After passing numerous campsites, we settled at the Atlas camp ground. We were right next to Atlas Creek and the outhouse! A few minutes after we got out of Scott's truck our neighbor camping across the road from us came over to say hello. His name was Carl and Sneffels was going to be his 35th Fourteener. Carl invited us to climb with him in the morning. We figured with Carl's experience this would be a pretty good idea. By the time we set up camp, the sky was perfectly clear. We experienced few showers during the night, but nothing too heavy.

We woke up at 4:30am, got the packs ready, and jumped in Carl's truck around 5:00am to ride up to the trail head. The sky was pretty cloudy, but it looked like the clouds would burn off. Yankee Boy Basin is a beautiful hike. Other than being a resident of 300 ft. above sea level, the hike was fairly easy. At least it was up to the Lavender Couloir. The Lavender Couloir is moderately steep scree field, mostly loose dirt laced with Talas.

The three of us reached the saddle between Sneffels and Kismit about 8:30, which was pretty much right on our schedule. The view from here is incredible. Much better than Wetterhorn or Shavano. The pitch up from the saddle was a lot of fun. We were treated to a light sprinkles as we climbed up some large Talas to the "exit crack". When I passed through the exit crack, it started sleeting. The wind was blowing pretty hard, the sleet stung my face and legs as it hit me. It was really cool! Once through the exit crack, its about a two hundred yard hike on some slightly exposed broken ledges to the summit. We reached the summit around 9:15. At 9:30, someone counted 17 people and one dog on the summit. This one was a blast!!

From the summit you get some incredible views of Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn and the Blue Lakes are stunning. We stayed on the summit, shooting pictures and video for about 30 minutes before starting down. There was a group of four ladies on their way up as were descending. I stopped and chatted with one for a few minutes. The rain began to pick up as we started down the scree field. The clouds looked pretty scary at this point. The ladies decided that the it wasn't worth the risk and head down shortly after we passed them. It turned out to be a great decision, the weather just got worse. When we were about one-third of way down, a huge bolt of lightning hit a small peak just to our right, and everyone hit the deck. It was kind of a whip going down the scree or thick mud as it was by this point, we were sliding down the scree without much control. By the time I got to the bottom of the couloir, we were wet and muddy. It was pretty much a steady rain all the down.

Carl passed me towards the bottom of the col, and I lost sight of him shortly after. Luckily for Scott and I, he waited for us at the trailhead and gave us a ride down to the camp site. After we broke down camp and changed the flat tire on Scott's truck, we treated Carl to lunch in Ouray.

It was a true pleasure climbing with Carl, he keep a great pace and had us laughing the entire climb.

-Shayne Seymour