LABOR DAY WEEKEND

Labor Day weekend started a little early for us. Wednesday after work, the Bops packed up the Xterra, and we were off to Ouray, a small town about 50 miles by car from Telluride, but only about 10 miles away on a straight line. We arrived in Ouray at about 11 PM, went straight to bed, and got up at 5 AM the next day. We started our weekend in Ouray because my mother-in-law's husband (we'll call him Gman) and I were attempting to climb the 14er Mt. Sneffels. I had never climbed anything this high. Gman had hired a guide for the climb, which after talking to the guide, was not entirely necessary, but worth the money for us. After some discussion on the ride to the trailhead, we ended up going up the "moderate" route. This route started with a nice hike along a snowmelt creek on the way to a saddle. This shows the view east from the saddle.

From the saddle, we climbed across a talus (larger boulders) field, and then up the south ridge to the summit. The climb up was not that rough, but it is not a route that we as inexperienced climbers would have chosen. The popular route up Mt. Sneffels is up the east side which is all scree (lots of small pebbles---SUCKS), then up a talus field, through a crack, and a short climb to the summit. The route we used was fantastic. It was an experience that we would not have enjoyed without our guide. It combined a nice hike with a cool climb ending in the same spot as those struggling up the scree field. When we got home, I checked the internet. The only other mountain I had summited was Divide Mountain, on the eastern border of Glacier National Park. Divide Mountain is only 8900 feet. Climbing a 14er did make me realize that while it's nice on top, and the experience great, it's not something I am going to race around Colorado doing every weekend.