Knowing we were in for a long day we I left Boulder at midnight bound for the La Plata Gulch trailhead and to meet Andy for the day. We geared up in darkness and began the long walk through the trees with our headlamps at almost 4am. The trail was wet, there was not a good freeze down low, and we were ready to retreat back down the ridge if it wasn't cold enough up high and the snow didn't feel right, but luckily it got much colder as we ascended. It didn't get light out until we were about to crest the northwest ridge and caught our first glimpse of La Plata's north face in the distance lit up by sunrise:
Sayres peak in the distance:
Me and Andy climbing with Sayres in the background:
Climbing along the ridge, the cars somewhere in the distance a long ways away:
Up, up, up I go:
Inspecting our possible lines for the day:
The summit finally peaking its head out in the distance:
Cloud were rolling in early today(I hope no one was on top of this peak):
After several false summits, the real one decided to show itself and brought me great relief as there wasn't too much more time before the clouds would be on top of us and we wanted to be much lower in treeline when that happened:
Victory:
These clouds I'm pointing to here were starting to bother me, and were getting closer by the minute, so we didn't waste any time on the summit and got ready for the descent:
Summit scenic:
Staring down the couloir from the top:
Andy about to drop in from the summit:
Classic style:
Down we go:
This right here is by far the best shot of the day. Can you spot the skier?:
At the bottom of the face:
Farther down the drainage:
This is good advice:
All in all this is one of the best, most classic descents in the Sawatch range. Being the tallest mountain in the vicinity it gives unbeatable views, and a long sustained, steep face to ski on. I cant wait to get back next season and keep picking mountains off the list. Until next time...
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