Over Memorial Day weekend in 2018 we rented an Airbnb in Ridgway Colorado with our eyes set on climbing Snake Couloir on Mount Sneffels.

We convinced two of our good friends to join last-minute. The events that preceded this climb are rather unbelievable in that the trip down from Denver was an adventure by itself. 

That Friday we started the long drive from Denver only to encounter other shenanigans aside from the usual chaos that occurs over long holiday weekends. A major accident on the highway caused a long detour adding to the already long 5+ hour drive. Seriously, you won’t believe this story. The cause of the accident, turns out, was a bear running across the interstate that resulted in a motorcyclist having to lay down their bike skidding to a stop. The chain of events that followed included a semi rolling over in an effort to not hit the bike or the bear thus igniting the truck and starting a fire. Unbelievable right?

Baffled at this point, because you literally can’t make this shit up, we took the detour only to encounter more problems. Because we weren’t anticipating such a long detour, we nearly ran out of gas as we ascended an unexpected mountain pass on a smaller highway with no services. We literally coasted into the town at the bottom of the pass on fumes because there were no gas services in between.

‍ Needless to say we got to the Airbnb much later than anticipated and we ate dinner somewhere between midnight and 1am. Saturday climbing was basically shot so we made up for it with fun and shenanigans in town. We brunched at the Grand Opening of The Crumb Bakery and had the best time dancing, snacking and day drinking!

‍ Sunday we successfully climbed Snake Couloir and Sneffels which is one of my most favorite couloirs to date. We were rewarded with a steep winding line, ice and mixed conditions and we opted to take the direct class 5 exit soloing to the summit.

‍ It was a great day with such good friends! We enjoyed a rad glissade down that unfortunately included a mishap with the goPro. Thinking I lost it uphill after coming to a stop and not having it any longer, Louis volunteered to slog back uphill, rather quickly, to go look for it. We couldn’t lose the photos after all! Funny enough, the goPro was actually below me and the extra vertical uphill was unnecessary. But he got a bonus glissade and we didn’t lose the photos!

Grateful for these humans and the memories we made that weekend!

Ridgway: Gnar Tacos, Kate's Place, Crumb Bakery, True Grit Cafe, Colorado Boy Pub & Brewery, Eatery 66.