mount sneffels - 14150' - Snake couloir class 4
May 2022
In another preparation climb for my trip to Alaska coming up in June the following month, I met up with John and his friend to climb the Snake Couloir route on Mount Sneffels. Upon completing this climb, Sneffels would be the only peak ever I have climbed more than twice. Since we got such a late start, we planned to camp in Blaine Basin just at treeline before getting an early start the next morning. We hiked up the Dallas Trail that curves eastward from the Blue Lakes Trailhead and rounded a ridge before continuing up the Blaine Basin trail. Halfway up to Blaine Basin the ground became fully covered in snow and we more or less made a beeline southward from the 10500 contour and along the east side of the creek until the terrain flattened at 10700 feet. A few more minutes hiking south in the now dark sky as twilight waned we got to an opening in the trees where a snall rise was bare of snow. Here we pitched the tents and went to sleep under a bright moon with a beautiful view of the north face of Sneffels.
The next morning we were up early and started ascending up the basin shortly after sunrise. We chose a path that ascended diagonally from left to right up the slopes with short trees, and curved rightward to ascent the westernmost of the three drainages that dump down Blaine Basin. The going was easy on firm snow and I was feeling good so I went on ahead. John had his skis so was skinning up since he really wanted to ski down the Snake, but I was just booting. At 12900 feet, the open bowl closed up and I reached the base of the quickly narrowing Snake Couloir. No one appeared to be in it above me so I entered and began ascending its far right side. A few hundred feet higher, I cut left and climbed in a deep narrow chute, avoiding the right branch. Then, just as I was in the gut of the narrow chute a bunch of ice chunks and a couple rocks came falling down headed right for me. I quickly charged off to the left climbing onto a narrow ledge on the rock wall to let the blocks pass. I then bolted up the remainder of the narrow chute for another 200 feet to where I reached a rock outcrop where the couloir curves 90 degrees to the left. Here I rested a few minutes and I was now able to see a few skiers at the top of the couloir preparing to ski down. I yelled up for them to wait, and made the final 300 feet up to the top of the couloir. I then made the 4th class scramble up the rock for about 75 more feet to pop out right on the summit. There were a dozen or so others hanging out at the top, all on skis. It was still an early 9am but the sun was warm. I relaxed for at least 30 minutes watching a few of the first skiers try their luck skiing down the 50 degree couloir and man it looked awful. Icy, scrapy and it did not look like any of them were having any fun.
After chatting with a few of the others on the top (one of which were amazed I was using Olympus Mons boots, to which I exclaimed they are the only boots big enough for me for ascending steep snow and ice) I began walking down the standard Lavender Col route. I reached Lavender Col easily, passing by many other people still heading up from Yankee Boy Basin. Once at the col, instead of continuing south on the normal route, I descended north and down the middle of the three drainages leading down Blaine Basin. This entire way down was on perfect snow that sunk underfoot only a few inches making for soft walking without post-holing too much. I caught up to John and his friend just before we reached the tents as they opted to turn around at about 13400 and ski the lower couloir due to the other skiiers knocking ice down. We hiked back down to the trailhead and I returned home to Grand Junction by dinnertime.
The next morning we were up early and started ascending up the basin shortly after sunrise. We chose a path that ascended diagonally from left to right up the slopes with short trees, and curved rightward to ascent the westernmost of the three drainages that dump down Blaine Basin. The going was easy on firm snow and I was feeling good so I went on ahead. John had his skis so was skinning up since he really wanted to ski down the Snake, but I was just booting. At 12900 feet, the open bowl closed up and I reached the base of the quickly narrowing Snake Couloir. No one appeared to be in it above me so I entered and began ascending its far right side. A few hundred feet higher, I cut left and climbed in a deep narrow chute, avoiding the right branch. Then, just as I was in the gut of the narrow chute a bunch of ice chunks and a couple rocks came falling down headed right for me. I quickly charged off to the left climbing onto a narrow ledge on the rock wall to let the blocks pass. I then bolted up the remainder of the narrow chute for another 200 feet to where I reached a rock outcrop where the couloir curves 90 degrees to the left. Here I rested a few minutes and I was now able to see a few skiers at the top of the couloir preparing to ski down. I yelled up for them to wait, and made the final 300 feet up to the top of the couloir. I then made the 4th class scramble up the rock for about 75 more feet to pop out right on the summit. There were a dozen or so others hanging out at the top, all on skis. It was still an early 9am but the sun was warm. I relaxed for at least 30 minutes watching a few of the first skiers try their luck skiing down the 50 degree couloir and man it looked awful. Icy, scrapy and it did not look like any of them were having any fun.
After chatting with a few of the others on the top (one of which were amazed I was using Olympus Mons boots, to which I exclaimed they are the only boots big enough for me for ascending steep snow and ice) I began walking down the standard Lavender Col route. I reached Lavender Col easily, passing by many other people still heading up from Yankee Boy Basin. Once at the col, instead of continuing south on the normal route, I descended north and down the middle of the three drainages leading down Blaine Basin. This entire way down was on perfect snow that sunk underfoot only a few inches making for soft walking without post-holing too much. I caught up to John and his friend just before we reached the tents as they opted to turn around at about 13400 and ski the lower couloir due to the other skiiers knocking ice down. We hiked back down to the trailhead and I returned home to Grand Junction by dinnertime.
Blaine Basin Approach Map (Green + Red)
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Snake Couloir ascent (red) and descent (blue)
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