Day 0
Coming from Alabama, we had a long drive. 24 hours actually. Upon arrival, we spent a day getting acclimated to the higher elevations. Always a really good idea to plan a rest day after travel to give your body time to adjust and to see if you will get altitude sickness. A day should be enough time for you to tell if you're going to have any problems. We highly recommend this.
We stayed at the Pokolodi Lodge in Snowmass Village, CO. Great place even though it was out of season. Had three of the most important things any hiker would look for: 1) Food - surrounded by restaurants within walking distance 2) Watering hole - good selection of pubs with local brews and spirits (you only get local spirits when hiking in TN :)) and 3) It was close to the trailhead.
Eager and ignorant, but nonetheless, we were fresh and ready to take on this long anticipated loop. Months lead up to this day and I know, myself, I was tired of looking at trip reports and YouTube videos and wanted to experience it for myself.
We stayed at the Pokolodi Lodge in Snowmass Village, CO. Great place even though it was out of season. Had three of the most important things any hiker would look for: 1) Food - surrounded by restaurants within walking distance 2) Watering hole - good selection of pubs with local brews and spirits (you only get local spirits when hiking in TN :)) and 3) It was close to the trailhead.
Eager and ignorant, but nonetheless, we were fresh and ready to take on this long anticipated loop. Months lead up to this day and I know, myself, I was tired of looking at trip reports and YouTube videos and wanted to experience it for myself.
Our Route
Day 1
Well, we were off. The first day proved to be quite arduous. Our day began at the East Snowmass trailhead for an 8.5 mi distance to the trail junction at Willow Lake, just beyond East Maroon Pass.
We began our hike at tree level, around 8300', and the trail never stopped going up. Wandering through the woods, rising slowly and steadily, the elevation starts to kick in. The key thing here was to remember, one foot in front of the other.. over and over.
We spent the majority of the day hiking alongside the Snowmass Creek. The first real clearing we came to that day we stopped to fill up on water and have a bite for lunch.
We began our hike at tree level, around 8300', and the trail never stopped going up. Wandering through the woods, rising slowly and steadily, the elevation starts to kick in. The key thing here was to remember, one foot in front of the other.. over and over.
We spent the majority of the day hiking alongside the Snowmass Creek. The first real clearing we came to that day we stopped to fill up on water and have a bite for lunch.
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Following lunch, we had about 4 miles remaining to reach our first pass of the trip, East Maroon Pass. The trail continued on what seemed to be a never-ending up hill. This pass would be our highest point on the trip at 12,703' above sea level. Also this day would have the largest change in elevation where we started at ~8300'. Finally we start to make our way above tree level. |
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Eventually, our first pass came into view, and boy did it seem forever away. However, it was a gorgeous site as we noticed the unique change in rock and coloring directly at the center of the pass. Here awaits a series of steeply inclined switchbacks which will lead us to summit our first pass of the trip. |
...and a beautiful sight it was. The first feeling of accomplishment with the hiking battle we fought all day. This beautiful view was very enticing and secluded from what we knew to be a heavily traveled forest. To the West we saw our next pass of the trip, Willow Pass. Below, however, we saw the beauty pictured above, Willow lake. Rumored to be the best fishing in the forest, full of brook trout. While standing atop the pass we decide this looks like a beautiful place to camp, even though it would leave us with 3 passes to do the following day. We could all agree that we were tired and Tye, being the angler he is, wanted to do some fishing. Have you ever head fresh glacier lake fish cooked over a campfire? Well let me just say that you would want to stay here too.
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Day 2
As we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise at camp the next morning, we knew our toughest day was ahead of us. Cutting our first day short left us with a Day 2 that contained 3 passes and around 13 miles of hiking. We knew we had no choice, but to to make it into Fravert Basin to camp (if we wanted a chance to enjoy Snowmass Lake on the 3rd day with any sunlight at all). Camping in Fravert Basin would put us back on schedule for an easier day 3 and quick day 4. A quick Day 4 was a huge motivator given we had a 24 hrs of driving to do.
Our day began with a quick 700' ascent of Willow Pass. I would rank this as the easiest of the 5 total passes we conquered on this trip. An easy feat helped boost spirits as we topped the pass within 30 minutes of breaking down camp that morning.
View from atop Willow Pass
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A steep descent would follow with another large descent of around 2500' to Crater lake. This hike led us back down to tree level, losing a good portion of the elevation we gained/earned the previous day..such is life. Once we made it to Crater Lake, we were graced by the presence of the infamous Maroon Bells. Made famous by climbers who have passed at their mercy, but mainly as they were the subject for my favorite photographer, Ansel Adams. |
Descending Willow Pass
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Deadly Bells
After the graceful downhill and arrival at Crater Lake, our day began to change drastically. A steady climb of 2500' over the next 4.5 miles would lead to West Maroon pass. There was a highly anticipated river crossing that day, but given the dry weather for the time of year, the crossing was nothing spectacular. Nearly an hour and a half later, we arrive at West Maroon pass. We literally could not believe our eyes. This was thing biggest, longest, most grueling climb we faced on the entire trip. All we could think about was, "We have one more after this..."
Looking back from West Maroon Pass
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The ascent of this pass alone took us, individually, about 35 minutes, but the view from the top was very much worth it. We agreed on the trip that this was easily our second favorite pass, but easily the hardest single pass we did that day. Tell me that view is not spectacular, I dare you. |
Looking ahead towards Frigid Air Pass
As beautiful as this sight was (and it was) we had one more pass for the day. A quick down and up and we found ourselves at the foot of Frigid Air Pass. This was one short, STEEP SOB. We had no choice; daylight was quickly coming to an end and we had to make it up and over into Fravert Basin to camp that night.
View from Frigid Air Pass
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Descending into Fravert Basin
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Day 3
A night of recovery it was as we got a late start, around 9:30 that next morning. Rambling our way down hill, we come to an early stream crossing and the beautiful falls in Fravert Basin.
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Fravert Basin Falls
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Today was an exciting day for us. After the hellish 3 pass, 13 mile day on day 2, we looked forward to only having one pass that day, Trail Rider Pass. With a lot of research done prior to the trip, we were well aware of the false pass that came before Trail Rider. The climb to the false pass was lengthy, but nothing we couldn't sustain.
Today was exciting for another reason as well. Today we get to the beautiful, trip climax of Snowmass Lake. At nearly 11000' above sea level, this beautiful glacial lake encompasses everything beautiful and amazing in it's deep blue color. 5.5 miles later, we arrive at the foot of Trail Rider Pass. 
Trail Rider Approach
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Climbing the false pass
Trail Rider Climb
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View of Snowmass Lake from Trail Rider Pass
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From Trail Rider Pass, we descended down to Snowmass Lake. Although beautiful, fires aren't permitted at the campsites near Snowmass lake so we hiked on to the group campsites about 1/4 mi further down the trail. That night we wanted a fire because we had plans to stay up late. As exhausting as the trip had been, we hadn't yet seen the night sky because we were so tired from our previous days' hikes. However, this night was going to be a little more special; they were calling for a meteor shower. A perfect last night of camp for a spectacular trip altogether. We sat around the fire and enjoyed dinner which then followed with hot chocolate and bourbon (a last night must). Soon thereafter evening fell and the meteor shower had begun. We could not think of a better place to witness this event. |
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Day 4
A 2500' descent from the foot of the 14er Snowmass Mountain led us to our vehicle and an all you can eat Chinese buffet in Golden, CO. I think we stacked up 20 total plates in under 15 minutes. I was impressed.
Overall this was a FANTASTIC trip and very, very beautiful. A trip that we at Backpacker's Resource HIGHLY recommend!
Trip Statistics
Day 1:
Starting Elevation: 8383'
First Pass Elevation: 12703'
Distance to First Pass: 6.1 miles (flat line) +4320'
Distance to Night 1 Camp from Pass 1: 1.4 miles, camp at 11864'
Total for day 1, 7.5 miles, +4320' -839'
Day 2:
Starting Elevation: 11864'
Willow Pass Elevation: 12580'
Distance to first pass: 1.3 miles
Distance from Willow Pass to Crater Lake: 2.8 miles Elevation at Crater
Lake 10076'
Elevation Loss to Crater: 2504'
Distance From Crater to West Maroon Pass: 4.4 miles Elevation of West
Maroon Pass: 12504'
Elevation Gain to West Maroon: 2482'
Distance from West Maroon to Frigid Air Pass: 2.3 miles Elevation Loss:
868'
Elevation Gain: 863'
Elevation of Frigid Air: 12499'
Distance from Frigid Air to Camp 2: 1.8 miles Elevation of Camp 2:
11007'
Total for Day 2, 12.6 miles, +4061, -4794
Day 3:
Starting Elevation: 11007'
Distance to Trail Rider Pass: 5.4 miles
Elevation of Trail Rider: 12422'
Elevation Loss: 664'
Elevation Gain: 2079'
Distance to Camp 3: 2.2 miles
Elevation of Camp 3: 10833'
Elevation Loss: 1589'
Total for Day 3, 7.6 miles, +2079', -2253
Day 4:
Starting Elevation: 10833'
Distance to Trailhead: 7.3 miles
Elevation Loss: 2410'
Starting Elevation: 8383'
First Pass Elevation: 12703'
Distance to First Pass: 6.1 miles (flat line) +4320'
Distance to Night 1 Camp from Pass 1: 1.4 miles, camp at 11864'
Total for day 1, 7.5 miles, +4320' -839'
Day 2:
Starting Elevation: 11864'
Willow Pass Elevation: 12580'
Distance to first pass: 1.3 miles
Distance from Willow Pass to Crater Lake: 2.8 miles Elevation at Crater
Lake 10076'
Elevation Loss to Crater: 2504'
Distance From Crater to West Maroon Pass: 4.4 miles Elevation of West
Maroon Pass: 12504'
Elevation Gain to West Maroon: 2482'
Distance from West Maroon to Frigid Air Pass: 2.3 miles Elevation Loss:
868'
Elevation Gain: 863'
Elevation of Frigid Air: 12499'
Distance from Frigid Air to Camp 2: 1.8 miles Elevation of Camp 2:
11007'
Total for Day 2, 12.6 miles, +4061, -4794
Day 3:
Starting Elevation: 11007'
Distance to Trail Rider Pass: 5.4 miles
Elevation of Trail Rider: 12422'
Elevation Loss: 664'
Elevation Gain: 2079'
Distance to Camp 3: 2.2 miles
Elevation of Camp 3: 10833'
Elevation Loss: 1589'
Total for Day 3, 7.6 miles, +2079', -2253
Day 4:
Starting Elevation: 10833'
Distance to Trailhead: 7.3 miles
Elevation Loss: 2410'
