Sneffels 14, 150 ft

Mt. Sneffels 14, 150 ft. 8 hours from road to summit, around 5000 ft climb. Our north face direct route went up the rock "v" above the snow, baring left along the shadow after a couple pitches of 5.6.

Peter crossing the loose rock section.

A true rock garden full of columbine and purple fringe, among other flowers, brought a smile to my face and memories of Bea who also had a passion for alpine flora.

Looking up "the Snake", a popular route when there is more snow. It was tricky crossing it in worn sneakers and sharp rock "tools."


Looking up the hundreds of feet of class 3 scrambling rock.

Sneffels part 2

Exposure level was high on this 3rd class section of hundreds of feet. A great physical and concentration workout to both get to the top before the dark clouds and avoid loosening rocks onto our partners.

Happy to have warm toes and fingers, finally.

Peter starting up another long pitch of simul-climbing.

Looking northwest. The new wildfires that had just started up in Norwood were just out of sight.

Sneffels part 3

Looking down from near the top.


Getting ready for a strange traverse up and over a few loose pinnacles to the last pitch. Below is Peter after his traverse.
Looking up at the summit. Some guys that came up the standard south trail were hitting golf balls off the top!
Hurrah! I was definitely styling with my gas station glasses and helmet hair.

Sneffels part 4

Wetterhorn 14,015 ft

Wetterhorn and Wetterhorn Basin. I hiked over 6 miles from West Fork Rd. near Ridgway to the standard route up the southeast ridge.
Self-portrait with Coxcomb in the background. I hope to climb that peak soon.

Here is the 3rd class pitch to the summit. The exposure freaked some folks out, but I only enjoyed the solid rock, a welcome change.

Looking down from partway up the steep section.


Enjoying the sunshine and low winds on the summit.

Storage Areas

Inner Bus

WEEDS!

Canada Thistle in one of its many forms.

USFS

Here I am with the 6 wheeled Polaris Ranger spray rig. It carries 90 gallons of water and sprays quickly.
One of our side projects the beginning of the season was spreading out downed and standing trees to create open field habitat for the rare Gunnison sage grouse. It will probably be years until there will be enough area for the grouse, however they get it to the area.

We have installed two cattle guards for 4-wheelers, dirt bikers, and hikers too lazy to re-close a gate.
We spent weeks up by Lone Cone peak spraying Canada Thistle. It was a scenic area, but a monotonous task.
This Argo spray rig was overworked to the point where the turbo failed and my co-workers willing to drive it were covered in soot. We finally got it fixed.