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photo- A look at the Birthday Chutes on Mt. Sneffels. photo by Zach Taylor, 2013.

5/22/2013

Ascent/descent route- Birthday Chutes

Members of group- Ben Jordan and Zach Taylor

Mt. Sneffels is a beautiful peak in the northern San Juans with many great ski mountaineering lines, snow climbs, and ridge scrambles. It is one of the classic Colorado peaks for mountaineering. In 2009, I climbed and snowboarded the Lavender Col with my friend Mike. We had hoped to do the Birthday Chutes but they were too melted out. So the Birthday Chutes stayed on my hit list for the last few years and Ben and I decided to give it a go this year.

A couple days prior I had tried to do the Birthday Chutes with my friends' Christine and Teal but weather was a bit hairy and we opted for a repeat of the Lavender Col instead. I was not really wanting to wait for another year to do the Birthday Chutes and Ben had been wanting to ski them too. So on the 21st, I again found myself camping at the Yankee Boy Basin trailhead for an ascent of Sneffels the next day. We got up a bit before sunrise and began skinning up the valley towards the Birthday Chutes.

The morning was pretty cold for late May and windy so we took our time knowing that it would take quite a while for the Birthday Chutes to corn up. Yankee Boy Basin is a dramatic place and we enjoyed the scenery and early morning light.

photo-Ben Jordan skinning through Yankee Boy Basin. photo by Zach Taylor, 2013.

The approach is relatively short for Colorado Peaks and we reached the base of the Birthday Chutes after an hour or so of skinning. The Birthday Chutes looked good so we transitioned to axes and crampons and began the snow climb towards the summit. The initial chute we climbed up was about 40 degrees but as we climbed higher and branched out onto the face things got a bit steeper and snow cover became thinner.

Ben and I decided to split up and take two different ways to the summit and see which one would be better as a snowboard/ski descent on the way down. I took climber's left and he took climber's right. For a while we were able to yell back and forth to each other but eventually we were too far apart. My route ended up being pretty shitty. The snow get real thin, sometimes only two or three inches deep, and the pitch was around 50 degrees at the point. It was a bit hairy to snow climb and certainly not skiable. I hoped Ben was finding a better way up than I was. As I neared the summit, I met back up with Ben and he exclaimed that he had indeed found a good way up that would be skiable on the way down. I was quite happy about this as we climbed our last few feet to the summit of Sneffels.

photo- Ben Jordan taking a break in Birthday Chutes. photo by Zach Taylor, 2013.

photo-Zach Taylor climbing up the Birthday Chutes on Mt. Sneffels. photo by Ben Jordan, 2013

photo-A look out over Yankee Boy Basin. photo by Zach Taylor, 2013.

The summit greeted us with great views of the San Juans. It was still windy, cold, and the snow had not even begun to soften up at 10 am when we summited. Wanting to have good snow for the way down we decided to wait on the summit for things to soften. The Birthday Chutes are south facing and most of the time will soften around 10 am this time of year. The cold temps kept things hard for us that day until almost noon. We napped a bit on the summit and talked about climbing and science for a couple hours until the snow finally corned up.

Ben dropped in first finding the entrance to the chute he had climbed up and I followed. The wait was well worth it and we enjoyed great corned up jump turns on the way down after negotiating some bony areas just below the summit.

photo-Zach Taylor climbing the last few feet to the summit of Sneffels. photo by Ben Jordan, 2013.

photo-Zach Taylor riding the Birthday Chutes. photo by Ben Jordan, 2013.

photo- Ben Jordan skiing the Birthday Chutes. photo by Zach Taylor, 2013.

photo-Ben Jordan skiing the Birthday Chutes. photo by Zach Taylor, 2013.

photo-Zach Taylor dropping off the summit of Mt. Sneffels. photo by Ben Jordan, 2013.

We came out of the chute stoked on another great descent. The conditions were great and line was awesome. I can see why Lou Dawson names Sneffels as his favorite Colorado 14er.

photo-Ben Jordan skiing the crux of the Birthday Chutes. photo by Zach Taylor, 2013.

photo-Zach Taylor riding the Birthday Chutes. photo by Ben Jordan, 2013.

photo-A look back up at the Birthday Chutes. photo by Zach Taylor, 2013.

We enjoyed some corn turns down the bowls below Sneffels in Yankee Boy Basin. About half a mile from the trailhead snow dried up and I elected to walk while Ben tried his hand at water skiing...

photo- Ben Jordan water skiing in Yankee Boy Basin, photo by Zach Taylor, 2013.

photo-Ben Jordan skiing out Yankee Boy Basin. photo by Zach Taylor, 2013.