LA PLATA PEAK 7/26/87
LA PLATA PEAK 14,336'
Mountain........La Plata Peak
Elevation.........14,336
Rank...............5th
Range..............Sawatch
Trail length......5 miles (from Winfield)
Elevation gain..4,500'
Difficulty..........**
Comments........Another climb
TRIP REPORT
7/26/87
After the previous year's disappointments on Wilson, Wetterhorn, Sneffels, and La Plata, Richard and I set our sights on finishing the 'easy' 14ers that we hadn't climbed yet - LaPlata and Missouri. We flew out to Denver and met Mitch (on his motorcycle with a leather jacket) in Leadville, then drove on to the Pan Ark Lodge near Twin Lakes for the night.
In the morning we got up and packed and drove to Winfield and a bit beyond (to the first stream). This was a little tricky with two-wheel drive and a heavy load (3 of us plus luggage). We started climbing at a pretty quick pace - I started to get altitude sickness at about 12,000' in the Basin SW of LaPlata's summit, including the usual headache, nausea, weakness & dizziness. But it was a beautiful day, so I continued on, though lagging behind.
The route up the basin's headwall and then to the right up a ridge to the summit was not difficult, but in my condition every step was a struggle. Eventually I made the summit (about 30 minutes behind Rich & Mitch), smiled weakly for the camera, and started back down. We descended slowly, as the weather was getting uncomfortably warm (90's in the valley). I had to take a short hyperventilation break at about 13,700. Once we dropped below 12,000' I began to feel better and improved continuously for the remainder of the descent.
We missed the trail somewhere on the way down and had to do a little bushwhacking. After a while we reached the road but started walking the wrong direction (uphill) in the 95-degree heat. We were pretty uncomfortable. It took a while to realize our mistake (when we noticed we were going past places the car could not have negotiated) but finally we turned around and followed the road down to the car. We found a place for the night in Buena Vista, washed up and had dinner. I had a bad cough but otherwise felt much better. Richard was starting to feel worse. Mitch left for Boulder.
The next day we took it easy - we drove to Aspen and hiked partway to Conundrum Hot Springs near Castle Peak. The following day we hiked in to Snowmass Lake. We somehow passed a logjam which was the recommended stream crossing and wound up bushwhacking, getting soaked, and doing some perilous mud-cliff climbing until we managed to rejoin the proper trail. From the lake we scouted climbing routes, took pictures and headed back. The logjam was more evident on the return (we could see it from above) so we got out with a little less difficulty.
The next day we drove into the Maroon Bells parking lot and hiked up past Crater Lake into the gorgeous valley between the Bells and Pyramid. Again we scouted the climbing routes for future reference. While we were eating lunch, John Denver wandered down the trail past us - he seemed to be enjoying the solitude so we didn't bother him. The day after, we drove up near a pass on Mt. Massive's shoulder where we had a picnic and nap. Then we set up base camp for Missouri Mountain at the Super 6 motel south of Leadville.
Mountain........La Plata Peak
Elevation.........14,336
Rank...............5th
Range..............Sawatch
Trail length......5 miles (from Winfield)
Elevation gain..4,500'
Difficulty..........**
Comments........Another climb
TRIP REPORT
7/26/87
After the previous year's disappointments on Wilson, Wetterhorn, Sneffels, and La Plata, Richard and I set our sights on finishing the 'easy' 14ers that we hadn't climbed yet - LaPlata and Missouri. We flew out to Denver and met Mitch (on his motorcycle with a leather jacket) in Leadville, then drove on to the Pan Ark Lodge near Twin Lakes for the night.
In the morning we got up and packed and drove to Winfield and a bit beyond (to the first stream). This was a little tricky with two-wheel drive and a heavy load (3 of us plus luggage). We started climbing at a pretty quick pace - I started to get altitude sickness at about 12,000' in the Basin SW of LaPlata's summit, including the usual headache, nausea, weakness & dizziness. But it was a beautiful day, so I continued on, though lagging behind.
The route up the basin's headwall and then to the right up a ridge to the summit was not difficult, but in my condition every step was a struggle. Eventually I made the summit (about 30 minutes behind Rich & Mitch), smiled weakly for the camera, and started back down. We descended slowly, as the weather was getting uncomfortably warm (90's in the valley). I had to take a short hyperventilation break at about 13,700. Once we dropped below 12,000' I began to feel better and improved continuously for the remainder of the descent.
We missed the trail somewhere on the way down and had to do a little bushwhacking. After a while we reached the road but started walking the wrong direction (uphill) in the 95-degree heat. We were pretty uncomfortable. It took a while to realize our mistake (when we noticed we were going past places the car could not have negotiated) but finally we turned around and followed the road down to the car. We found a place for the night in Buena Vista, washed up and had dinner. I had a bad cough but otherwise felt much better. Richard was starting to feel worse. Mitch left for Boulder.
The next day we took it easy - we drove to Aspen and hiked partway to Conundrum Hot Springs near Castle Peak. The following day we hiked in to Snowmass Lake. We somehow passed a logjam which was the recommended stream crossing and wound up bushwhacking, getting soaked, and doing some perilous mud-cliff climbing until we managed to rejoin the proper trail. From the lake we scouted climbing routes, took pictures and headed back. The logjam was more evident on the return (we could see it from above) so we got out with a little less difficulty.
The next day we drove into the Maroon Bells parking lot and hiked up past Crater Lake into the gorgeous valley between the Bells and Pyramid. Again we scouted the climbing routes for future reference. While we were eating lunch, John Denver wandered down the trail past us - he seemed to be enjoying the solitude so we didn't bother him. The day after, we drove up near a pass on Mt. Massive's shoulder where we had a picnic and nap. Then we set up base camp for Missouri Mountain at the Super 6 motel south of Leadville.
posted by JansStores at 6:35 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home