A special hike up one of my favorite 14ers with family who were in town for my wedding
The crew plods along the trail while absorbing views of Mt. Sneffels' interesting southwest ridge. While the ridge provides a reasonable and fun scramble to the summit, we'd be sticking with the easier standard route today. My dad had never climbed a mountain before and this would be the first 14er for him, my brother Andy, and my father in law Roger.
Glipin Peak just before sunrise.
The interesting pinnacles located on the ridge between Gilpin Peak and Dallas Peak are known as the Block Tops. Its just before sunrise and they are exhibiting some fine alpenglow.
Dominic leads the way up loose talus and scree to Lavender Col, the saddle at the top righthand side of the photo.
Dominic and Roger at Lavender Col. The summit in the background is known as "Kismet".
The group taking a quick break at Lavender Col before starting the final push to the summit.
Climbing up talus in the southeast couloir. There was hard snow in the upper part, but luckily it was past our exit point.
Roger scrambling out of the couloir with a belay from Dominic. The snow at the bottom complicated matters a bit and we decided to have my dad and Roger rope up. Andy blazed ahead without batting an eye.
My dad scrambling up the south slopes of Mount Sneffels.
Dominic, my dad & Roger nearing the summit. Andy has excitedly gone ahead.
Dominic leads the dads to the summit. Andy is already there, happy to have made it on his 2nd attempt. When he was younger he turned back near 13,000 ft due to altitude sickness.
Dominic poses for a shot just below the summit. Its his second time here and my third.
Taking a well deserved summit break. Even though it was early morning the air was nice and warm. We were very lucky to have the summit to ourselves as we passed many parties on the descent.
Victory shot of all five of us on the summit of Mount Sneffels. Left to right: Dominic, Roger, Fred, Andy & Me.
My dad and Andy scrambling on the descent.
Hiking down the 4x4 road back to the car. I parked at about 11,700 ft on the Yankee Boy Road, leaving about 2,400 feet to be gained on foot.
View of Potosi Peak (left) and Stony Mountain (right) on the descent. Dominic and I got married in between the two just two days earlier.