Snowdon Pk. is awesome, I climbed it as a memorial to my Father one day after he passed, on June 13th, 2004. I have lots of high 8 footage, but no pics or I would post them...
I ascended the N/W couloir, which starts out on snow at about 40 degrees. about midway up it was 50 degrees, and tops out near 60 degrees. It was really solid up high, but not quite ice, an exciting finish... I left the trailhead at 8:30, and topped out at 10:45. I downclimbed the extremely fun N/E ridge, rated third class, which I would liken to Ellingwoods S/W ridge, solid and sheer, with just a tad bit more route finding needed than Ellingwood...
There is another route (West Buttress/ 4th class) described in Rosebrough's 'Climbing Colorados San Juan Mountains', which I have not enjoyed. There are long, smooth slabs on the North side of this Buttress which overhang the N/W couloir, making it more dangerous than it is in itself. I would say that I got a later start than is advisable for my route choice, as melting snow was sliding off of these slabs landing all around, and scaring the crap out of me... I never climbed so fast... I think I shot up 800' in about 25 minutes. That's about twice my average ascent speed.
Certainly, this is one of Colorado's finest moderate peaks, with several challenging routes to choose from.
Start at the Andrew's Lake trailhead and follow the well established trail through the switchbacks into the forest south of the lake.
On my way up the trail at about 1.2 miles there is a metal trailhead registration box where you take a left. If you continue without turning left you hike out to Crater Lake.
Turn left at the registration box and proceed past the small ponds into the meadow and continue in a south east heading towards Snowden Peak.
The trail continues into the forest and passes a waterfall just prior to getting into steeper terrain.
Stay on the trail and continue past the boulder field and proceed up the steeper trail to the top of the left saddle. There is a cairn marking where you turn right to begin climbing the rocks that follow the spine of Snowden. There is a trail that is just off to the right side of the beginning of the spine that takes you to the obvious light brown dirt saddle before the hands on section.
Once past the light brown saddle, continue up onto the larger Class 2 and 3 rock and work your way up on the left side of the spine. There are cairns that are fairly easy to follow up to the summit and no snow at all this date.
San Juaneer - Mar 20, 2005 9:56 am - Hasn't voted
Untitled CommentSnowdon Pk. is awesome, I climbed it as a memorial to my Father one day after he passed, on June 13th, 2004. I have lots of high 8 footage, but no pics or I would post them...
I ascended the N/W couloir, which starts out on snow at about 40 degrees. about midway up it was 50 degrees, and tops out near 60 degrees. It was really solid up high, but not quite ice, an exciting finish... I left the trailhead at 8:30, and topped out at 10:45. I downclimbed the extremely fun N/E ridge, rated third class, which I would liken to Ellingwoods S/W ridge, solid and sheer, with just a tad bit more route finding needed than Ellingwood...
There is another route (West Buttress/ 4th class) described in Rosebrough's 'Climbing Colorados San Juan Mountains', which I have not enjoyed. There are long, smooth slabs on the North side of this Buttress which overhang the N/W couloir, making it more dangerous than it is in itself. I would say that I got a later start than is advisable for my route choice, as melting snow was sliding off of these slabs landing all around, and scaring the crap out of me... I never climbed so fast... I think I shot up 800' in about 25 minutes. That's about twice my average ascent speed.
Certainly, this is one of Colorado's finest moderate peaks, with several challenging routes to choose from.
14RBND - Oct 2, 2020 12:33 pm - Hasn't voted
Snowden Peak Standard NE Ridge RouteStart at the Andrew's Lake trailhead and follow the well established trail through the switchbacks into the forest south of the lake.
On my way up the trail at about 1.2 miles there is a metal trailhead registration box where you take a left. If you continue without turning left you hike out to Crater Lake.
Turn left at the registration box and proceed past the small ponds into the meadow and continue in a south east heading towards Snowden Peak.
The trail continues into the forest and passes a waterfall just prior to getting into steeper terrain.
Stay on the trail and continue past the boulder field and proceed up the steeper trail to the top of the left saddle. There is a cairn marking where you turn right to begin climbing the rocks that follow the spine of Snowden. There is a trail that is just off to the right side of the beginning of the spine that takes you to the obvious light brown dirt saddle before the hands on section.
Once past the light brown saddle, continue up onto the larger Class 2 and 3 rock and work your way up on the left side of the spine. There are cairns that are fairly easy to follow up to the summit and no snow at all this date.