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Peak(s):
"East La Plata" - 14,186 feet La Plata Peak - 14,344 feet
I'm a big fan of Dr. Albert Ellingwood. So much so that when my wife and I decided to go with mountain middle names for our twins, Ellingwood was an obvious choice for our son Benjamin. If you don't know much about this Colorado climbing legend, here is a short write up... http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12193538800/print . If you have a little more time, his book is pretty incredible...Scholar of Summits.
My Inspiration
With the thought of this little guy in my head, I set out to make a one-day winter ascent of Ellingwood Ridge. I figured the hardest part of the route would be to find my way to the start of the ridge. That proved to be true. After a short teaser of a beautiful trench on the standard route, I turned left after the log bridge and started breaking trail through knee to waist deep snow. It took me 3 hours to gain 1200 feet over 2 miles or so.
Fun with Snow
It was 9am and I was looking up at the start to the ridge.
At this point I started to worry about a few things. I was exhausted and it was probably going to take me 2 hours to get to the ridge and anywhere from 3 to 6 hours on the ridge itself. I also didn't like what I was seeing on east facing slopes in the area. Most of the towers on Ellingwood are skirted on the east side. So the thought of traversing wind-loaded, avy-prone slopes, weren't encouraging. The icing on the cake was that I could see a pretty strong wind whipping snow off the ridge. It was a pretty easy decision after I started to add it all up. What to do now? I could climb up to the NW ridge and connect to the standard route or I could continue up La Plata Basin and look for a more creative way to gain the ridge. Part of my new winter plan is to climb all of the named, unranked points over 14,000 feet. So climbing East La Plata was still a priority.
Looking back down La Plata Basin
Once I got a full view of the North Face of La Plata, I noticed a striking line that zig zags right up the middle and hits a point just to the right of East LP.
The closer I got, the more excited I got about climbing it. I could see a rocky ridge to the right of it that I could use as a safe option in case the snow was no good.
By the time I got to the bottom of the couloir I was running on fumes and I still had 2000' of snow to climb. I started out using my snowshoes and switched to micro spikes about 2/3rds of the way up when it got steeper and the snow got a little firmer. 30 steps was the most I could manage at a time, my quads went into full-on camp spasms around 13,000' and I had to warm my hands every time I stopped. Oh the joys of winter climbing.
At 1:30pm I finally took my first steps on Ellingwood Ridge and into the sun. From this point, I could see both summits and I felt an immediate boost of energy.
Looking down the route
La Plata from East La Plata
There are a few difficulties on the ridge between the 2 points that could probably be avoided in dry conditions. With snow, a few short class 4 moves are required. When I got to the summit, I took my pack off and lowered my head to get out of the wind and rest up a little bit before descending. That's when Blazintoes scared the crap out of me. Never thought I would run into anyone on the summit. So glad I did though. It was awesome after all those hours alone to have someone to talk to on the way down. Thanks for the company Amy and for taking this picture of me with my Summits for Shylah flag.
Ellingwood Ridge
Amy with LP in the background...this about the point where I realized I forgot my Spot on the summit. Thanks to Eagle Eye for finding it the next day.
Even though I only got a short section of Ellingwood Ridge, it was still a great day on a route that I'm guessing doesn't see many winter ascents and one that I hope Ben will be proud of some day. Thanks for reading.
Stats:
Start...5:45am
Finish...5:00pm
Distance...10.2 miles
Elevation...4502 feet
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
...meeting you for the first time on a winter summit. You have that same crazy look on your face I’m all too familiar with myself. And, you’re a fun rabbit to chase!
I've tried elingwood ridge in witner too. Just getting to the start of it took way longer than expected so bailed. Oh well.
Strong work here man! Cool you met up Amy, shes alright.
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