Summit 2026 – Mount Sneffels - South Slopes

All participants and leaders are REQUIRED to sign the State of Colorado's liability waiver. Please click here to fill out the waiver.

Hiking Mt. Sneffels includes low class-3 sections over talus. The trail is not well-defined throughout the entire hike. Route finding will be necessary and some sections may require light scrambling with your hands. It is not significantly technical, but can be considered as more than a hike.

14ers.com lists Mt. Sneffels as "Easy Class 3." The hike includes multiple risk factors as follows:

• Exposure: Considerable
• Rockfall: Considerable
• Route-Finding: Moderate
• Commitment: Moderate

Because of these risks, notably rockfall, a climbing helmet is required. 

The total distance/vertical of the hike from our meeting point will be 7.5 miles (roundtrip) and 3,400'. The starting elevation is 10,400' and the summit is 14,155'. For an in-depth description of the route we will be following, check out this route description on 14er.com: Mount Sneffels South Slopes Route Description.

Link to weather forecast.

Participants will register for their preferred 14er through the Colorado Mountain Club website, where they will be placed on a waitlist for their chosen peak (you may join more than one waitlist). From there, trip leaders will reach out to gather more information about each participant's experience level and interests. For trips where the waitlist exceeds the allotted group size, participants will be selected by lottery.

• Not sure which 14er to sign up for? Visit our Blog "So you want to hike a 14er?" for more details about selecting the right 14er for you!
• Feel free to use information from 14er.com from to learn more about the trail and what to expect. 

For questions about your trip, please reach out to your trip leader directly. For general questions about the Summit 2026 project or any relate event, please reach out to summit2026@cmc.org.

Participants can register for their preferred 14er through the Colorado Mountain Club website, where they will be placed on a waitlist for their chosen peak. From there, trip leaders will reach out to gather more information about each participant's experience level and interests. For trips where the waitlist exceeds the allotted group size, participants will be selected by lottery.

Our starting/meeting point will be at the closest 2WD-accessible parking area, the junction of Yankee Boy Basin Road (853.1B) and Governor Basin Road (853.1C). Google Maps says this meeting spot is just under 30 minutes away from Ouray. Here are the coordinates: 37.979315°N 107.759°W. There is no camping in the immediate vicinity of the trailhead, so we will plan to meet at the parking area at 5:00am on August 1. We will aim to begin hiking no later than 5:30am.

(The Thistledown and Angel Creek Campgrounds are along the road to access Yankee Boy Basin Rd. They do require a fee.)