Mount Sneffels Climbing

Mount Sneffels has two trailheads. The Yankee Boy Basin trailhead is open year round and allows access for the snowier months. Blain Basin, Blue Lakes, and Yankee Boy trailhead is free year round, but smothered in by snow during the winter. Expect the road to the trailhead to be inaccessible until spring melt-off. Depending on year-to-year snow levels, Blue Lakes/Blaine Basin trailhead should be open by sometime in May.

To get to Yankee Boy Basin trailhead, go south from Ouray on Highway 550 and, just past the first switchback, turn right onto the Imogene Pass/Camp Bird Mine Road (road number 361). A two-wheel drive vehicle will get to a trailhead 7 miles up the road at 10,720 feet after the snow has melted off. A four-wheeled drive vehicle can make it up to a trailhead at 11,400 feet. From the trailhead, follow the old road and trail further up into Yankee Boy Basin.

To get to the Blue Lakes/Blaine Basin trailhead, take highway 62 west from Ridgeway for 5 miles. Look for Ouray County Road 7 on the left and a national forest access sign to point the way to the trailhead. Follow the trailhead access signs to East Dallas Creek Road and eventually the trailhead at 9,330 feet. From the road-closure gate, do not follow the Blue Lakes trail, but rather stick with the old road as it crosses the creek and heads uphill back to the north. Follow this old road around the hillside to Wilson Creek. Cross the creek three times and look for signs heading into Blaine Basin. There are numerous trail junctions, but they are all well signed. From Blaine Basin, the north face of Mount Sneffels should be visible. The trail into Blaine Basin is 3.2 miles or so and gains most of its elevation in the last mile. Good bivy spots are available in Blaine Basin.