SE Couloir route
1 Jul 2009 - by Patrick Lilly
- Peaks: Mt Sneffels
(sorted/filed as Sneffels)
- Place: Colorado
- Trailhead: Yankee Boy Basin Governor Basin turnoff
- Participants: Trisha Conlon
- Difficulty: class 3
This was just a straightforward climb by the standard peakbaggers' route, the Lavender Col or SE Couloir route. We started at about 10,770 feet, which was as far as our 2WD vehicle could reliably get us up the Yankee Boy Basin road. The route was bare as far as Lavender Col, but the couloir was nearly totally covered in snow above that. We donned helmets and crampons, and unslung our ice axes for the snow climb. We removed the crampons for the climb through the crux notch, but kept our axes for the short snow traverse above the notch. We front-pointed back down the couloir, making much better time than on the way up. A report from only a week later said that almost all the snow had melted, reducing this to a rock climb. 14er #43 for me, #41 for Trisha. About 9 hrs., 45 min. RT, approx. 3,400 ft. vertical.
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