Distance: 6.1 miles round trip on dirt road, trail, and cross country
Summit Elevation: 14155'
Elevation Gain: 3071'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.4
Round trip time: 6 hours
Recommended water: 100 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free on Yankee Boy Basin Road
Difficulty: Strenuous
I flew into Denver and drove south to prepare for Mount Sneffels, a Colorado 14er I'd been stalking since last year. I had the same trip booked last year, but cancelled it due to weather. Colorado weather is notoriously unpredictable and afternoon storms are common in the summer. Luck was on my side this time as the forecast for Sneffels was sunshine all day. I still wanted to start at daybreak to hedge my bets. I drove up Yankee Boy Basin in my rented Jeep 4x4, surprised that the Jeep really struggled up the last 1000' to the lower trailhead at 11274'. I had to disengage the 4x4 Hi to keep it from stalling out. The first couple of miles were on dirt road ending at the Blue Lakes trailhead. A couple of other Jeeps were able to drive to the upper trailhead.
A single track departed from there and split into two trails, one to Blue Lakes and other to Sneffels. The trail died at a large cairn at the base of the Lavender Col, filled with talus and sand. I tried to stay on the rocks, offering more stability than the steep, packed sand. Two parties ahead of me split off before the top of the col for a ridge ascent, but it turned out they followed the party ahead of them who went off route. After reaching the saddle at the top of the col, the main route continued up an equally steep gully of talus. The final mile gained 1800' without mercy.
The crux of the route was the V-notch. A class 3 wedge (a few rated it higher) with some exposure. The climb felt routine class 3 to me. After the notch was 200' more of class 2, leading to a small summit with several climbers taking it in. Half had helmets, a good idea with lots of loose rock other climbers could knock down on you. I chatted briefly with a few of them and we took turns taking pictures of each other. The views were expansive and dramatic: big mountains, lakes, and jagged formations. All sides of the summit dropped off significantly. There was a register, but it was missing a pen and I didn't have one. There were no marks. I spent at least 20 minutes on the summit. We staggered party departures to reduce the rock fall risk. At the V-notch, a couple was trying to come up, but were a bit apprehensive. They insisted I come down first, which I did facing the rock. After I got down, the couple slowly made their way up. It was a very slow descent back to the trail. Hiking back on the road, I had to dodge many vehicles coming up or going down, including some off road vehicles. Sneffles was a fun scramble and nice test piece. I'd put it in my top ten all time. Shout out to 14ers.com, a really useful site for all the Colorodo 13ers and 14ers.
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