basin. Two people were on top of neighboring "S 6" and we watched them ski back down into the basin and back to their camp at the lake in a matter of minutes. Our descent took slightly longer. Glissading wasn't a good option. We climbed down the steeper upper part of the south face facing in and then zigzagged our way to the bottom when the angle lessened. At the base we removed our crampons and retrieved our snowshoes. The hike back to the trailhead didn't seem nearly as bad as it had the first time but the entire hike, despite its mellow stats, took 8.5 hours. pictures & map: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/559259362wNWqDN?vhost=outdoors

Sneffels area 13er - a fun snow climb

"S 4" - 13,242
Mt. Sneffels Wilderness Area
From: East Dallas Creek TH
Approx. 8.8 mi, 3850 ft
Partner: Dominic

This was our third consecutive hike from the East Dallas Creek TH and we were hoping it would be relatively short as we had to make the long drive home afterwards. UN 13,242 is known as "S 4" by the San Juan Mountaineers (S is for Sneffels) and it is located 2 miles west of Mt. Sneffels. It is a gnarly, interesting peak with complex towers and steep slopes guarding and confusing any route to the summit. The only TR I found was written by Kirk Mallory - he'd climbed it in August and reported ascending a loose scree filled gulley on the south side. His route topped out west of the summit and he reported some 3rd/4th class climbing along the ridge to make it to the top from there. This weekend conditions were wildly different - there was a ton of snow.

On our climb of "T 0" two days before we had scoped out possible routes up "S 4". The south face looked really steep, but we'd seen a nice little cornice free couloir on the southeast side that looked very inviting. Today's plan was to climb it even though we had no idea whether we could actually get to the summit from the top of it. The route turned out to be a heck of a lot of fun, even though it wasn't the most efficient.

Since we wanted to hit the couloir early and be and back in Boulder at a reasonable hour, we started hiking at 3:45. I wasn't exactly looking forward to another trip up the Blue Lakes Trail, especially the horrendous side hilling part. Several parties had signed the trail register since our first trip indicating that they intended on going to Blue Lakes, but I had serious doubts that the casual day hikers in shorts and sneakers really went that far after seeing the conditions up there. I remained hopeful, but unfortunately I was right.

This time we didn't waste time hiking all the way to the lower lake. About 0.2 miles before the lake we left the trail and continued north up an initially treeless area. After 0.15 miles we made a sharp turn west and followed along the north side of the drainage that passes under the south slopes of "S 4". The map indicates a stream here, but it was completely hidden under the snow. We stashed out snowshoes around 11,700 feet and climbed up scree to reach the base of the couloir at 12,200 ft. The sun was just starting to hit the snow (it was shortly after 6) and it was in great shape. Crampons and an ice axe were of course necessary. The climb was fairly short, about 500 ft. I'm not very experienced at estimating slope angles, but Dominic and I guessed it was an average of 35 degrees with a short 40-45 degree section near the top.

I was a little worried because it was obvious that the short climb would leave us still several hundred feet below the summit. Would there be a reasonable ascent route from there? When we topped out we found ourselves on the southeast ridge of "S 4". A short, very loose, snowy, scrambly section was the first obstacle and crampons and an axe were still necessary. An impressive, impossible looking tower blocked progress from there. We were fairly sure that it wasn't the summit and began to traverse around the south face at the 13,000 foot level on rock and steep snow. The sun hadn't hit this side of the mountain yet and the snow was ideal. We took our time and were cautious on the steep slope. The runout was rocky in places but self arrest would have been pretty easy with the current snow conditions.

When we got closer to the summit we considered two possibilities: a snow and rock gully on the west side that looked a little challenging, and a steep little couloir disappearing into the unknown on the east side of the summit. Since it was the closer of the two, we decided to investigate the second option first. The slope angle became steeper (maybe 45 degrees) as we climbed toward the summit ridge. We couldn't see the top until we reached it. We were happy to discover that another steep, narrow ~15 ft snow climb was all it would take to get to the gentle summit. There was a lot of snow in it and I have no idea how it would go dry.

The views from the summit were spectacular. Dallas was right across the basin. Two people were on top of neighboring "S 6" and we watched them ski back down into the basin and back to their camp at the lake in a matter of minutes. Our descent took slightly longer. Glissading wasn't a good option. We climbed down the steeper upper part of the south face facing in and then zigzagged our way to the bottom when the angle lessened. At the base we removed our crampons and retrieved our snowshoes. The hike back to the trailhead didn't seem nearly as bad as it had the first time but the entire hike, despite its mellow stats, took 8.5 hours.

pictures & map:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/559259362wNWqDN?vhost=outdoors

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