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Mt. Sneffels 14,150' - Trip Report

July 14, 1986

	From: Alan Silverstein
	Date: Tue, 5 Aug 86 14:04:11 MDT
	Subject: Re: Trip reports on the San Juans
	Newsgroups: hpnc.general

	Monday, July 14:  Mount Sneffels, 14150', and Yankee Boy Basin

	I drove down from Fort  Collins  the day  before.  It would have
	been a seven  or eight  hour  drive  but for  needing  to find a
	dentist to  re-cement a lost onlay.  (Stay away from jelly beans
	once you go bionic.)  Fortunately, that finally worked out OK in
	Gunnison  for  only  $15 and an  hour's  delay.  It did  cost me
	spending the night on top of  Sneffels,  though.  I had hoped to
	get there in time to do that.

	I pulled out of Ouray at 2045,  getting  dark.  The road to Camp
	Bird is  clearly  marked a mile  south  of town.  It's  fast and
	auto-passable  through some spectacular  shelfs and overhangs up
	to the Yankee Boy Basin turnoff, which is also well marked.  The
	townsite of  Sneffels is 6.4 miles from Ouray.  Beyond  this the
	road gets  real  crummy,  especially  hard to drive at night.  I
	found a left fork that finally  ended 2.3 miles  further up, and
	camped out under  moonlight,  stars, and light  clouds, at about
	11500', below Stony Mountain.

	Yankee Boy Basin is a phenomenally  beautiful place, despite all
	the  roads  and  mining  activity.  Wildflowers  abound  and the
	valley is surrounded by steep  mountains and gorges.  The orange
	mine tailings actually add to the grandeur.

	I was awake and on the trail at 0630.  A  different  fork of the
	road  continued  up for maybe  1/2 mile  before  hitting  a foot
	trail.  This  takes you up to a lovely  little  lake at  12200',
	near an old  cabin, at the  bottom of an upper  basin.  The lake
	was half  frozen  over.  From here the peak is clearly  visible,
	and the overall  route  obvious, but there is no definite  trail
	around to it.  Other than one party of campers who'd climbed the
	day before, I had the area to myself.

	There are cairns up and around to the NW into a deep gully which
	goes NE.  I cut up and over the SW  ridge  into the  gully  much
	higher, and avoided a lot of scree by staying close to the right
	wall.  I reached the multicolor  south saddle,  13500', at 0830.
	From  here I chose  to go up the  steep  main cut  just E of the
	summit,  which  was  snow  (ice)  filled  starting  halfway  up.
	Fortunately  there were old steps  frozen  into it, so it was no
	problem with an ice axe.

	The very top of the couloir  drops off sharply on the other side
	-- what a view!  You have to  descend  about 20' and find a side
	crack that takes you to the last  hundred  feet up the S side to
	the  summit.  It's a small  knob of a peak with a center  cairn,
	which I  reached  at 0910  (2:40 to climb  2650'),  under  light
	clouds with cool breezes.

	What a  view!  Yankee  Boy  Basin  is  awesome.  You  can't  see
	Telluride, even though it's only a couple of miles away, because
	the mountains  get in the way.  There are peaks  everywhere  but
	north;  that  way  is  clear  to   Montrose.  (Sneffels  is  the
	prominent  peak you see  south  from  Montrose.)  The  Wilson/El
	Diente massif is clearly visible to the west, and Wetterhorn and
	Uncompahgre to the east.

	I  dropped  down at 1040 and was back to the Jeep by 1210  (only
	1:30  elapsed),  with  plenty of  nature-appreciation  and photo
	stops.  The weather  built up fast after noon, so it was just as
	well.

	This peak is a  relatively  short  climb if you have 4WD, and an
	easy one too if steep rock doesn't bother you.

This article submitted by the author.

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