TR: Snowmass Mountain 14,092ft

[coloskier]

Snowmass Mtn. 14,092ft
Elk Mountains of Colorado
Route: East slope, 21 miles, 5,800 vertical

Brian and I skied Snowmass Monday/Tuesday of this week. He put together an excellent trip report on 14ers.com but I thought it's about time I share some stoke on here...

The trip started with a little shoveling practice.


That done, the trail head is now open for business.


Most of the 14ers I've skied start with a little bit of dry trail hiking in ski boots. It's something you almost get used to. This mountain was no different. The first 4 miles had a few snow patches, but mostly looked liked this.


Enjoying the view of the north side of the ridge to Snowmass Mtn.


After 3 hours of hiking we found nearly continuous snow.


After 2 hours of skinning we reached the far side of a lake around 10,100ft where we intended to camp for the night.


Headed up to Snowmass Lake a little after 5am the next morning in light snow.


I mistakenly popped us out a hundred or so vertical above the lake. Snowmass Mtn. wasn't visible but Snowmass Peak was looking pretty intimidating.


Skinned around to the east side of Snowmass Lake and cursed the dust layers.


Feeling relatively comfortable with things, we continued on. Very slowly due to the extra 5 to 10lbs we were each dragging up the 3,000 vertical foot snowfield.


We almost forgot about the worst snow stuck on skins experience I've ever dealt with when the weather cleared and the Bells revealed themselves.


As we ascended the weather quickly closed in around 13,500ft and visibility went to crap. We decided to gain the ridge climbers right of the summit. We took off the skis and grabbed an axe for the short 50 degree (approx.) pitch ahead.


The last few feet to the ridge were near vertical. Brian getting up and over.


It wasn't that cold but otherwise the weather sucked with high winds, blowing snow, and flat light. Add that to an ice and snow covered scramble with decent exposure and we had a rather sporty climb to the summit.


Once on the summit I put on my down jacket, wedged myself between a couple rocks for shelter, got out my bag of sour patch kids, and waited for my partner.


When he arrived I stood up for my summit shot and was ready to get the hell off the mountain.


How we were going to get down was the subject of debate. Brian didn't want to downclimb what we came up and insisted we continue on the ridge (past the summit) where the climbing was likely easier, and then drop into the bowl we skinned up. With the weather quickly getting worse I wanted a sure thing and insisted we descend the way we came. In search of a compromise I briefly search for a ski route off the summit. The standard line is a 60 to 65 degree line but with visibility at 10 feet I couldn't figure out which route was which. I chopped off a cornice just north of the summit trying to make a ski line for us but it still looked very sketchy at best. I presented the option to Brian and he agreed we should downclimb the way we came. About 40 minutes later, at just shy of 14,000ft, I was glad to be presented with this.


Normally when you can't see 20 feet in front of you on a high peak you're limited to safety turns and the skiing sucks. On this mountain, however, you've got an open bowl with no obstacles or serious terrain until you're near the lake. What this means is even though you can't see where you are going, you can still enjoy the 14 inches of powder.


Below 12,500ft the weather quickly improved.


Some turns were enjoyed.


Brian skiing down to Snowmass Lake.


Me following suit.


A little use of the poles around the lake and we were able to follow the creek to camp.


It was nearly 6pm by the time we packed up camp and began the slog back to the trail head.


After an hour of skin skiing and almost three hours of hiking, we were back at my truck exhausted but feeling good about skiing another challenging and rewarding Elk 14er.

Congrats to Jordan White who finished skiing Colorado's 14ers with a summit descent of Snowmass Mtn. earlier this week!

[tone capone]

I had one of those days recently. Way to see it thru. It's better than a rapid sun bake of 14 inches. That dust layer is putting a damper on my ambitions to come down there this spring.

[coloskier]

That dust layer is putting a damper on my ambitions to come down there this spring.

No kidding. I've heard particularly bad reports from the San Juans.

[Lostinthetrees]

Shit! impressed that you stuck it out to bag the summit in those conditions.
looked like a nice descent down to the lake though!


thnx 4 sharing!

[leroy jenkins]

I had one of those days recently. Way to see it thru. It's better than a rapid sun bake of 14 inches. That dust layer is putting a damper on my ambitions to come down there this spring.

Your trip reports of MT look like the best spring conditions I've ver seen up there, and CO is having a truly shitty spring (well for CO).

Sure signs of the apocalypse.

[USAKeller]

Great TR Carl! You make me jealous skiing this one. Way to get it done in less than ideal conditions.

[SkiNowWorkLater]

Well done fellas! I was up there a couple of weeks ago and we took the same ridge up to the summit. There's some interesting moves on parts of that ridge! The slog in and out really sucks too, but the mountain itself is a great ski.

[Kling]

Good to see a TR from you again! Great work, especially with the uncooperative weather.
Two years ago, it took Tom and me two attempts to do that peak because we had similar weather (plus howling wind) on our first try. Way to push through it and get it done.

[Cruiser]

Brilliant!

[grskier]

Awesome....

[born2snowboard99]

Looks like fun but quite the PIA. You hit everything: shoveling practice, snow sticking to skins and a stormy ascent. Nice work!

[Rideski]

gripping

[kokomas]

you made my stomach turn with that scramble up icy rocks...

JONG question: what is bad about the dust? douching up the powder or is it a bad layer for slides somehow?

[telelebowski]

Sweet trip, and about time some pictures of some hi-centering!

Why dust is bad: http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache...&ct=clnk&gl=us


(Short Version):
Dust that fell with snow on February 15th, 2006
(Photo 1) may have caused some of the largest rate
increases in snow temperature ever reported. At our
C1 site (3030m), after a few warm days, and on the
first day that the minimum temperature was above
0 C, snow temperatures increased from -4 C to 0 C
(isothermal) in less than 24 hours on February 28th,
when the red dust layer was near, but below, the
surface. Later, at the Soddie site (3300m), there was
release of snowpack meltwater into snow lysimeters
on about March 6th as that site briefly became
isothermal when the red layer was about 20 cm
below the surface following three warm, clear days.
New snowfall occurred and snow pack temperatures
again decreased below 0 C. On April 4th, the entire
Soddie snow pack temperature increased from -4 C
to 0 C in less than one hour, the beginning of
consistent meltwater flow a month earlier than the
seven-year average. This rapid temperature response
does not appear to be explained by extremes in air
temperatures or solar radiation. However, the light
sensor at the red dust layer, about 30 cm below the
snow surface, suggests radiative activation of the
red dust layer at this time.

[FrontRangeDrummer]

Nice work, dude.

[coloskier]

JONG question: what is bad about the dust? douching up the powder or is it a bad layer for slides somehow?

What telebowski said.

It sucks because...
(1) dark snow absorbs more solar radiation than white snow so it melts our snowpack quicker
(2) creates weak layer(s) in the snowpack (check out the blocks sitting to the right of my snow pit, the weak layer was the dust layer every time in the shovel shear test)
(3) works like sand paper, chewing up your skins on the ascent and slowing you down / taking off your wax on the descent

[kokomas]

thanks for the knowledge

[mtnbiker/boarder]

Nice TR and thank you!!!! welll done