Canyons of Ouray, Part 3 - Mt Sneffels

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.

Our random hiking companions for the day.

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.

Blue Lakes Pass. Pictures don't do it justice.

One of many death gulleys. We had to descend one about one hundred feet to continue back along the ridge.

The trail was faint. Most of the terrain up the ridge was as you see here.

 

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.

The standard descent route down to Lavender Col. Not a place to be with people above you.

 

 

Driving out of Ouray the next day.

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.

Canyons of Ouray, Part 2

After Weehawken Creek we had two more canyons we wanted to get in while in Ouray. Corbett Canyon and the full descent of Oak Canyon. Each one would be a step up from the previous day, and we were happy to have a few new members to our group: the infamous Ram and his daughter Amy for both days, and Steve Morga for Oak Canyon. Ram has been around the canyoneering community for quite some time. Let's just say that he started canyoneering the year I was born. We would all learn a lot from him on this trip from old techniques and new, and how he still manages to spend at least 120 days a year in the backcountry.

For Corbett we decided to do the Main Fork of the canyon since we heard it contained a 240 ft waterfall rappel. After two days in Ouray we felt like we had gotten enough experience with these types of canyons to step it up a bit. Corbett was the longest canyon of the week due to the distance covered: 11 hours, 3500 ft approach hike and 6 miles of travel with 15+ rappels.

 

The approach hike would take us up towards the head of the canyon below treeline.

 

Top of the first drop. Approximately 160-170 ft.

 

Top of the 240 footer. Now things are getting interesting!

 

 

Ram and Amy. This was Amy's first Class C (moving water) canyon, but she started doing canyons with her father at the age of 6. Pretty amazing family if you ask me.

The next day had us headed to do the full descent of Oak Canyon: Upper, Middle, and Lower sections with Ram, Amy, and Steve Morga. I've met Steve once or twice but have never done a canyon with him. He turned out to be a great asset to our team and someone who I'm sure we'll do a lot of trips with in the future. This would be the most technical canyon of the week with 20+ rappels, not to mention the 3200 ft approach hike and 5 miles covered over 8 hours.

Another beautiful Ouray morning.

Beautiful sections of Upper Oak.

 

Steve dropping into Middle Oak.

 

Best waterfall rappel of the entire trip. You couldn't get out of the flow. We were forced to take the full brunt of the water's force.

 

 

Lunch stop after our group of 7 caught up with a group of 3 at the next drop.

 

The big one in Lower Oak. 170 footer.