6/24/2023 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/24/2023, By: WildRover80 Info: Made the summit this morning. There was some snow, but I did not need my micros all day. It was pretty windy and a little brisk, but a beautiful day overall! |
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6/24/2023 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/24/2023, By: PJ88 Info: Similar to the other recent condition reports. First gulley was still holding snow. Ridge to summit is still covered. Was supportive on the way up. I did post hole a couple times on my way down at about 9am. |
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6/23/2023 Route: North Face Posted On: 6/26/2023, By: mcosby Info: Bush-whacked up into the basin (the route as noted basically just trudges through the forest until tree line). The basin was dry so lots of talus hopping. The couloirs were all full, but a fair bit of recent avy debris made me take a right hand alternate chute and join the standard route at ~13,000 on the ridge. From there it was all snow on the ridge to the summit. Very pleasant peak! |
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6/19/2023 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/19/2023, By: kennedy_josh Info: Trail in gully and switchbacks in Photos 7-8 has some snow but you skirt around for the most part. Climb in photo 9 also has plenty of snow covering the trail, route finding more a matter of just up to the ridge. And it was getting soft on the way down today, but made for a nice long glissade! From 12,800 and up it was all snow. Micro spikes and poles were quite useful today, crampons not necessary. Fairly hard-packed on the way up, only a few post-hole moments. Blue skies and really windy up top today. Descent went fast at first, several good butt slide areas for some fun. But by midday snow on lower ridge was soft and post-holing often. |
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6/18/2023 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/20/2023, By: catward77 Info: 3:10AM start. Full parking lot right off 82. Going up was solid and used spikes once I hit snow. Melting super fast though. Easy trail continued with no snow until I hit the large square rock; from there up was 95% snow-covered. Zero tracks and fresh powder. Accidentally went straight up the side of the ridge rather than following the correct Class 2 trail. Wind on the ridge was intense but manageable. After the rocky ridge, came to a snowfield that went the rest of the way up and strapped on the snowshoes. Was very happy I had them; I would've been postholing a lot or would've had to stick to the rocks more. The masses started to summit around 8:45. No one else had snowshoes & were fine. Great day on La Plata! |
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6/17/2023 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 6/17/2023, By: chasethedevil Info: Small snow patches through the trees. The trail is fully covered in snow through the basin, ranging from a few inches to a foot in places. Climbing up to the saddle was slow without flotation but still doable while the snow is hard. I bailed at the top of the saddle but it looked heavily snow covered the rest of the way up. Saw one other person attempting the route, unsure if they summited but from their tracks it looked like both of us had trouble trail finding all morning. The fresh snow made for a gorgeous hike! |
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6/17/2023 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/19/2023, By: AndrewJCraigie Info: Lots of snow once you hit the ridge, so I found it easier to stick to the right and hike the rocks as opposed to post-holing to the left. No flotation / spikes used for the hikes - I found boots were just fine. Storm came in once I hit the summit with a few other folks - slow going making our way down, low visibility. |
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6/10/2023 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/11/2023, By: Jennanney82 Info: Summer conditions up to 13k minus 2 small snow fields with the diciest being at 12k in which I honestly could have used crampons. Spikes didnt cut it so we bushwhacked our way around it and eventually re found the trail. From 13k up to summit, solid snow. No traction needed. Beautiful day up high.Saw about 10 folks on the trail all day. |
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5/29/2023 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 5/30/2023, By: Briere Info: Went up and down the Northwest Ridge today. Took snow shoes but never used them. The first set of switchbacks out of the trees is covered in snow but you can take the side straight up; I used crampons and my ice axe with no issues. The top ridge is still covered in snow but the snow was hard for the most part so minimal post-holing. Ice axe came in handy there too for safety if I was to slip and fall. Started at 6am; summited at 10am and returned before 1pm |
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5/26/2023 Route: North Face Posted On: 5/26/2023, By: spoony Info: The North Face is still in. I climbed and skied the couloir on lookers left. There is some slough debris in there, but it skied well once it warmed and softened up. Snow is continuous from roughly tree line to the summit. A few other skiers I saw today went up and down on lookers right of the face. That looked well-covered too. The trail down low is snow free until just past the turn off for the head wall but there is a good trench from what I saw on the way down. The head wall area in the trees is unsurprisingly miserable with patchy, soft snow. I broke through above my knees a couple times wearing skis on the way out. |
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5/20/2023 Route: North Face Posted On: 5/21/2023, By: jway2952 Info: Went up the North Face with 4 other guys on 5/20/23. This definitely helped cut down on the suffering breaking trail. That said, no snow till you get into the trees heading up towards the headwall. Floatation helpful/necessary from then on. Used crampons/axes to ascend the couloir (it's in great shape!). Although I wish we didn't, we descended the Northwest Ridge Winter variation and found intermittent snow fields, scree, boulder fields, and of course sugary snow all the way back to the trail. Started at 4 and ended at 3. Awesome day out get it while you can! |
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5/6/2023 Route: North Face Posted On: 5/10/2023, By: jgallo Info: Awesome conditions in the couloir, which was completely in from the summit and should be for quite a while. The approach was tough, a steep slog on the way in and a difficult punchy wet snow situation on the way out through the trees. Lots of breaking through by trees, rocks and creek beds, unpredictably and close to the ground, increasing as the afternoon went on. Was grateful to be on skis. Overall an awesome day and an absolute sufferfest. Soaked my feet at 4am leaving the trailhead when I punched through some ice to a puddle, had wet socks the whole day. |
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4/23/2023 Route: North Face Posted On: 4/24/2023, By: DeclanKnies Info: Summit and ski of La Plata's north face couloir. Tons of sluffing with the 2 inch snow on top of consolidated hard snow. Soft stable snow exists in some parts of the couloir that get more sun. Ice under the sluffed layer exists in shadier parts. Overall was a great climb and ski. Brutal, but certainly doable. Get is while its good! |
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4/22/2023 Route: North Face Posted On: 4/23/2023, By: WildRover80 Info: Snow pack was supportive of my splitboard, in ski mode, all the way out to the base of the couliar (ski crampons highly recommended ). However, it was very slow going. I made it about 1/8 of the way up the couliar with micros on my boots. The snowpack on the. Couliar was not supportive and I lost 3 steps for every one I gained. This seemed a good sign that I should not be there anyway. Temps had warmed on the way back and there was a lot of post holes. 13 hours rt and no summit. Not for the faint of heart at this time. |
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4/3/2023 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 4/3/2023, By: headsizeburrito Info: Bailed super early into the day. Weather forecast was marginal, but I had time and wanted to test out some new gear. CO82 was bare and dry except for a couple tiny patches, parking area has room for about 10 vehicles. First section packed down nicely by a snow machine until the trail turnoff. From there is a shallow and narrow but decent trench, just had to walk a little carefully in snowshoes but firm, would probably posthole without floatation. Followed that trench of a while until I realized it was continuing up the drainage past where I should be gaining more elevation towards the ridge. Trying to make progress up the slopes was very difficult, sinking between knee and waist height in places. Was able to find a winding path with firmer snow and saw some spotty tracks from a previous visitor, but doesn't seem like they went too far either. Snow started falling several hours earlier than the original forecast and the cloud level dropped significantly. Original forecast showed potential of 40-50mph gusts in the afternoon and it seemed like that would come early too. Rather than struggling through the trees only to likely bail due to weather past the headwall anyway, I just decided to call it a day since I'm going to the Grand Canyon for R2R2R this weekend and didn't want to pointlessly wear myself out. On the plus side, they are renovating the Circle K in Leadville, so my usual bathroom stop will hopefully be a bit nicer once it's done. |
