{"id":914,"date":"2019-12-25T00:12:23","date_gmt":"2019-12-25T00:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/?p=914"},"modified":"2025-11-29T00:51:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T00:51:07","slug":"snowmass-mountain-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/2019\/12\/25\/snowmass-mountain-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowmass Mountain, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n<li>Date: September 21, 2019<\/li>\r\n<li>Partner: none<\/li>\r\n<li>Height: 14,092 feet<\/li>\r\n<li>Range: Elk<\/li>\r\n<li>Route: East Slopes (Class 3)<\/li>\r\n<li>Overall Distance: 22 miles<\/li>\r\n<li>Elevation Gain: 5,800 feet (TH to summit)<\/li>\r\n<li>14ers climbed: 36 separate climbs<\/li>\r\n<li>14ers remaining: 17<\/li>\r\n<li>Road Condition to Trailhead: This is any easy drive from either Aspen or Glenwood Springs. \u00a0It&#8217;s paved roads and then an easy 4 miles on dirt; a 2WD vehicle can easily make this. \u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I don&#8217;t know what it was about this mountain that made me feel nervous before embarking on this climb. \u00a0Perhaps it was the stories I had heard about people getting lost. \u00a0Or maybe it was the distance involved and doing the climb solo. \u00a0Regardless, I set off from Denver on a beautiful fall Friday afternoon and arrived at the trailhead in the afternoon. \u00a0There were few cars in the parking lot.<\/p>\r\n<p>I set off for a 9-mile journey due south in some of the most gorgeous country in the Elk Mountains. \u00a0All the aspen trees were fully golden in color. \u00a0It was turning chilly and a bit overcast as the trail meandered alongside Snowmass Creek for a few miles. \u00a0I momentarily got turned around at a confusing intersection of trails but was able to figure things out; be careful here. \u00a0After a couple of hours, I was treated to a stunning view of Snowmass Mountain off in the distance from an impressive overlook (see the first picture in my album below).<\/p>\r\n<p>It was approaching evening as I made a crossing of Snowmass Creek via a huge logjam. \u00a0I turned on the afterburners because I was loosing light and still had a few miles to go. \u00a0You will gain about 2,600&#8242; of elevation just on this approach hike, so do not underestimate it \ud83d\ude42 \u00a0Once again, you will come across a confusing intersection of trails just before Snowmass Lake; be careful here and head straight ahead. \u00a0Once I arrived at the lake, it was pitch black. \u00a0I found a spot to pitch my tarptent by headlamp, jumped in, got underneath my quilt shivering and tired, and could barely finish a sandwich before falling fast asleep.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>I slept straight through until about an hour before dawn. \u00a0I cached all unnecessary gear, trimmed down to my alpine kit, and set off to make my way around the lake. \u00a0Regrettably, I never found any trail. \u00a0After crashing through dwarf willow thickets and muddy bog for an hour in the dark on the south side of the lake, I finally arrived to where the real climbing began. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>There was a very steep ascent coming up from the lake, with poorly defined trail, over fine powder and loose, small scree. \u00a0My mistake was that I stayed too far to the left, when I should have stayed to the right and hiked up an obvious creek bed with more structure for footing. \u00a0It got so steep that with the poor footing, there was a point where I started to feel the first waves of panic. \u00a0My fall last year on Maroon Peak definitely has made me more conservative in my approach to mountain climbing and it also reminded me of the fact that I am human. \u00a0I had to calm myself down for a few minutes and was able to gingerly make my way laterally into the creek drainage and continue the ascent.<\/p>\r\n<p>Once at the top of the first rise, there was a vast, gently ascending, grassy plateau heading into a large boulder field with snow drifts. \u00a0I could plainly see the summit ridge and, in the absence of any trail, decided to gain it to the left (to the south). \u00a0Taking my time, it took the better part of an hour to get to base of the summit ridge. \u00a0Thank goodness I had my Kahtoola microspikes with me. \u00a0This was a recurring theme in all my trips this year as there literally was snow in the mountains all summer long. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>At the base of a rocky knob, now the climbing became Class 3. \u00a0I made my way to a notch on the spine and was greeted with a stout, cold wind. \u00a0Looking to the northwest, there was a long, moderate ascent to the summit with plenty of exposure and steep places to take a fall. \u00a0There were no other climbers around. \u00a0In fact, I had not seen anyone since yesterday afternoon. \u00a0Very carefully, testing every ledge, foothold, and handhold, I crawled along the west side of the spine of the summit ridge and took all the time in the world. \u00a0There were cairns here and there and places where you could see a trail that frustratingly vanished into a dozen braids. \u00a0It was slow going. \u00a0The summit block itself was an interesting problem and took me a few tries to find a route. \u00a0I summited just around noon and hunkered down in the boulders up top to rest for a few minutes, eating some chocolate and drinking my usual celebratory Mountain Dew for energy.<\/p>\r\n<p>You can well-imagine how much time it took me to get back to my camp site. \u00a0I pumped a few more bottles of water, packed up the rest of my gear, put in my ear buds for some music and podcasts, and headed off at a quick pace down the trail. \u00a0It was nice and sunny and pleasantly warm. \u00a0I arrived at my car early evening and prepared myself for the long drive back to Denver.<\/p>\r\n<p>To be honest, I am really glad this climb is behind me. \u00a0It is a long, serious commitment best done over two full days if you are in shape. \u00a0I am going to give this a solid 7-to-8 on my Colorado 14er scale of difficulty. \u00a0If you are going try this, especially as a solo endeavor, then you need to take it seriously. \u00a0The good news is that it is exquisitely beautiful and you will be able to say you truly accomplished something. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"photonic-flickr-stream photonic-stream \" id=\"photonic-flickr-stream-1\">\n<div id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1\" class=\"photonic-slideshow splide default title-display-tooltip photonic-slideshow-adapt-height-width\" data-splide=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;fade&quot;,&quot;perPage&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;autoplay&quot;:true,&quot;interval&quot;:&quot;5000&quot;,&quot;speed&quot;:&quot;1000&quot;,&quot;drag&quot;:true,&quot;pauseOnHover&quot;:true,&quot;pagination&quot;:false,&quot;slideFocus&quot;:false,&quot;arrows&quot;:true,&quot;direction&quot;:&quot;ltr&quot;,&quot;breakpoints&quot;:{&quot;480&quot;:{&quot;perPage&quot;:1}}}\">\n\t<div class=\"splide__track\">\n\t\t<ul class=\"photonic-slideshow-content splide__list\">\n\t\t\t<li class=\"photonic-slideshow-img splide__slide\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"splide__slide__container\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49271297022_9c34db8954_z.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Heading up Snowmass Creek\" title=\"Heading up Snowmass Creek\" data-photonic-tooltip=\"Heading up Snowmass Creek\" id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1-49271297022\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t<li class=\"photonic-slideshow-img splide__slide\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"splide__slide__container\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49270630653_6727e162c8_z.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Autumn has arrived ...\" title=\"Autumn has arrived ...\" data-photonic-tooltip=\"Autumn has arrived ...\" id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1-49270630653\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t<li class=\"photonic-slideshow-img splide__slide\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"splide__slide__container\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49270630438_04f907759f_z.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Getting started with the climb the next morning\" title=\"Getting started with the climb the next morning\" data-photonic-tooltip=\"Getting started with the climb the next morning\" id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1-49270630438\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t<li class=\"photonic-slideshow-img splide__slide\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"splide__slide__container\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49271296797_51e6683d8c_z.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Looking back towards Snowmass Lake at dawn\" title=\"Looking back towards Snowmass Lake at dawn\" data-photonic-tooltip=\"Looking back towards Snowmass Lake at dawn\" id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1-49271296797\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t<li class=\"photonic-slideshow-img splide__slide\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"splide__slide__container\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49270630878_e56f39a5c6_z.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"A well-earned Snowmass Mountain summit\" title=\"A well-earned Snowmass Mountain summit\" data-photonic-tooltip=\"A well-earned Snowmass Mountain summit\" id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1-49270630878\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t<li class=\"photonic-slideshow-img splide__slide\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"splide__slide__container\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49270630353_6b16b40ef1_z.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Looking towards the east from the summit of Snowmass Mountain\" title=\"Looking towards the east from the summit of Snowmass Mountain\" data-photonic-tooltip=\"Looking towards the east from the summit of Snowmass Mountain\" id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1-49270630353\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t<li class=\"photonic-slideshow-img splide__slide\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"splide__slide__container\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49271100331_d3740b639a_z.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Looking towards the northwest from the summit of Snowmass Mountain.  You can see Capitol Peak to the right.\" title=\"Looking towards the northwest from the summit of Snowmass Mountain.  You can see Capitol Peak to the right.\" data-photonic-tooltip=\"Looking towards the northwest from the summit of Snowmass Mountain.  You can see Capitol Peak to the right.\" id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1-49271100331\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t<li class=\"photonic-slideshow-img splide__slide\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"splide__slide__container\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49271100156_a3dae4c235_z.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Looking towards the southwest from the summit of Snowmass Mountain\" title=\"Looking towards the southwest from the summit of Snowmass Mountain\" data-photonic-tooltip=\"Looking towards the southwest from the summit of Snowmass Mountain\" id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1-49271100156\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t<li class=\"photonic-slideshow-img splide__slide\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"splide__slide__container\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49270629978_3eaef71c7d_z.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Looking towards the southeast from the summit of Snowmass Mountain\" title=\"Looking towards the southeast from the summit of Snowmass Mountain\" data-photonic-tooltip=\"Looking towards the southeast from the summit of Snowmass Mountain\" id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1-49270629978\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/div><!-- splide__track -->\n<\/div><!-- .photonic-slideshow-->\n<div id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1-thumbs\" class=\"photonic-slideshow-thumbs splide thumbnails js-thumbnails\" data-splide=\"{&quot;fixedWidth&quot;:100,&quot;height&quot;:60,&quot;gap&quot;:10,&quot;cover&quot;:true,&quot;isNavigation&quot;:true,&quot;pagination&quot;:false,&quot;arrows&quot;:false,&quot;breakpoints&quot;:{&quot;600&quot;:{&quot;fixedWidth&quot;:66,&quot;height&quot;:40}}}\">\n\t<div class=\"splide__track\">\n\t<ul class=\"splide__list\">\n\t\t<li class=\"splide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49271297022_9c34db8954_m.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t<li class=\"splide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49270630653_6727e162c8_m.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t<li class=\"splide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49270630438_04f907759f_m.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t<li class=\"splide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49271296797_51e6683d8c_m.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t<li class=\"splide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49270630878_e56f39a5c6_m.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t<li class=\"splide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49270630353_6b16b40ef1_m.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t<li class=\"splide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49271100331_d3740b639a_m.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t<li class=\"splide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49271100156_a3dae4c235_m.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t<li class=\"splide__slide\" tabindex=\"0\">\n\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49270629978_3eaef71c7d_m.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t<\/li>\n\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/div><!-- photonic-slideshow-thumbs -->\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div><!-- .photonic-stream or .photonic-panel -->\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Date: September 21, 2019 Partner: none Height: 14,092 feet Range: Elk Route: East Slopes (Class 3) Overall Distance: 22 miles Elevation Gain: 5,800 feet (TH to summit) 14ers climbed: 36 separate climbs 14ers remaining: 17 Road Condition to Trailhead: This is any easy drive from either Aspen or Glenwood Springs. \u00a0It&#8217;s paved roads and then &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/2019\/12\/25\/snowmass-mountain-2019\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Snowmass Mountain, 2019<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[3,7,37],"class_list":["post-914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-colorado-14er","tag-philip-turk","tag-snowmass-mountain"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phk2e1-eK","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philturk.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/jpg02-copy.jpg?fit=680%2C510&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1425,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914\/revisions\/1425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}