Sunday, July 19, 2009

La Plata on June 26, 2009

After an unsuccessful attempt of La Plata peak a few weeks earlier, I had it in my mind to get up this one. Here are the stats:
La Plata Peak Southwest Ridge
Summit Elevation: 14,336
West Winfield 4wd Trail Head Elevation: 10,950
Elevation Gain: 3,380
Total Round Trip Mileage: 7 miles

I started out from Colorado Springs late saturday morning, more like early afternoon. I had made plans to solo Missouri, and that was what my loved ones thought I was attempting. After reaching the trail head for Missouri, I decided to drive on to Winfield. The parking lot full of cars and trucks pretty well made my mind up that I was not going up there this time. I made a quick change of plans and hit the trail for La Plata's Southwest Ridge at roughly 4pm. It was a fairly easy, but consistently uphill trek through the trees and next to a roaring river up the the ampitheater; where I decided to pitch a tent for the night. I knew that I would not be up to making it all in one day. So, I split the uphill mileage in half by camping half way up.

That evening it looked very ominous to the south and east, storms were brewing and I began to worry some. Hiking solo, one becomes more easily worried and concerned for things as there is no one to talk you in to or out of something. It truely is up to you to decide what happens. I began to have problems with my stove, as it would no stay lit. The wind began to blow some, the light began to fade more, and the clouds started to roll in. The good thing was that there was no sound of thunder anywhere. After 2 hours of fighting with the stove, the battle was over. The stove won. I ate luke warm lasagn for supper with luke warm chia tea. Yuck! But it was food, and I needed the calories for the big day tomorrow. The clouds never did drop anything from them, but the alpenglow on the Apostles and Huron Peak was quite the sight to behold. A very beautiful evening indeed, it's too bad I didn't have anyone there to share it with. Throughout the night I tossed and turned, never finding that right postion to get comfortable in. The fact that it was pretty darn cold didn't help either. My therma rest air mattress kept leaking, and at 4:30am I looked at the thermometer and it read 22F. Quite a bit colder than forecasted, and definately colder than the sleeping bag I brought. 2 hours later, at 6:30am I decided to get up go.

But which way? Up? or Down? Well, I didn't come out here to suffer through the night by myself on a half empty stomach. I came out to climb! Up it was! The trail to gain the ridge was very steep and loose. The sun had risen over the mountians and was hot on my skin. As I gained the ridge, I noticed that I had left my hat in the tent and that I had no sunscreen. I often wonder if people truley learn from their mistakes, or if they just go on making them again! Only time will tell. I wasn't going to let that stop me from climbing on to my 1st 14er. The next major objective was to climb what looked like the summit. A huge boulder field of rock of all shapes and sizes. The trail was very hard to follow as the carins were hidden within the rocks themselves. As I made the final push to the top, I noticied that the ridge went on and UP! I was not on the summit, but now it was clear just how far I would have to travel to get there. The remainder of the ridge was mostly snow covered with the occasional rock fields to cross. Upon joing up with the Northwest ridge route trail, the amount of people on the trail maginfied. The summit was very near. 14,336 was the highest I had ever been outside the comfort of a pressurized aircraft. The 5th highest peak in Colorado, and my 1st ever summit of a 14,000 foot mountain! I was very excited. I meet several people up top, as we shared stories and experiences in the sorta comfy wind break. I probably spent 30 minutes on top before heading down, as the clouds began to thicken and tops were building. "Storms A Brewing". I will continue with pictures tomorrow after work for Part 2, The Descent.











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