La Sal Mountains - Utah

[ofmalicehearts]

Looking to go climb one of the mountains in this range at the end of July and was wondering is anyone here is familiar with any of them and had any recommendations? Will be camping at Warner lake campgrounds.

[SoCool]

The high point, Mt. Peale (12,700), is really fun. But I hiked it from the south, it's not close to your campground.

[kaiman]

I live in Moab and hike and climb in the La Sals year round.

As SoCool mentioned to climb the 3 highest peaks in the La Sals (Peale (12,700 feet), Tuk (12,500 feet), and Mellenthin (12,600 feet) would require driving south of Moab to the east side of the range (La Sal Pass) to reach the best approach route.

If you are planning to camp at Warner Lake, your best option in that area is Manns Peak (12,300 feet) with an option of traversing the ridge to Tomaski Peak (12,200 feet). Manns can be reached by taking the Burro Pass Trail east from the Warner campground to the top of Burro Pass and then taking a small side trail north to the summit of Manns. If you have the energy you can follow a faint trail along the obvious ridge to the east and climb Tomaski Peak as well (this will add another 1-2 miles round trip to your hike). Both of these peaks are easy Class 2 with a bit of steep talus to work your way through near the summit of Tomaski.

If you are feeling more adventurous and don't mind off trail hiking and route finding you can also hike Pilot Knob, Haystack Mountain, Green Mountain, and Mount Waas from the Warner Lake area but will probably want a map/compass or GPS for those peaks to ensure you don't get turned around (particularly below treeline). I would suggest picking up a copy of the Trails Illustrated Manti-La Sal National Forest maps as this will give you a good overview of the range, trails, etc.

Enjoy!

Kai

[ofmalicehearts]

Just the information I was looking for! Thank you both very much!!

[lordhelmut]

Basically everything Kaiman said with some visual references.....

http://exploringtherockies.com/2014/09/ ... the-earth/

From the Burro Pass TH just East of Geyser Pass - you can climb, with enough energy/motivation, the entire Northern La Sals with relative ease. If nothing else, each summit has a unique vantage point of the surrounding landscape.

[Scott P]

I have climbed most of the major peaks in the La Sals, and I don't think you can got wrong with any of them (it's the views rather than the mountains themselves that are the #1 attraction).

I also second the suggestion of Manns Peak. It would be the best bet form your campground.

As SoCool mentioned to climb the 3 highest peaks in the La Sals (Peale (12,700 feet), Tuk (12,500 feet), and Mellenthin (12,600 feet) would require driving south of Moab to the east side of the range (La Sal Pass) to reach the best approach route.

The Gold Basin route is a pretty good route to Tukuhnikivatz and Peale and is much closer to Warner Lake.

http://www.summitpost.org/gold-basin/159072" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Geyser Pass is the easiest route up Mellenthin. If you are a strong hiker/scrambler, you can do a loop covering all three from Gold Basin/Geyser Pass. If you want to climb all three in one shot, this is probably the best route.

[mtn_nut]

Anyone have any info on Mt. Peale in the winter?

[Scott P]

Anyone have any info on Mt. Peale in the winter?

Yes. The best access is from the north/Gold Basin Ridge in winter. Here's my description of the route, but it is somewhat brief:

http://www.summitpost.org/gold-basin/158902" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'll have to add a different map. Resolution technology has changed since I made that map!

[mtn_nut]

Anyone have any info on Mt. Peale in the winter?

Yes. The best access is from the north/Gold Basin in winter. Here's my description of the route, but it is somewhat brief:

http://www.summitpost.org/gold-basin/158902" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'll have to add a different map. Resolution technology has changed since I made that map!

It looks like la sal pass road could work too. There is a ridge directly north of beaver lake that looks like a good snow climb. What do you think?

[kaiman]

Anyone have any info on Mt. Peale in the winter?

Yes. The best access is from the north/Gold Basin in winter. Here's my description of the route, but it is somewhat brief:

http://www.summitpost.org/gold-basin/158902" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'll have to add a different map. Resolution technology has changed since I made that map!

It looks like la sal pass road could work too. There is a ridge directly north of beaver lake that looks like a good snow climb. What do you think?

Scott P is correct the best winter approach to Peale and Tuk is from Gold Basin. However it can be avalanche prone this time of the year and a skier was injured in a slide there about a week ago: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... n__=%2C%3B" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As far as the route from La Sal Pass goes, the standard summer route up Peale (and Tuk) starts from the top of La Sal Pass (just past Beaver Lake) and can be used as a winter route as well. The only issue is that the La Sal Pass road is closed in the winter time at the junction with 2 Mile Road about 7 miles east of the top of the pass (which will add 14 miles round trip to your climb). So while it's possible to do this as a winter climb it would be a very long day.

Kai

[Scott P]

Scott P is correct the best winter approach to Peale and Tuk is from Gold Basin. However it can be avalanche prone this time of the year and a skier was injured in a slide there about a week ago

Gold Basin is avalanche prone, but the route in the link above really doesn't go into Gold Basin itself. It actually stays on the ridge east of the basin. There is little to no avalanche danger on this particular route and it is the safest route up Peale in the winter. However, the same cannot be said if you stray off route.

I've always referred to the route as the Gold Basin route since it uses the Gold Basin Road for access, and follows the ridge east of the basin but perhaps a better name for the route could be used. On the page I edited the name to "Gold Basin Ridge" though if anyone has a good alternate name for the route, I'd be happy to change it to that.

[kaiman]

Scott P is correct the best winter approach to Peale and Tuk is from Gold Basin. However it can be avalanche prone this time of the year and a skier was injured in a slide there about a week ago

Gold Basin is avalanche prone, but the route in the link above really doesn't go into Gold Basin itself. It actually stays on the ridge east of the basin. There is little to no avalanche danger on this particular route and it is the safest route up Peale in the winter. However, the same cannot be said if you stray off route.

I've always referred to the route as the Gold Basin route since it uses the Gold Basin Road for access, and follows the ridge east of the basin but perhaps a better name for the route could be used. On the page I edited the name to "Gold Basin Ridge" though if anyone has a good alternate name for the route, I'd be happy to change it to that.

Good call on renaming that route to Gold Basin Ridge Scott. I know which route you are speaking of but there are several other routes in Gold Basin (one that goes up North Tuk and one that climbs directly to the ridge between Tuk and Peale), so it's probably better to distinguish between them and yours (as the others are highly avalanche prone in the winter).

Kai