What the Sneffels Traverse Actually Is
This is the part most people get wrong before they start planning. The Sneffels Traverse is not a technical ridge scramble across the summits of the Sneffels Range. It is a 34-mile hut-to-hut hiking route that runs along the northern slopes beneath those peaks, operated by San Juan Huts.
You start at Last Dollar Pass, a few miles northwest of Telluride, and work northeast across the range through National Forest and the Mount Sneffels Wilderness, sleeping in a different hut each night. Four huts, four nights, no tent.
The Huts
The huts are used in sequence, and the whole appeal is that you are not carrying a shelter, a sleeping system or four days of stove fuel. They are stocked backcountry huts rather than staffed lodges: bunks, a stove, and the basics. You still carry your own food, your own sleeping bag liner and everything else.
Because they run in order and there are only four, availability is the constraint on this trip rather than fitness. Book directly with San Juan Huts, and book early for the summer window.
How Hard Is It
Legs run in the region of eight miles each, which is a comfortable day for a fit hiker and a long one if you are new to altitude. The first leg out of Last Dollar Pass is roughly 8.1 miles and takes most people around four hours. You are consistently high, largely above 10,000 feet, so the altitude does more to your pace than the mileage does.
When to Go
June through September. Earlier and the high traverses hold snow; later and you are gambling on the first storms of autumn. Mid-July is peak wildflower season across these slopes, and late September puts you in the aspens, which on this side of the range is one of the great colour displays in Colorado.
Adding the Summit
The traverse passes close enough to Mount Sneffels that strong parties add the 14,155-foot summit as a side trip, usually via Blue Lakes Pass. Be clear-eyed about that decision: the standard route is Class 3 with loose rock and real exposure at the V-Notch, and doing it on day three of a hut trip with a pack already on your legs is a different proposition from doing it fresh. If the summit is the point of your trip, climb it separately.
The Huts
The traverse is run by San Juan Hut Systems, and the huts are what make the route possible: they let you cross 34 miles of high country without carrying a tent, a sleeping pad or five days of stove fuel.
Each hut sleeps eight people and comes with padded bunks, a propane cook stove, propane light, a wood stove with firewood, and the pots, pans and utensils to cook with. You are carrying food, a sleeping bag and clothing, not a house.
The summer route uses four huts over five days of hiking. The same hut system runs in winter as a backcountry ski traverse linking Telluride and Ouray along the north side of the range, which is why you will find ski trip reports mixed in with the hiking ones when you search.
Where It Starts and Ends
The summer route begins on top of Last Dollar Pass, a few miles northwest of Telluride, and traverses the north slope of the Sneffels Range through National Forest and the Mount Sneffels Wilderness before finishing in Ouray.
That north side matters. You spend the route looking at the range from the aspen and meadow side rather than the scree side, which is why the traverse is at its most famous in late September when the aspens turn.
Booking It
Huts are reserved through San Juan Hut Systems rather than through a public lottery or Recreation.gov. With eight bunks per hut and a short summer season, the good dates go early, and autumn colour weekends go earliest of all. If you want a specific week in late September, think in terms of booking months ahead, not weeks.
Traverse or Summit?
These are different trips that share a name and a mountain range. The traverse is five days of hiking hut to hut with a pack, no scrambling required. Climbing Mount Sneffels is one morning of loose gully and Class 3 rock from a trailhead on the other side of the range. Wanting one tells you almost nothing about whether you want the other.
The Sneffels Traverse: Hut to Hut in the San Juans FAQs
About 34 miles across four legs, staying in four San Juan Huts, with each day landing somewhere around eight miles. Most parties take four nights. The first leg from Last Dollar Pass is roughly 8.1 miles and takes around four hours for a fit hiker.
At Last Dollar Pass, a few miles northwest of Telluride. From there the route works northeast along the northern slopes of the Sneffels Range, through National Forest and the Mount Sneffels Wilderness.
No, and that is the appeal. You sleep in a different San Juan hut each night, so you carry food, a sleeping bag liner and your day kit rather than a shelter and a full sleep system. The huts must be booked in advance and in sequence, and availability is usually the limiting factor on this trip.
Strong parties do, usually via Blue Lakes Pass. Think carefully about it though. The standard route on Sneffels is Class 3 with loose scree and an exposed step at the V-Notch, and taking that on mid-trip with tired legs is a different thing from climbing it fresh from Yankee Boy Basin.
June through September. Mid-July gives you the wildflowers at their best, and late September puts you among the aspens on the north side of the range, which is spectacular. Outside that window you are dealing with snow on the high sections.
No. It is a 34-mile hut to hut route across the north side of the Sneffels Range from Last Dollar Pass to Ouray. It passes beneath the peaks rather than over them, and needs no scrambling.
Each hut sleeps eight and has padded bunks, a propane cook stove, propane light, a wood stove with firewood, plus cookware and utensils. You carry food, a sleeping bag and clothes rather than a tent and stove.
Five days of hiking using four huts, covering about 34 miles from Last Dollar Pass northwest of Telluride to Ouray.
Through San Juan Hut Systems directly, not through Recreation.gov or a lottery. With only eight bunks per hut and a short season, late September aspen dates in particular need booking months ahead.
