Mt. Sneffels (14,159)
Route: South face via Yankee Boy Basin
Date: May 04, 2022
Distance: 15.0 miles
Vertical: 5,970 feet
Time: 9 hours 47 minutes
Partners: Solo
My GPS track.
Mt. Sneffel's South face. The ascent is via the gully to the far right (the Lavender Couloir) and the descent is on the south face proper with a short narrow section (the birthday chutes). The Lavender Col is blocked from view but it is just below the dark rock buttress to the right of the peak.
The road was gated 3.5 miles and 1700 vertical feet below the lower summer trail head so I used a bike for this section.
Finally arriving at continuous snow.
Avalanche debris on the first part of the snow route.
Views as I entered Yankee Boy Basin.
Looking back down. The start is well below snowline in the valley beneath the clouds.
Looking further up.
Although it was perfectly clear at daybreak, clouds started to build by 8:00.
The first view of Mt. Sneffels.
A zoomed-in view.
Looking down from just below the Lavender Col.
Looking up the Lavender Couloir as weather moves in.
Higher in the couloir.
The couloir ends with a rock step.
Ridge to the summit.
On the summit. Fixed lines are available for more adventurous descents.
Start of the ski run.
A tricky entry to the "Birthday Chute"
Looking back up.
Looking down. The snow did not soften due to the cloud cover and cold temperatures. Normally this would be an enjoyable ski, but on this day it was hard and chattery.
Further down
Rejoining the main snowfield.
The peak now totally shrouded in clouds. The Lavender Col is visible to the right, just below the clouds.
It started to snow steadily as I descended through Yankee Boy Basin. When I joined the road I was surprised to see that a bulldozer had come up that morning in order to start clearing the snow. I found it quite to difficult to ski on the roughened snow so I skiied to the side when possible but otherwise needed to walk.
Back to the trusty bike.
