Greg and I return to Southwest Colorado for another 14er weekend, with Mount Sneffels first on the list.
Rising to 14,155 feet just north of Telluride, it’s way down the 14er list at #27, but it’s supposed to be a relatively short climb with not too much elevation gain.
Except when some idiot brings his mommy’s Subaru Outback up a road clearly labeled for high-clearance 4WD, decides to turn it around, bottoms out, rips the bumper apart, and destroys the undercarriage – completely blocking the Forest Service road.
Mommy’s Subaru
20-something from Missouri brought his mother’s Subaru up here and destroyed it.
Sneffels Range
Beautiful scenery of the Sneffels Range.
Happiness is a Lull In the Rain
We’re both happy that there’s a break in the rain!
Starting from Twin Falls below the stranded car turns this into a 5.85 mile 3,343 foot hike and climb, so much for our nice easy start.
The climb itself is pretty fun though, a loose steep gully followed by a V-Notch that you have to climb up and over, then scramble to the summit.
We hit the clouds the minute we started climbing, and quickly were swallowed up in the mist.
Coming Up
Greg coming up through the clouds.
Color Splashes
The clouds wash out the colors from everything but my bright jacket and raincover.
The V-Notch was nowhere near as spicy as the internet reports made it out to be, but it was an still enjoyable climb up.
Sneffels V-Notch
Serious exposure, but easy moves when you have long legs and arms.
Greg In The V-Notch
Even with less-than-long arms and legs, Greg plows through the V-Notch like a champ.
The minute we stepped foot on top the clouds opened up and we had views all around. Nice!
Sneffels Summit Break
Just as we summited we got a short break in the clouds and beautiful views
Sneffels Summit Sign
Mandatory summit sign shot!
Me Too
Can’t let Greg have the only summit sign shot.
Blue Lakes
The Blue Lakes are, well, blue.
Socked In
Our weather window was brief, and the clouds socked us back in quickly.
Off The Edge
Don’t step out into nothingness.
It was short lived though, and we ended up in hail and rain on our hike out from the bottom to the Jeep.
What Goes Up
… Must Go Down
Down the Notch
Greg coming down the Sneffels V-Notch.
Cloudy Ridge
Taking a break along the ridgeline on descent.
Looking Back Up
Looking back up at the gully approach to Sneffels. Hard to see, but there are two other climbers in the center of the gully.
Pizza and beer in Ouray, then we head up and over over Engineer Pass on the Alpine Loop to the base of Wetterhorn Peak for tomorrow’s climb.
Mmmmm Beer
Much-deserved post-summit beer and pizza!
Mount Sneffels Google Earth
Google Earth visual of the Mount Sneffels climb from Twin Falls.
