| Sneffels? A Colorado Monarch? You Bet! Trip Report |
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| Sneffels? A Colorado Monarch? You Bet!   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: Colorado, United States, North America Date Climbed/Hiked: Jul 2, 2006 Activities: Mountaineering Season: Summer | Page By: altitude14er Created/Edited: Jul 4, 2006 / Jul 4, 2006 Object ID: 204843 Hits: 662 Loading... Page Score: 83.55% - 6 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
7-2-2006Mt Sneffels - 14,150ft.
South Slopes – Standard Route
7 miles roundtrip w/3345ft. elevation gain
I departed for this climb with my Dad on 7/1/2006 from Denver. The whole way to Ouray it was raining, hailing or looking like it was going to rain. On the six hour drive to Ouray, I nervously wandered what the weather would be like tomorrow. In town we played tennis & later found the forecast was 40% chance of showers ALL day for
7-2-2006.
It took about 40 minutes to reach the trailhead the following morning from Ouray. The road into Yankee Boy Basin is spectacular, offering great views all the way. My Dad dropped me off at the small parking area at 10700ft at 6:30am. After walking down the road a brief distance, you come to a fork. I was unsure which way to go and waited for two hikers behind me to catch up. They instructed me to take the right fork. I talked with the two climbers for a while; ironically, one of them was summit-poster Ryan Schilling! It is a small world indeed. Ryan & Erin shared an exciting story about their climb up the class 5 Teakettle Mtn (13819ft) the day before. After a short while they branched off for a climb up the neighboring Cirque Mtn.
Back on the solo, I hiked above the 4WD pull off right below Wrights Lake (12,180ft). The scenery here is superb. Several of Colorado’s most impressive & highest thirteeners surround Yankee Boy Basin. The trail is easy to follow through the rocky terrain. I came to another sign for Mt Sneffels & Blue Lake Pass. As I continued northwest on the trail the views of Sneffels expanded above me. Due west I could see Blue Lake Pass leading up to Sneffels West ridge. Instead I followed the trail up the steep scree
slope to my right. This slope is in between point 13,694ft & Mt Sneffels. The ground here is heavily eroded and slides around a lot. The views of Sneffels West Ridge look really impressive from up here. I was lucky enough to spot seven majestic bighorn sheep on Sneffels West Ridge. They were all males, running along the west ridge effortlessly. What a sight! After several hundred feet of loose, slippery talus I was on top of the saddle. The hiking was relatively easy up to here.
From the saddle, I easily spotted the obvious couloir. The couloir is guarded by steep cliffs to the left & right. The couloir does have the potential for falling rock from above, so I decided to strap on my helmet. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like I’d be needing the cramp-ons I had brought because the snow was slim. 2/3 of the way up the couloir there was a brief section of snow. It was pretty compact, and the slope had deep steps kicked into it from all the climbers who had recently been here. Nevertheless, a slip here could be bad news so I pulled out my ice axe.
Trekking poles would also be sufficient for this section. I followed the steep and rocky terrain in the couloir up to the rocky notch at around 14000ft. Looking down the couloir from here was an impressive view down.
From here you don’t have many options. I looked around and realized the rocks were very menacing in all directions and didn’t look easy to climb. Yet to my left was a rock crack/shelf that I decided to climb through. Once on the other side I was glad to discover I was on route. The summit was a couple hundred feet above me and I could see climbers on the top. The rocky ledges leading up to the summit at this point were easy to ascend. I hurried to the summit as the weather had been deteriorating since about 8am – It was now 9:05am on the spectacular summit. I only spent a few moments on the summit because of the clouds. If it had been later in the day I would have aborted the climb due to the clouds, but since it was early I had chanced it and it was a (lucky) success. I was
thankful Mother Nature had decided not to let the rain rip. Two climbers summited right after me, they had taken the west ridge route. They said that it wasnt that difficult of a class 3 route, I’ll have to visit it. The descent went quickly, and I walked at a leisurely pace, soaking in the views of Yankee Boy Basin. A well traveled friend once told me this was his favorite area in Colorado, now I see why! What a day! What a mountain!
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Sneffels Range, Colorado
