A perilous journey ending 1,000 feet short of the summit
Dominic and Ken at the major junction about a mile past the winter closure in Marble. The sign indicates its 4 miles to Crystal via the "low road" (straight ahead) or 5 miles to Lead King Basin via the "high road" (to the left). Whitehouse Mountain is being illuminated by the early morning sun in the distance.
Ken scoped out both the high road and the low road last year about this time and concluded that the high road was the lesser of the two evils in winter... it doesn't come without a price though. This year we find favorable snow conditions and there is no wallowing, just a small amount of effort is required to break trail. Hopes run high that we'll find safe passage into Lead King Basin.
Ken, Kevin and Dominic coax "The Pig" (as Ken calls it) onward and upward south of Arkansas Mountain.
After several miles we find ourselves facing real avalanche terrain and we break to settle on a course of action. The road ahead switchbacks up the lower south slopes of Arkansas Mountain, cutting across and under terrain steep enough to slide. We can either follow it or try to find a more protected line in the trees below (which would presumably take significantly more effort). We're quite pleased with the snow conditions so far and when we've all but committed to following the roadd some snowmobiles show up! With some fancy maneuvering they cut a lovely track along the course of the road above! A discussion about whether there was such a thing as a luck gene ensued and we mused at who may have it.
Dominic near our high point for the day, 10,900 ft.
The sleds have been playing. Now comes the price for the high road...
losing 1150 feet to drop into Lead King basin!
Beginning the long and perilous descent into Lead King Basin. Time to spread out; more than 1000 feet of steep, snowy slopes above our path! Yes, creepy. The fresh sled tracks continue to inspire confidence.
We cut a huge switchback because of a convenient sled track but going down the steep slope was spooky. Unfortunately this was the end of our extremely good fortune; the sled tracks continued up Silver Creek and we were left to our own efforts as we continued on toward Lead King Basin.
Looking back at our path down from the shoulder southeast of Arkansas Mountain. Notice how the sled track leaves the road and descends straight into the Silver Creek drainage. Fortunately on the return trip this entire section of road was tracked and we didn't have to pull the pig up the steep slope we came down.
Snowmass and Hagerman come into view from the high road as it descends toward Lead King Basin. We're hoping to sneak up one or both of these beauties. Looking mighty snowy though...
Approaching the headwall below Geneva Lake. The trail climbs up steep terrain on the left side of the photo but evidence of many sloughs on this slope suggests its not the best route choice in winter. We established camp off to the right and ascended a thin stand of aspens through the cliff band right of center the next morning.
Snowmass and Hagerman as seen from just below Geneva Lake the following morning.
On a summer backpacking trip we swam in Lake Geneva to cool off. Today we walk straight over it toward Snowmass Mountain. Winter makes some things easier, not many though!
Early morning light on Snowmass Mountain showcases its famous S shaped ridge, a great scramble in the summer months.
Rather than expose ourselves to slopes steep enough to slide by climbing one of two gullies below Little Gem Lake we decided to break out the ropes and confront the steep cliff band between them head on. Dominic led up this 30 meter line which started out as a reasonable rock climb with crampons.
Dominic gives me a belay as I climb the upper portion of the cliff band on steep, good snow. This served as good teaser for the spring couloir season.
View from the top of the cliff band. Kevin is enjoying the steep snow.
Meadow Mountain provides a nice backdrop as Kevin nears the top of the cliff band.
Looking back at Kevin as he enters the basin containing Little Gem Lake. From here its still another quarter mile or so to the point where we began climbing up toward Snowmass' west face.
Kevin and Dominic near Little Gem Lake.
Our route up Snowmass Mountain's West Face. The lower snow slopes were 30 - 35 degrees and the snow was bomber. The line ends at our turnaround point.
Kevin and Dwight climb moderate snow slopes the west side of Snowmass Mountain's. Old avalanche debris from slides high on the mountain was everywhere but today conditions were very good.
This unnamed, unranked point along the ridge between Meadow Mountain and "Siberia Peak" is quite aesthetic.
Dwight approaching the prominant cliff band at the base of Snowmass Mountain's west face. From what we could see this seemed like the most reasonable place to attempt to overcome the cliff band.
The slabs at the bottom were iced up so Dominic led up this initial section and gave the rest of us an ice axe belay; there was no rock pro available.
Kevin climbing up the icy slabs at the bottom of the cliff band.
Dominic leading a funky little pitch above the icy slabs. To avoid a pocket (obviously wind-sculpted) of VERY deep (as in chest deep), completely unconsolidated powder we took an odd line up great snow around the corner and then traversed above the nastiness. This must have been spicy for Dominic!
Looking down the snowed up slabs on the rib we reached upon overcoming the cliff band on Snowmass' west face.
We knew we wanted to reach the next rib over but a steep gully separating it from us discouraged us from trying. As we continued upward there was less rock exposed and more snow.
Rather suddenly conditions begin to change. There's now over a foot of heavy, unconsolidated snow on top of the firm base. Snow from the most recent large storm hasn't bonded too well up high it seems. The slope steepens to 40 degrees.
Time for a reality check; there's some discomfort creeping in. We've already pushed our personal risk taking limits on this trip and it feels like we're reaching some threshold. A candid discussion quickly results in a unanimous decision that this isn't the day to push on to the summit. Weather moving in reinforces our thoughts. Strangely, it just doesn't feel much like a failure; we're proud of the effort we put in. It was an incredible climb despite not reaching the summit. The mountain will be there next time.
Downclimbing the snowy slabs proves to be much harder than upclimbing them and we're in no hurry so we choose to rappel a pitch or two above the cliff band. Anchors are available but not always convenient.
View south toward Geneva Lake, Treasury Mountain and Treasure Mountain from the west face of Snowmass Mountain.
Since there were no rock anchors above the icy slabs at the base of the cliff band Dwight dug a nook for himself and demonstarted his professional meat anchoring skills. I rappelled off of him, then Kevin and he off of Dominic. How did Dominic get down, you ask? Well, lets just say it wasn't pretty; a painless and rather controlled run/fall perhaps.
Dominic descending the west slopes in early afternoon.
The ridge between Meadow Mountain (out of view to the left) and "Siberia Peak" (out of view to the right) is intriguing.
Thirteener "Siberia Peak" as seem from the west slopes of Snowmass Mountain.
Kevin in Little Gem Lake Basin. Many of the surrounding peaks are socked in.
Just a short time later on the hike back to Geneva Lake the skies began clearing again and Snowmass looked pristine.
The creek feeding into Geneva Lake was sculpted with interesting snowdrifts. A few gaping holes with water at the bottom kept us cautious!
Parting shot of Snowmass Mountain from Geneva Lake.
Dwight and Kevin descending to camp.
Lead King Basin as seen from the headwall below Geneva Lake.
Looking down at camp at 10,150 feet in Lead King Basin.
Ken and Dwight at camp in Lead King Basin in the waning evening light.
Ken, Dominic, Fire Chief Dwight, and Kevin gathered around the campfire. Rowdy crowd! Ken claims that in all his years of winter backpacking this is probably the first time he's sat around a campfire! Look at those smiles, you'd think we'd made the summit.
The firepit the next morning, waist deep. We camped just outside of the "no fire" circle around Geneva Lake shown on the Trails Illustrated Map.
Beginning the 1,200 foot climb out of Lead King Basin Sunday morning. Ken pulls while Dominic pushes. The weather up high isn't so nice and its just as well we're not trying to climb something today.