Mount Sneffels hiking and landscape photos

Photo: Panoramic view from summit of Mt. Sneffels, San Juan Mountains, Colorado. June 2012

After Mt. Elbert we headed to Aspen to check things out and grab some lunch. We had the rough idea or heading into the Maroon Bells area for maybe a two or three night trip out in the wilderness. That plan more or less ended when we saw that you had to park at some hotel and take a bus. So with that, and not being overly impressed with aspen – too many fake boobs and stretched faces wandering around for my tastes, we began the long drive back towards Ouray with our sights on a new mountain: Mt. Sneffels.

By this time the heatwave that had been baking most of Colorado had sort of broken and a bit of weather out of the west was rolling through the San Juans. We spent an afternoon in Ouray doing our best to hide from the rain. And Ouray is a cool little town, glad I got the chance to spend a bit of time there. In late afternoon we headed up towards the trailhead at Yankee Boy Basin.

As night came I closed by eyes to the sound of distant thunder and the light patter of rain on the roof of my truck. When my 5am alarm woke me in the darkness of the morning, the rain was still there. Back to sleep I guess. A few hours later the sky seemed to be thinking about clearing up, so we headed along the road and towards the mountain. It was going to be a low milage day anyhow, so if the weather turned us back, so be it.

The sky held off until we were halfway up the loose scree/talus slopes of the south face of the mountain and we were wet again. Nearing the summit the sun returned, making me glad I hadn’t turned around. But I knew the weather wasn’t going to hold off for long so I didn’t want to waste much time hanging around the summit, especially since we got a fairly late start. Once off the summit and heading back down, thunder rumbled the sky I we picked up the pace a bit. Several late parties were slowly heading up, but smartly decided to turn around at that point.

Mt. Sneffels was probably my favorite mountain of the whole trip. The views are simply spectacular and the weather was perfect for mountain photography.

Climbing mt sneffels colorado 14er