Snowy Range 

A friend and I were just driving thorugh the medicine bow this summer and decided to onsight the dead center of the diamond. We knew nothing about established routes, or the history of climbing here. We aimed for the 200' tower running up the center of the diamond and hoped to find more direction from there. From the beginning, I noticed this tower was a house of cards, with huge boulders frictioned on top of other even bigger boulders. This pitch made the Black Canyon look like bullet stone. once on top of the tower, we glanced up the center of the face above and didn't see a place for gear for at least the first fifty feet, with possible .10+ climbing. We gained our senses and rapped off on directional gear. I have since found this handy website, and hope to return next summer.

www.jharp.net/snowy_climbing.htm

Anything to the right of that pillar is dangerously loose since the major rockfall a few years back. Also, Skip's page is a little error prone as far as beta goes, and pretty error prone as far as names go. There's a guidebook available in Laramie at Cross Country Connection written by Ray Jaquot. The topos are pretty much impossible to read, but the route descriptions are pretty good.

Hey Brian,

Just wondering if you could edit the page so adding areas are available? I would like to add Diamond Peak, MedBow Peak, etc. as areas so we can distinguish routes with mountains. I just don't want to have 2 Snowy Range Areas.

Thanks :)

Actually, I should ask if it's okay if I make a new area and just copy all your info/pics over?

Actually, years ago I tried to do precisely that, but then they deleted all of my empty crags since nobody else wanted to post up, and I had really hazy memories of my time on old Main and Triangle Buttress. You can totally take the info though, for whatever its worth. You'll have to ask the other people who posted photos though, I don't claim those. Maybe try contacting one of the area managers?

Well thats a bummer!! But yeah I might try to reorganize the Snowy Page or something, cuz I would like to go up there sometime and put up new routes and have a place to record them lol. So i'll ask around, and see if we can't get this Snowy page looking good.

Like I said, contact a mod/area manager/admin (whatever they're called around here). They're usually pretty responsive when it comes to suggestions for making the site better.

Just went on a scouting trip to find possible ice. Any one know of any ice/mixed routes? Ive found some potential routes but it looks like all the snow gets blown off the summit so the potential for good ice to form looks a bit grim.

Potential Snowy Ice? Submitted By: Portwood on Nov 21, 2010

There's those left leaning gulleys on Triangle Buttress, and I've seen a short bit of blue ice on the right side of the big amphitheater below University Avenue (in the center of your picture). I've not heard of anyone climbing them though. Grunge Gulley (the couloir between the Diamond and Diamond Buttress) occasionally freezes up, but its more a challenge for skiers than climbers. We also get pretty good snow climbing, provided that the road opens while its still in good season. Part of the reason there isn't much info is because you need a snow mobile or a 3-day weekend to be able to get to any of these climbs, and to be honest, I've yet to meet a snow-mobiler up there who carried an avy-beacon, let alone a set of ice tools.

Also, this early in the season, the cornice hasn't formed up yet, so you can't see it. Those gulleys do get a lot of moisture.