Flat Rock Shoulder of Palmyra Peak - Telluride Trail to See Forever Trail (Telluride City Trailhead near the Free Gondola)

3 July 2019 (Wednesday)

Hike Times: 7:35am - 2:20pm MDT (6h 45min hike duration)

Distance/Elevation: 11.72 miles / 4205 ft UP / 2476 ft DOWN with the Free Gondola (MapMyRun estimates)

Mountain Conditions: Moderate snow above the gondola, but paths were relatively clear of snow due to ski resort snow plowing.

Weather Conditions: Dry. Moderate temperatures. Clear pretty much the whole day with no chance of showers.

Crowds: Moderate. Encountered about 20 people on the mountain above the St Sophia Gondola Station.

Telluride is wonderful. The San Juan mountains are just gorgeous and the scenery is about as dramatic as the Colorado Rockies get. The range has a very different character than the Front and Sawatch Ranges that warrants exploration. Every trail from Telluride climbs multiple 1000 feet out of the box canyon--it's basically my ideal hiking playground.

I had initially planned to bag a number of 13ers in the area (Oscars Peak, LaJunta Peak, Wasatch Mountain), but the incredible 2019 snow season with a cool, wet spring limited the spring thaw. Lake City avoided catastrophic flooding scenarios, but summer hikers with prior travel plans (i.e., me) were forced to consider Plan B hiking options.

I have included some Telluride hiking and snow planning commentary below after the trip report.

Palmyra Peak (Flat Rock Shoulder) Trip Report

Plan B for me included hiking up the mountain from Telluride towards Palmyra Peak and seeing how far I could make it. It turns out that the ski resort plows its access roads all the way up to Gold Hill, so you can easily get in a 4000 ft hike early in the season and really test out your legs. The trail was mostly Class 0/1 (steep but boring), but the views of the surroundings are superb.

I want to be clear that this is NOT a Palmyra Peak Summit trip report. I did not complete the final Class 4 climb to the peak (13,319 feet) described very well in the Palmyra Peak Northeast Ridge route description by dweiss2, but only made it to the Flat Rock shoulder just below the summit (12,790 ft). I was solo, the volcanic rock was very crumbly, and the complexity of the climbing to the summit far exceeded my experience level.

The Telluride Trail can be accessed just south of the Free Gondola Telluride Station. Cross the bridge and hike up the steep, graded access road. Hiking is anything but technical and the hillside is mostly slumped terrain and glacial deposits all the way up to San Sophia Station. At Mile 2, I took the Coonskin Trail to San Sophia Station, the upper Free Gondola Station. In all, you gain about 1600 feet in 2.5 miles.

From San Sophia Station, continue south past the Nature Center towards the See Forever Trail. In an effort to control erosion on the ski slope, you are directed to walk past the base of the slope towards a short access trail that cuts through a pleasant spruce forest. Enjoy this stretch of forest as it's about all you get! Once back on the ski slope, continue up and up and up along the wide, steep ramp.

Views really become jaw-dropping to the north as the Sneffels Range dominates the scenery. The Wilson Group also looms to the west and really benefits from the angle of the morning sun. Some of my favorite views were from the Plunge Lift near Giuseppe's, where you get unobstructed views 270 degrees.

Continue hiking up the See Forever Trail. Pass Alpino Vino (sorry, closed in the summer) and the Gold Hill Express Chairlift. The Wasatch Connector Trail could be accessed at this point during summer conditions, but the trail was still buried with snow so I continued up Gold Hill. You encounter a minor obstacle at the Revelation Lift that required a short, but fun scree scramble.

After you get to the top of Gold Hill, you have great views to Palmyra Peak. The horizontal layers visible along the mountainside are real and representative of the geology of the area. The San Juans near Telluride are composed of layers and layers of volcanic rocks (specifically welded ash flow tuffs and volcanic breccias) piled on top of the underlying sedimentary rocks. There are literally thousands of feet of these Miocene volcanic deposits that were erupted from Yellowstone Caldera-class supervolcanoes to the east. It's amazing stuff and the reason the rocks seem so different (and crumbly) from Colorado's other ranges.

Clear views to the east are also visible from Gold Hill. Wasatch Mountain and LaJunta Peak rise above the ridgeline. I would love to explore this region under summer conditions and I hope to make it back some day.

I chose to take the trail as far as I could. Continuing south, you lose a small amount of elevation before hiking back up the shoulder of Palmyra Peak. At this point, it feels much less like access road and more like alpine ridge hiking. You will notice a set of metal stairs high up the Palmyra shoulder--these are the Gold Hill Stairs that allow you to bypass some of the terrain that would require more than scrambles. These stairs dump you close to Flat Rock; just scramble up the short scree pile to the top. Flat Rock is also right next to Gold Hill Ski Chute #10, an extreme backcountry winter ski run.

The views deliver, especially when you consider that you started the day way down below in the valley, more than 4000 feet below. Thoughts on how to get to the top can be found on the Palmyra Peak 14ers main page. Exposure is significant and the rocks were crumbly, so I did not go any further.

Views were very satisfying.

I took the same route back down. Views into Bear Creek canyon benefited from the afternoon sun and looked fantastic. I really want to come back at a later date and explore Ballard Mountain, Unnamed 13145 (Jackass Point) and LaJunta Peak, all visible to the east.

The best part about this hike (other than the stellar views) is that you can shave off the last 1600 feet of descent by jumping onto the Free Gondola that will promptly take you back to Telluride. A great way to finish the training hike.

San Juan High Country and SNOTEL 101

I spent a lot of time obsessing about how to hit multiple Telluride-area 13ers on a solo hike leading up to our Colorado trip. My general hiking plan and associated commentary can be found in the 14er Forum ( https://www.14ers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=55780 ). Alas, the 2019 snow season forced me to re-evaluate, leading to the hike above (but also an unanticipated summit of Mt Yale two days later).

So how quickly we can get out on the trail in the future? My recent experience has led me to believe that three main factors govern snow melt: Slope Face, Elevation and Topography. The following is a 101 for non-Colorado natives to assist in planning and expectations management.

Slope Face. I did some route recon before I did my hike. First, I would say that it's amazing to see how stubborn the snow is above 11,000 feet elevation. South and west-facing slopes will be the first to melt, but it takes much longer than you might think if you’re an East Coaster like myself. North and east-facing slopes are on a completely different time scale. Some examples of the difference are below:

Elevation. While it almost goes without saying, landscapes at higher elevations get colder earlier in the season and are the last to warm up. Therefore, mountain peaks will accumulate more snowfall throughout the season (compared to the valleys) and will melt at much slower rates in the spring. That combination results in very durable snowpacks at elevation.

Topography. Another nuance not immediately obvious to East Coasters and Flatlanders: snow does not build up uniformly across the topography (!). As significant snow falls across the region, the snow on the ridge slope can become unstable and fall into the valley. These basins, especially when fed by multiple avalanche chutes, will get buried in snow (and sometimes debris) and will therefore start with many times the amount of snow that fell across the region. High country basins will be among the last features to melt out.

So what can one do outside of begging Colorado natives to provide 14er Peak Conditions Reports? There are a number of tools that are very useful for planning, although we should be aware of their model inputs so that we can best to use the information they provide. I found the Colorado SNOTEL Snow-Water Equivalent Charts and the WeatherStreet Snow Depth Analysis Maps to be essential. CalTopo has also incorporated much of this data into its website, making it very easy to navigate between SNOTEL survey sites.

SNOTEL. One of the most common metrics used on 14ers.com is the SNOTEL (Snow Telemetry) Snow Water Equivalent plot. These charts provide a great comparison for the severity of snowfall and the relative rate of spring melt-out. From the Western San Juan plot below, we see very obviously that 2019 was a much heavier and later snow season than average and much, much heavier than 2018. The relative line spacings between seasons also show that the 2019 spring melt was about a month behind schedule from average (and two months behind 2018).

The Basin-wide SNOTEL Snow-Water Equivalent estimate is not accurate for trails above 11,000 feet for the three main reasons stated above (Slope Face, Elevation and Topography). We should also note that most of the SNOTEL Survey Sites are at elevations between 9000 feet and 11,600 feet (Beartown, Black Mesa and Red Mountain Pass are the highest in the Western San Juans), so the average Snow-Water Equivalent estimate will be skewed for lower elevation conditions. It is therefore prudent to assume that the passes and peaks above 12,000 feet are another three to four weeks behind the SNOTEL plots for true summer conditions.

Snow Depth Analysis Maps. The other useful tool is the WeatherStreet Snow Depth Analysis Tool. Best I can tell, the Snow Depth model uses historical weather data, SNOTEL Site Survey "on-the-ground" data, and satellite imagery (for broad snow coverage data) to estimate the relative snow depths across the country. From the map below, we still see widespread purple (50+ inches) across the Western San Juans in late June, indicating that summer is still weeks away. Bottom line: if you see any color on the Snow Depth Analysis Map, you should assume that you will encounter significant snow at elevation in basins with north/east slopes.

[EDIT 02/2023: With the proliferation of overhead commercial imagery, one can now look directly at images and estimate how much snow coverage remains on the ground. SentinelHUB is a great option with an easy-to-use interface that provides updates multiple times per week (cloud coverage dependent).]

I was definitely over-optimistic (one might call it delusional) in the weeks leading up to our Late June / Early July trip and held out for the chance that conditions on the ground would markedly change. However, that just wasn't going to be the case and the data to make that assessment was at my avail the entire time. We are fortunate to have such easy access to this information and we should use it appropriately.

Happy hunting, get out there as early as you can, and take a trip to the San Juans! You won't regret it. I can't wait to get back.