West Face from Lead King Basin

West Face from Lead King Basin

Page Type Page Type: Trip Report
Date Date Climbed/Hiked: Jul 7, 2007
Activities Activities: Mountaineering
Seasons Season: Summer

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Snowmass Mtn. (14,096 ft.)

Participants: cftbq, trishapajean

RT: approx. 9 miles
Vertical: ~4,500 ft.

On the 7th of July, 2007 we (trashapajean and I) climbed Snowmass Mtn. via the west slopes route. For some reason, we decided that going through Glenwood Spgs. would constitute a "short cut" from our starting point in Colorado Springs, so we got a good late start, leaving the 4WD trailhead at 8:30 am MDT.
The morning was clear and warm, and Lead King Basin was gorgeous, with lush vegetation and wildflowers eveywhere. We drifted too far to the north (climber's left) on our ascent, however, and added unnecessary distance and difficulty to our climb. We ended up having to backtrack {what seemed like) a long ways south to gain the summit.
Meanwhile, the weather had gone south, cloudy, windy, and threatening rain. We bailed on the plan to include North Snowmass because of this. After a brief stay at the summit, we headed down, quite a bit to the south of our ascent route. We got rained, and even hailed, on in brief spates.
Satisfying, but a difficult peak. Photos can be found at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/tcogwr/SnowmassMountain

Fourteener #30 for me, #27 for her.



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