Siberia Peak — Geneva Lake basin from Lead King Basin (Elk, Class 3)¶
Other climbers: Emily Sharpe — not yet · Shawn D Keil — not yet
At a glance — recommended day
9.6 mi · 3,875 ft gain · Class 3 · 1 peak · ~6.58 h drive
NOAA weather link: Siberia Peak Weather
CalTopo research map: https://caltopo.com/m/7FH5352
Researched: 2026-07-28
Status in Peak Checklist: unclimbed. A ranked Elk 13er (13,425' LiDAR, CO rank 304) on the ridge north of Snowmass Mountain — its line parent, only 1.19 mi away. Snowmass, Hagerman, Capitol and Clark are all already climbed, so Siberia is the remaining ranked summit in its immediate cirque.
Note: the recommended route was distilled from 16 recorded GPS tracks of real trips (14ers.com · ListsofJohn · peakbagger · Kyle's recordings) — all layered on the interactive CalTopo research map.
Peaks covered¶
One Class 3 Elk 13er — a short day by mileage, but a steep one, and the access road is the real gatekeeper.
| Peak | Elev | Class | CO rank | Prom | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Siberia Peak | 13,425' (LiDAR; map 13,420') | 3 | 304 | 729' rise | unclimbed |
Pitkin County, Snowmass Mountain quad — inside the Maroon Bells–Snowmass Wilderness, White River NF. No permits or fees to climb; standard wilderness rules.
Summit note: peak_db's coordinate sat ~74 ft off (and 12 ft low). The map marker is the corrected summit, located from the convergence of 6 independent recorded tracks.
Recommended route — Geneva Lake basin ⭐¶
~9.6 mi · ~3,875 ft round trip, Class 3, from the Geneva Lake TH (9,659').
From the trailhead the line climbs the switchbacks out of Lead King Basin, passes Geneva Lake and continues up through the Little Gem Lake basin, then takes the slopes northeast to Siberia's summit ridge. Class 3 — LoJ rates the peak Class 3 and this is its standard line, with no ridge traverse involved, so the summit grade is the route grade. Expect steep talus and some hands-on scrambling near the top. Return the same way.
Short by Elk standards at under 10 miles, but do not read that as easy: it is ~3,875 ft of gain in a compact distance, on a Class 3 summit, at the end of a very long drive.
Route sequence¶
- From the Geneva Lake TH (9,659'), take the trail up the switchbacks toward Geneva Lake.
- Continue past Geneva Lake up the basin toward Little Gem Lake.
- Leave the basin for the slopes northeast, gaining Siberia's summit ridge.
- Finish on Class 3 ground to the 13,425' summit; reverse the route.
Getting there — Geneva Lake TH (Marble / Lead King Basin, 4WD)¶
| Drive from Boulder | ~6h 35m via Google Maps (~224 mi) — I-70 west to Glenwood Springs, CO-82 to Carbondale, CO-133 to Marble, then Lead King Basin |
| Trailhead | Geneva Lake TH, 39.07720, −107.08645, 9,659' (OSM "Geneva Lake Trailhead Lot") |
| Road | 4WD required, and this one is genuinely rough. OSM tags Lower Lead King Basin Rd as surface=ground, smoothness=horrible, tracktype=grade5; the nearby Lost Trail Rd spurs are 4wd_only with smoothness=very_bad/very_horrible. Lead King Basin is a well-known high-clearance 4×4 route out of Marble. |
| Wilderness | Maroon Bells–Snowmass Wilderness (White River NF) — no permits/fees; LNT, no mechanized travel past the boundary. |
The drive is the hardest part of this trip. ~6h 35m each way is a long haul for a sub-10-mile day — see Other considerations for why that argues for combining it.
Gear & season¶
- Best window: July through September. North-facing Elk terrain above Geneva Lake holds snow late; Lead King Basin Rd needs to be dry and open.
- Terrain: Class 3 — steep talus with hands-on scrambling near the summit. Helmet worth carrying; the Elks are notorious for loose rock.
- Vehicle: 4WD/high clearance, not optional. Marble is the last services.
- Storms: classic Elk afternoon monsoon exposure once you are above the lakes — early start, off the summit by early afternoon.
- Cell: unreliable in Lead King Basin and dead in the upper cirque — carry an InReach.
Other considerations¶
Combining: only ONE neighbour actually pairs with this trip — and it is not the closest one. Summit-to-summit distance is misleading in the Elks, because the wilderness sits between Marble and Aspen: peaks 4 mi apart can be 70 road miles and 3+ hours apart. So the question is trailhead proximity, measured (OSRM, TH-to-TH):
| From ↓ / To → | Geneva Lake (Marble) | Maroon Lake (Aspen) | Capitol Creek |
|---|---|---|---|
| Geneva Lake (Marble) | — | ~3h 19m / 70.4 mi | ~3h 10m / 57.8 mi |
| Maroon Lake (Aspen) | ~3h 17m | — | ~1h 16m / 32.4 mi |
Sweeping the three unclimbed neighbours' recorded tracks shows where parties actually start:
| Peak | Elev | Class | Starts from | Pairs with Siberia? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PT 13,062 B "Fravert Pk" | 13,063' | 2 | Geneva Lake / Lead King Basin — same trailhead | ✓ yes |
| Sleeping Sexton | 13,457' | 3 | Maroon Lake (Aspen) | ✗ 3h 19m repositioning |
| PT 13,048 | 13,048' | 3 | Maroon Lake (Aspen) | ✗ 3h 19m repositioning |
So the sensible combined trip is Siberia + PT 13,062 B ("Fravert Peak") — both off Lead King Basin, and a recorded track runs from the Geneva Lake TH northeast into Fravert Basin. That turns a 6½-hour drive for one sub-10-mile peak into two ranked summits for the same drive. Sleeping Sexton and PT 13,048 belong to a separate Maroon Lake trip, which — usefully — pairs well with Capitol Creek (only 1h 16m apart), so they group with the Daly/Capitol side instead.
Not pairable with Daly or Capitol. Those go from Capitol Creek; Siberia is reached from Marble via Lead King Basin — 3h 10m apart by road despite Siberia sitting 1.8 mi from Capitol Peak as the crow flies.
Trip reports & GPX (all three sources)¶
Sources confirmed logged in: 14ers.com ("Basin"), listsofjohn.com ("letsgocu"), peakbagger.com ("Kyle Knutson"). All three swept, plus the 8 mapped OSM trails in the basin — all layered on the research map.
- 14ers.com: peak page 10105 — 2 GPX-library tracks. No formal 13er route description.
- listsofjohn.com: peak 379 — Class 3 rating; 4 trip reports (avalletta 2025, josephnephi 2024, Furthermore 2011, RyanKowalski 2009) and 2 downloadable tracks. 61 members have logged ascents.
- peakbagger.com: peak 84917 — 2 ascent tracks with GPS.
Sources checked: 14ers.com ✓ (logged in, "Basin") · listsofjohn.com ✓ (logged in, "letsgocu") · peakbagger.com ✓ (logged in, "Kyle Knutson")