Mt Sniktau (13,234) by Brian Schultz Friday July 28, 2017

Roundtrip mileage: 3.65 miles from Loveland Pass
Elevation gain: 1,535'
Start to finish: 2 hours 8 minutes
Participants: Brian Schultz and grandson Tyler

We wanted to climb Chalk Mountain (12,020), our backup peak because of the poor weather forecast, from FS 134 & Highway 91, south of Fremont Pass, but saw "no trespassing" signs posted. Unwilling to risk getting cited, we went to plan C. Actually, we didn't have a plan C ready so after thinking about what to do with the poor weather forecast, we headed up to Loveland Pass to climb Mt Sniktau, hoping to beat any inclement weather moving in.

This would be my second time on Sniktau. The first time was in snowy conditions with poor visibility but our morning weather looked good when we arrived at Loveland Pass. The parking area was full and we waited for a car to pull out before we could park. We started at 10:00 and moved at a relatively quick pace (for me anyway) up the trail. Lots of people were on the trail but we saw very few after the trail junction where the trail splits to Sniktau on the left. We stopped at the false summit and continued on to the summit just a short distance away.

We didn't stay long as dark clouds were moving in quickly. Tyler scooted down the trail and arrived back at the truck well before I pulled in at 12:08, and it was no surprise when it began raining shortly afterward.