Snowmass Mountain Trip Report 07/23/2008

Peak(s):	Snowmass Mountain - 14,105 feet
Date Posted:	07/23/2008
Date Climbed:	07/19/2008
Author:	emcrae

Snowmass Mountain--Buckskin Pass Approach
Snowmass Mountain and what a mountain it was! We started from the Maroon Lake trailhead on 7/18/08 On the way back out we ran into a ranger that said it was nine and a half miles from Maroon Lake to Snowmass Lake. I believe that the guide book says something else. Our ascent from Maroon lake on to Crater lake was a wet and rainy one since we started hiking in the afternoon. The trail for Snowmass Lake actually veers off before you get to crater lake. Be wary of thunderstorms as you head over Buckskin pass. We were all carrrying our backpacking gear and so the hike up Buckskin pass at 12,462 was beautiful but hard! When we got to the top of Buckskin there was a 20 ft. cornice of snow to navigate but there was a steep but easy way up on the right side of the cornice. After we rested at Buckskin pass we began our steep descent into the valley that held Snowmass Lake. It is a breathtaking view from Buckskin pass, but accessing the lake via Snowmass Creek would have been much easier! The hike to Snowmass Lake felt like a long trudge with packs on, but we finally got there and pitched our tents in the early evening. Early the next morning we began our ascent up Snowmass mountain. The trail was easy to find on the easy end of the lake, but it‘s not a trail for long! The steep scree rises above the trail. Look for the trail in the willows close to the waterfall. It is much easier than trying to navigate the scree and is a pretty good trail. I couldn‘t find it on my way up, but did on my way down. Once you get above the scree it‘s snow! Tons of snow! Many of the people that passed us had ice axes and were putting on crampons. I wished that I did have the crampons and ice axes but still made it without them. Even for the middle of July this thing still had lots of snow on it. Two of my climbing party decided not to climb all the way to the top, but my friend and I went up the boulder fields instead of opting for the really steep snow because we didn‘t have ice axes or crampons. We ended up climbing up a crack to the ridge. The other side (the Geneva lake side) had absoloutely no snow! Once we got to the ridge there was some pretty major scrambling to the summit and it took us awhile. The Roach book said "This ridge requires some Class 3 scrambling on surprisingly solid rock." I didn‘t really agree with that. I felt like it was more class 4 scrambling on semi-rotten rock. When we got to the top, everyone up there agreed that there was no easy way to approach the summit of Snowmass. Each route had some hard climbing! After we got to the top the challenge was the descent because there was so much snow. We actually overshot the place where we came up and had to traverse back across the snow field to collect the rest of our climbing party. As you head back down try to aim for the waterfall. We got stuck on some loose scree and ended up fighting some rock fall. For me this was one of the more challenging 14ers that I‘ve done. This is my 18th peak and I thought it was hard. It was amazing though! Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Snowmass Mountain--Buckskin Pass Approach

Snowmass Mountain and what a mountain it was! We started from the Maroon Lake trailhead on 7/18/08 On the way back out we ran into a ranger that said it was nine and a half miles from Maroon Lake to Snowmass Lake. I believe that the guide book says something else. Our ascent from Maroon lake on to Crater lake was a wet and rainy one since we started hiking in the afternoon. The trail for Snowmass Lake actually veers off before you get to crater lake. Be wary of thunderstorms as you head over Buckskin pass. We were all carrrying our backpacking gear and so the hike up Buckskin pass at 12,462 was beautiful but hard! When we got to the top of Buckskin there was a 20 ft. cornice of snow to navigate but there was a steep but easy way up on the right side of the cornice. After we rested at Buckskin pass we began our steep descent into the valley that held Snowmass Lake. It is a breathtaking view from Buckskin pass, but accessing the lake via Snowmass Creek would have been much easier! The hike to Snowmass Lake felt like a long trudge with packs on, but we finally got there and pitched our tents in the early evening. Early the next morning we began our ascent up Snowmass mountain. The trail was easy to find on the easy end of the lake, but it‘s not a trail for long! The steep scree rises above the trail. Look for the trail in the willows close to the waterfall. It is much easier than trying to navigate the scree and is a pretty good trail. I couldn‘t find it on my way up, but did on my way down. Once you get above the scree it‘s snow! Tons of snow! Many of the people that passed us had ice axes and were putting on crampons. I wished that I did have the crampons and ice axes but still made it without them. Even for the middle of July this thing still had lots of snow on it. Two of my climbing party decided not to climb all the way to the top, but my friend and I went up the boulder fields instead of opting for the really steep snow because we didn‘t have ice axes or crampons. We ended up climbing up a crack to the ridge. The other side (the Geneva lake side) had absoloutely no snow! Once we got to the ridge there was some pretty major scrambling to the summit and it took us awhile. The Roach book said "This ridge requires some Class 3 scrambling on surprisingly solid rock." I didn‘t really agree with that. I felt like it was more class 4 scrambling on semi-rotten rock. When we got to the top, everyone up there agreed that there was no easy way to approach the summit of Snowmass. Each route had some hard climbing! After we got to the top the challenge was the descent because there was so much snow. We actually overshot the place where we came up and had to traverse back across the snow field to collect the rest of our climbing party. As you head back down try to aim for the waterfall. We got stuck on some loose scree and ended up fighting some rock fall. For me this was one of the more challenging 14ers that I‘ve done. This is my 18th peak and I thought it was hard. It was amazing though!

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