When: August 2005
Partners: John from Ouray
Route: Lavender Col (Class 2-3)
Mileage/Gain: 6/3,300
Topo: Here
In summer 2005, I toured around for a bit in Colorado. Eventually wandering through Buena Vista and Salida, I found myself in Ouray. Meeting up with a local, we headed up Yankee Boy Basin in his 4-WD one morning to hike up Mount Sneffels. And a classic summit it was!
Most amazing, perhaps, were the wildflowers in the basin, this place with the awful name of Yankee Boy.
Hiking up through the basin, we soon reached a talus slope with a highly eroded trail that would take us toward the final chute leading to the summit. While we tossed around the idea of taking the aesthetic ridge to our left, my friend the local, a man who'd spent his entire life living in Colorado and the last several years in Ouray, suggested we stick with the "dog route" up via Lavender Col. And so we did.
Reaching the top of the chute above Lavender Col, I opted to climb directly to the summit via a weakness at the notch. Within minutes, I was standing on the beloved summit!
Mount Sneffels from Yankee Boy Basin
