MOUNT SNEFFELS 8/26/88
MOUNT SNEFFELS 14,150'
Mountain........Mount Sneffels
Elevation.........14,150
Rank...............28th
Range..............San Juan
Trail length......3.5 miles
Elevation gain..3,500'
Difficulty..........**
Comments........Narrow, steep couloir; great views
TRIP REPORT
8/26/88
After a restful day in Ouray, I awoke the next morning at 5:00 and drove to the Yankee Boy Basin trailhead. I took my movie camera with me and have a very detailed record of the climb. I began the hike in the dark (I was somewhat familiar with the route, having been partway up once before). By sunup, I was in marmot & pika country (a large boulderfield) and took wildlife movies. From the boulderfield I headed to the right up a broad, steep, loose couloir that ended at the saddle on Sneffels' east ridge.
The narrow couloir left of the saddle was free of ice this year, so I dumped my ice axe and bulky camera case, tossed the handycam in my pack, and headed up. A little scrambling at the top of the couloir put me on a series of ledges leading to the peak.
On the summit I performed the usual rituals - signing the register, taking pictures (including my wife's toy elephant, Hooty, who was a pretty experienced climber by this time), and scattering some of Richard's ashes around. It was a beautiful day and I was on the summit early and alone, watching the morning mists evaporate in the valleys as the shadows of peaks gradually retreated from the brilliant sunlight.
On the descent I retrieved my axe & case (gig talk) and ran into 6 people in two groups at the lower saddle. I gave them expert route advice; Hooty concurred. Continuing down, I expanded on my marmot/pika/flower footage. I got back to the car, started the drive out, and soon found myself hung up on a large rock inconveniently occupying a rut in the road. Fortunately a bunch of jeepers were coming uphill - they got out and gave the car a short push back uphill, enabling me to escape the rut and continue out. I would like to use this space to thank all of the people who have helped me escape from my own stupidity, clumsiness, and ignorance on my various adventures. THANKS!
I arrived back in Ouray at 12:30, had lunch at the McDonalds in Montrose, gassed up in Cimarron, and pulled into Lake City at 3:30, where I checked into the Matterhorn Motel (which you may remember as the 'Psycho Motel' from a previous adventure).
The owners were impressed with my climbing stories, calling me a brave boy and my wife Jan the little heifer that I left behind. They were somewhat worried because I planned to attempt the Wetterhorn alone the following day but I assured them that I would turn back if things got too hairy.
I picked up some groceries, called Jan from a phone booth to let her know where I was and where I was going, and had dinner at Murphy's where the waitress was wearing the same outfit as me (jeans with a green & white rugby shirt). Corona never tasted so good. Then I went back to the motel and reorganized for my last climb of this trip, wrote some notes & postcards, and sacked out.
At 5:30 the next a.m. I hit the Wetterhorn trailhead around 6:45. It was cloudy and cool. I headed directly for a saddle on the long ridge at 13,100' and continued up into a heavy cloud with mist streaming across the ridge at 50 mph. There were cairns all over the place (too many trailmakers) - it was too windy to stay on the ridge top route; there was a traversing route way below on steep, loose rock - I avoided that one; I did find a reasonable line of cairns paralleling the ridgetop on the left and about 50 feet below. It was OK but hard to follow, and had a LOT of ups and downs in loose couloirs and hard-to-scramble rock ridges.
Visibility was down to about 15 feet and as far as I could tell nobody else was on the mountain, and I was unfamiliar with the route - so I decided things were too hairy and retreated. Once out of the cloud I could see my way down the ridge and back into the valley, where I met some friendly marmots and ptarmigans. I drove to Durango via Creede and Wolf Creek Pass, had dinner at Romero's, and left for home the next morning.
Mountain........Mount Sneffels
Elevation.........14,150
Rank...............28th
Range..............San Juan
Trail length......3.5 miles
Elevation gain..3,500'
Difficulty..........**
Comments........Narrow, steep couloir; great views
TRIP REPORT
8/26/88
After a restful day in Ouray, I awoke the next morning at 5:00 and drove to the Yankee Boy Basin trailhead. I took my movie camera with me and have a very detailed record of the climb. I began the hike in the dark (I was somewhat familiar with the route, having been partway up once before). By sunup, I was in marmot & pika country (a large boulderfield) and took wildlife movies. From the boulderfield I headed to the right up a broad, steep, loose couloir that ended at the saddle on Sneffels' east ridge.
The narrow couloir left of the saddle was free of ice this year, so I dumped my ice axe and bulky camera case, tossed the handycam in my pack, and headed up. A little scrambling at the top of the couloir put me on a series of ledges leading to the peak.
On the summit I performed the usual rituals - signing the register, taking pictures (including my wife's toy elephant, Hooty, who was a pretty experienced climber by this time), and scattering some of Richard's ashes around. It was a beautiful day and I was on the summit early and alone, watching the morning mists evaporate in the valleys as the shadows of peaks gradually retreated from the brilliant sunlight.
On the descent I retrieved my axe & case (gig talk) and ran into 6 people in two groups at the lower saddle. I gave them expert route advice; Hooty concurred. Continuing down, I expanded on my marmot/pika/flower footage. I got back to the car, started the drive out, and soon found myself hung up on a large rock inconveniently occupying a rut in the road. Fortunately a bunch of jeepers were coming uphill - they got out and gave the car a short push back uphill, enabling me to escape the rut and continue out. I would like to use this space to thank all of the people who have helped me escape from my own stupidity, clumsiness, and ignorance on my various adventures. THANKS!
I arrived back in Ouray at 12:30, had lunch at the McDonalds in Montrose, gassed up in Cimarron, and pulled into Lake City at 3:30, where I checked into the Matterhorn Motel (which you may remember as the 'Psycho Motel' from a previous adventure).
The owners were impressed with my climbing stories, calling me a brave boy and my wife Jan the little heifer that I left behind. They were somewhat worried because I planned to attempt the Wetterhorn alone the following day but I assured them that I would turn back if things got too hairy.
I picked up some groceries, called Jan from a phone booth to let her know where I was and where I was going, and had dinner at Murphy's where the waitress was wearing the same outfit as me (jeans with a green & white rugby shirt). Corona never tasted so good. Then I went back to the motel and reorganized for my last climb of this trip, wrote some notes & postcards, and sacked out.
At 5:30 the next a.m. I hit the Wetterhorn trailhead around 6:45. It was cloudy and cool. I headed directly for a saddle on the long ridge at 13,100' and continued up into a heavy cloud with mist streaming across the ridge at 50 mph. There were cairns all over the place (too many trailmakers) - it was too windy to stay on the ridge top route; there was a traversing route way below on steep, loose rock - I avoided that one; I did find a reasonable line of cairns paralleling the ridgetop on the left and about 50 feet below. It was OK but hard to follow, and had a LOT of ups and downs in loose couloirs and hard-to-scramble rock ridges.
Visibility was down to about 15 feet and as far as I could tell nobody else was on the mountain, and I was unfamiliar with the route - so I decided things were too hairy and retreated. Once out of the cloud I could see my way down the ridge and back into the valley, where I met some friendly marmots and ptarmigans. I drove to Durango via Creede and Wolf Creek Pass, had dinner at Romero's, and left for home the next morning.
posted by JansStores at 6:30 AM
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