Doug Wall nearing the top of the Southwest Ridge. ...
Description
This route is a nice easy class 3 alpine scramble compared to the more difficult routes on the north side of Sneffels. If you have a 4-wheel drive vehicle, it can shorten the climb dramatically. Hike up the 4-wheel drive road in Yankee Boy Basin and follow the Blue Lakes trail to Blue Lakes pass on the south-south west side of Sneffels. Now hike northeast on the west side of the ridge. While hiking on the west side of the ridge, you will pass some small notches . Hike until you have reached a very dominate notch. Now, switch to the east side of the ridge through the notch and enter a gully rising back up to the ridge. Climb the gully to regain the ridge, and then climb the ridge directly to the summit. When you get out of the gully the rock is solid, fun climbing.
How is this relevent to rock/ice climbing? Just curious. Not trying to be rude, but if this becomes hiking boulder in addition to climbing boulder, the databases could become a pain to sift through...
This is a Colorado classic and a great addition to the database. It's a perfect mountain scramble on good rock on a singular peak--I don't see how that doesn't qualify it as a_climb. Last time I checked, a fall off Class III (you can also do this route at Class IV) would not be a good thing.
Hiking is class I and II. I wish more alpine routes, scrambles or otherwise, were posted on the site, with different sections for each range in the state, not just the blanket RMNP/Alpine. Just a suggestion.
Thanks for explaining. I too have done this scramble, and I agree that it is wonderful and absolutely classic. I guess scrambles are that grey area between hikes and climbs. In any case, I also see that "class 3" is an option in the ratings drop down menu, whereas class 1 & 2 are not, so that must be the cutoff. Thanks for commenting.
You can also take a snow chute as a direct start to the ridge in the spring for some easy alpine ice or snow slogging if it's too warm. This would be an alternative to hiking up Blue Lakes pass from Yankee Boy Basin. I did this once when I was too lazy to hike around the mountain and do the Snake Couloir. Round trip car to car for this route is about 4-5 hrs if you park below the lake, above the bathroom. Pretty fast for a 14er! Also plan on about 45mins to drive from Ouray. I would also not recommend climbing the initial rock ridge off of Blue Lakes Pass. Stacked blocks galore!
I climbed this route this summer, and honestly, I wasn't too impressed. I tried to stay high on the ridge several times; however, the rock quality of the exposed towers scared me away. Certainly watch for rotten rock on this route.
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