Packing in with heavy loads (Photo: Chris C):
Skinning for some turns on Saturday afternoon (Photo: Brandon C):
Camp in Blaine Basin with Snake couloir slightly visible on right side of Sneffels' north face:
The Snake couloir on the north face of Mount Sneffels, is a deeply insert aestethic line that cannot be viewed in full from any one angle. The steepness of the couloir is consistently 40 degrees with some steeper sections approaching and exceeding ~50 degrees. We started bootpacking up the couloir, each taking turns through snow conditions varying from icy hardpack to unconsolidated recycled powder.
Myself leading the bootpack through the couloir's choke (Photo: Chris C):
Brandon, J, and myself climbing the upper section of the couloir, notice the cornice below where the couloir sharply turns (Photo: Chris C):
We reached the top of the couloir around 11 am, but still had 100 feet of technical climbing up a 5.6 pitch to reach the summit. Brandon and J bravely free climbed the snow/rock, while Chris and I chose to rope up for safety's sake.
J climbing the final pitch (Photo: Brandon C):
Mount Sneffels' summit (14,150 feet), my 42nd Colorado 14er with Wilson group in far background (Photo: Brandon C):
Now came the fun part....the skiing! Brandon decided the steepness and snow conditions of the Snake couloir were beyond his comfort zone, so he descended to the Lavender Col and met us later in Blaine Basin. Meanwhile, we rappelled back into the Snake couloir, clicked into our skis in a precarious position, and cautiously made our first turns down the couloir.
Rappelling off the summit (Photo: Chris C):
Making my first turns in the couloir. Our camp is at the crest of the U-shaped area at treeline (Photo: J W):
During the ascent, we were a bit concerned about the quality of skiing to be had in the couloir. However, the sun did its work and softened up the snow just enough. There was even some great turns through recycled powder that put a smile on my face.
Myself skiing the upper couloir (Photo: J W):
Chris tele's down the lower section above the choke:
J makes jump-turns:
The choke proved interesting as we were forced to slide-slip down through a choppy hardpack that snowboarders had throughly scraped off the previous day. We all breathed a sigh of relief when exiting the no-fall zone of the couloir and enjoyed skiing spring corn snow back to camp.
Chris takes a break on the ski back to camp:
Skiing and hiking with full packs back through soft, unsupportive snow back to the trailhead is never enjoyable. However, the extra effort is worth every pound after a weekend of excellent climbing and skiing a classic peak like Mount Sneffels.
Crossing streams on the pack out, content with the weekend's success (Photo: Brandon C):
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