Snowmass Mountain Trip Report 06/29/2020

Peak(s):	Snowmass Mountain - 14,105 feet
Date Posted:	06/29/2020
Date Climbed:	06/28/2020
Author:	SpringsDuke

#53 Snowmass Mountain
#53 Snowmass Mountain Starting Saturday afternoon to do the 8 mile hike to camp at Snowmass Lake. This is Pierre Mountain which comes into view first from the Snowmass Trail. Beaver ponds always look so cool to me. Such an amazing animal that is under appreciated in my opinion. This is getting close to the log jam 6 miles in the well maintained Snowmass Trail. Log jam. No biggie its easy and no one got wet. Views from camp of Snowmass Lake. Calling it evening day 1 on Saturday looking at Snowmass Mountain and whats to come tomorrow morning. Sunday morning view. Time to go! The largest alpine lake I've ever seen. It kept catching my eye with its beauty! Hiking along the lake in the willows. There are two trails here the bottom one which we took in the am and a upper trail which we took on the way back later. Upper trail is better to use and has less mud and moss. The loose gully after the lake. In the middle of the gully Looking back at that awesome lake Again there are two trails here. No need to go up to the top of the gully as we are in this photo. It is very loose and no fun at all. There is a trail that crosses the water fall much lower and that trail is defined and not lose at all. I recommend that one. Time to put crampons on as we can stay on continuous snow from here. Looking back down the trail while attaching crampons. Only one person took the standard route to the left and they did not like it at all. They took the direct route down. All other climbers today did the direct route variation as the snow was better and made for much faster climbing. The direct route we all took today. Pondering if we should take the standard route. You can see the two climbers that did decide to take this route struggle. So was easy choice not to join them and go direct. Heading towards the direct route. Snow was hard and we had to kick in steps to help each other. My friend and I and 8 other climbers who meet from the Colorado Mountain Club. They were all very strong climbers and it was fun helping each other this day! Boy does this snow climb get steep. Be confident in your snow skills. You can see a cornice at the top of the direct route variation. We all used our ice axes to reach over the cornice and jam your ice ax in to pull yourself up and over. It was solid and felt comfortable doing so for all of us today. Looking back down from the steepest section. Crampons came off right after the cornice and then we gained the other side of the ridge. This is looking back as the climber in this photo exited the direct route gully we just went over. Looking at the summit which takes me less than 10 minutes to gain from the direct route exit. Summit with Capitol in the background Summit views Going back down I was very careful down climbing the cornice. After that though it was time to SLIDE!!!!! Glisading made quick work of what took forever to climb up. One last look at the lake from up high. Camp is on the other end. We made it back in good time. Dried our feet out, ate a ton of food mostly so we didn't have to carry the weight out as now we were back to heavy bags with tents and sleeping bags to haul the 8 miles back down the Snowmass Trail to the cars. Log jam on the way back. On the trail we saw a Ram and then these two Mooses Long weekend in a beautiful part of our great State!! Hikes 4 hours to camp the first day. Then climbed for 6 hours the next day, broke down camp, and then did another 5 hours out. Feet were pounding the last 4 miles and was brutal. Resting would only make it worse so we just kept it moving. Maybe it was the heavy pack, the long mileage, the kicking steps with crampons on, all of the above but my feet will take some time to heal after this one. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

#53 Snowmass Mountain

20259_01 — Starting Saturday afternoon to do the 8 mile hike to camp at Snowmass Lake. This is Pierre Mountain which comes into view first from the Snowmass Trail.

20259_02 — Beaver ponds always look so cool to me. Such an amazing animal that is under appreciated in my opinion. This is getting close to the log jam 6 miles in the well maintained Snowmass Trail.

20259_03 — Log jam. No biggie its easy and no one got wet.

20259_04 — Views from camp of Snowmass Lake.

20259_05 — Calling it evening day 1 on Saturday looking at Snowmass Mountain and whats to come tomorrow morning.

20259_06 — Sunday morning view. Time to go!

20259_07 — The largest alpine lake I've ever seen. It kept catching my eye with its beauty!

20259_08 — Hiking along the lake in the willows. There are two trails here the bottom one which we took in the am and a upper trail which we took on the way back later. Upper trail is better to use and has less mud and moss.

20259_09 — The loose gully after the lake.

20259_12 — Looking back at that awesome lake

20259_13 — Again there are two trails here. No need to go up to the top of the gully as we are in this photo. It is very loose and no fun at all. There is a trail that crosses the water fall much lower and that trail is defined and not lose at all. I recommend that one.

20259_14 — Time to put crampons on as we can stay on continuous snow from here.

20259_15 — Looking back down the trail while attaching crampons.

20259_16 — Only one person took the standard route to the left and they did not like it at all. They took the direct route down. All other climbers today did the direct route variation as the snow was better and made for much faster climbing.

20259_17 — The direct route we all took today.

20259_18 — Pondering if we should take the standard route. You can see the two climbers that did decide to take this route struggle. So was easy choice not to join them and go direct.

20259_20 — Heading towards the direct route. Snow was hard and we had to kick in steps to help each other. My friend and I and 8 other climbers who meet from the Colorado Mountain Club. They were all very strong climbers and it was fun helping each other this day!

20259_21 — Boy does this snow climb get steep. Be confident in your snow skills. You can see a cornice at the top of the direct route variation. We all used our ice axes to reach over the cornice and jam your ice ax in to pull yourself up and over. It was solid and felt comfortable doing so for all of us today.

20259_22 — Looking back down from the steepest section.

20259_24 — Crampons came off right after the cornice and then we gained the other side of the ridge. This is looking back as the climber in this photo exited the direct route gully we just went over.

20259_25 — Looking at the summit which takes me less than 10 minutes to gain from the direct route exit.

20259_26 — Summit with Capitol in the background

20259_28 — Going back down I was very careful down climbing the cornice. After that though it was time to SLIDE!!!!!

20259_29 — Glisading made quick work of what took forever to climb up.

20259_32 — One last look at the lake from up high. Camp is on the other end. We made it back in good time. Dried our feet out, ate a ton of food mostly so we didn't have to carry the weight out as now we were back to heavy bags with tents and sleeping bags to haul the 8 miles back down the Snowmass Trail to the cars.

20259_34 — On the trail we saw a Ram and then these two Mooses

20259_36 — Long weekend in a beautiful part of our great State!! Hikes 4 hours to camp the first day. Then climbed for 6 hours the next day, broke down camp, and then did another 5 hours out. Feet were pounding the last 4 miles and was brutal. Resting would only make it worse so we just kept it moving. Maybe it was the heavy pack, the long mileage, the kicking steps with crampons on, all of the above but my feet will take some time to heal after this one.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

samfarmer789	Awesome job! 6/29/2020 8:48am Nice work & great TR, did you happen to get the total mileage? Looked like a great time!
SpringsDuke	Thanks! 6/29/2020 2:34pm For sure its 8 miles to Snowmass Lake. From there to summit I would imagine we did between 3.5 and 4 miles from lake to summit. That summit mileage is hard so takes just as long to complete as the 8 miles to the lake. Hope that helps!
HikesInGeologicTime	Congrats and thanks... 6/29/2020 7:22pm For the pointer on the direct variation. Iâ��m now itching to try this again on Wednesday, and I probably wouldâ��ve gone the less steep but apparently suckier way without it!
Bradenkerrco	Reservations Needed? 6/29/2020 10:16pm Hello, I wanted to ask if you needed reservations for parking. I know it's needed for maroon bells but unsure if that extends to the snowmass Creek trailhead. Thanks in advance.
Jay521	Sweet report! 6/30/2020 8:03am I really like this one! Thanks for taking the time to put it up.
SpringsDuke	RE: Reservations Needed? 6/30/2020 10:50pm No reservation is needed for the trailhead.
ltlFish99	Excellent report 6/30/2020 11:52pm Thanks for the wonderful pictures. That place is one of my top 3 or 4 places in Colorado.
ggraf	Very timely report 7/8/2020 12:04pm we are heading up there July 18. My question is crampons vs micro-spikes?
SpringsDuke	crampons vs micro-spikes 7/15/2020 8:31pm Crampons for sure. It gets steep. Could be less snow when your climbing but I would bring both and expect to use crampons.

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