To end our Ouray trip, Mark and I had planned to tackle our first 14er - Mt. Sneffels. We had four amazing days of Class C canyons and were invited by several others to join them in another great canyon, but we both really wanted to summit our first 14er on this trip.
So we stuck to our plan and headed up to Mt. Sneffels. The original plan was to hike the standard route which is rated as an intermediate hike, but after talking with Ram the past two days, he convinced us to take on the Southwest Ridge, an advanced level hike, and we were glad we did.
We had another early morning start and headed up to the trailhead just below Yankee Boy Basin when we just happened to catch Ram and Amy gearing up at the Weehawken Trailhead. We wished them good luck and headed on our way.
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| Our random hiking companions for the day. |
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| The trail took us up to Blue Lakes Pass at 13,000 ft and then we left the trail heading up the ridge from left to right in the photo. |
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| Blue Lakes Pass. Pictures don't do it justice. |
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| One of many death gulleys. We had to descend one about one hundred feet to continue back along the ridge. |
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| The trail was faint. Most of the terrain up the ridge was as you see here. |
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| The summit photo, 14,150 feet! If you look between us you can see the Telluride ski slopes in the next valley to the South. |
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| The standard descent route down to Lavender Col. Not a place to be with people above you. |
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| Driving out of Ouray the next day. |
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| The Ouray valley. A magical place. |
The Ouray area is truly a magical place. Where else can you descend amazing flowing water canyons, summit multiple 14ers, and end the day in the town hot springs before hitting a local watering hole. Plus it's family friendly. As Mark and I discussed over some much needed food after Sneffels, Ouray in August just might become an annual event.
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