Snowmass West slope

[stevebarone]

I climbed it a couple weeks back and I went left of that crux headwall through the notch to keep it class 3. This is described in the trail report posted above. Taking the ridge direct it seems it would be pretty airy on the right side. Note on road to Lead King Basin TH: It wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be in a stock 2000 4runner. Tons of water dams and there is one section were there are two water dams really close together and I bottomed out briefly. More pull offs than I thought there would be as well if someone was coming the other way. Would not like to be on that road in downpour of rain though. That whole basin going up to Geneva Lake is one of the prettier approaches. Super Green and I'm red green color blind!

[Wentzl]

I am going to throw this out there:

https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepo ... m=tripmine

It's old but it's good

It gives you the S Ridge without the dreaded West Slopes route. It really should be a classic.

[Craftycritter]

Looking for hiking friends to hike Snowmass from the Lead King basin trailhead. This Friday and Sat have good weather. Open to other days also .One I would like to get marked off my list

What about Monday the 2nd? I'll be in the area on Sunday, hopefully doing Capital early on Sunday from the lake, but would love to also get Snowmass while I'm there. I don't have a 4WD vehicle to get to lead king and don't want to get my outback stuck! Thanks! -Tyler

I so would by I have same problem don’t have high clearance and a friend was going to give me atv ride Friday or sat so was going to be my way up. So I would but no ride for Monday

[DeTour]

Two other old but excellent TRs on the S Ridge are by PKR in 2007, and by FCSquid in 2011. One or both have marked-up photos showing specific lines taken at key spots. I’ll leave it to you to find them from that. Here is a link to mine from 2013. It’s wordy as usual for me, but lots of detail and tips, including how we reached the initial climbing on the ridge. https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepo ... m=tripmine
— To gain the ridge, I endorse starting up the left-hand gully and look for a weakness along the right wall to access solid class 3 scrambling.
— I’d rate the route as harder than other classic c3 ridges like Kelso, Sneffles SW and Quandary W ridge, but not by a huge margin. The sheer volume of scrambling over slabs heaved up at sharp angles dwarfs the scrambling on those other ridge routes. I think Capitol was harder overall than S Ridge however. An intermittent trail exists below the crest of the S Ridge to climbers left, which provides some relief from the difficulty if you want it.
— Most of the large slabs that comprised the crest of the ridge were stable - BUT some did move unexpectedly, and it only takes one, so it’s definitely a stressful route.
— I was surprised at the steepness pointed out in this thread, but the numbers look right to me. I think it’s a pretty steady gain. I don’t recall being intimidated by any wall-type vertical sections.
— Descending the upper sections of the west slope was awful. I was truly afraid one of those massive boulders would give way and kill someone. Use extreme caution if going that way, or descend the ridge. The slope eased a bit as we got lower, to a point of being more typical loose misery, still with risk but not as terrifying to me personally.
— Overall I think the S Ridge is a far superior mountain experience, one of the best in my 14er journey. Of course I don’t have an ascent of the west slopes for comparison, but I feel like it’s a reasonable conclusion from my experience descending that way.

[rmcpherson]

We did the S-Ridge up and down the West Slope as part of our 14er finisher week last Thursday. The S-Ridge was some of the most enjoyable scrambling I've done in the Rockies. The West Slope was one of the worst gullies I've ever descended: brutal, lose, steep, endless, and with significant risk of dislodging boulder-sized rocks. Thankfully we were the only group in the gully. If I ever do Snowmass again from that side (never done the standard route so can't compare) I'd go do the S-Ridge both ways. The down climbing isn't too bad and much preferable to the West Slopes route. I recommended that to a friend who did exactly that over the weekend and said it was a great time both ways.

As far as the drive in, we got our Outback to the parking area past Crystal without scrapes or drama, just a long, slow drive in on FS-314. We probably could have made the last 1.7 up to the LKB trailhead but didn't attempt it due to the beta in the recent LKB thread.

We used a combination of these two trip reports. Both were useful:
https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepo ... trip=19755
https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepo ... trip=20795

[dr_j]

As others have recommended, go up S Ridge, down the west slope. Any way you see it, the west slope is nasty, loose, and a rather scary chore. The S Ridge, once you navigate getting on the ridge proper, is pretty solid rock for the Elks, and does have a few spots of exposure and narrow sections. I just didn't have the stamina or time for the East Slopes route.

My TR has a few photos that might give you an idea of how it looks in certain sections.

[MaryinColorado]

I appreciate this thread and beta. Loved the sound of the S-Ridge route ever since reading it in Roach's book. I've done the approach, but I haven't hit the ridge yet. That is coming up soon! Partners and I were debating a west ridge ascent, but I think I've garnered enough insight to decide that we'll descend the S-Ridge. It'll be a heck of a day, I'm sure, and the S-Ridge isn't without risk, of course. But nothing about a *west* ridge descent sounds appealing, so I think we'll aim for S-Ridge both ways.