winter 14ers

[ktimm]

I know Scott Patterson has some info on Summitpost about winter 14ers but I don't think it covers elevation gain from winter TH's etc. Which of the 14ers from the Sawatch east are relatively benign as far as route finding, exposure, and say less than 3500 - 4000 ft of gain ? I'm not very familiar with anything that way. I remember Bierstatd was extremely benign a few years ago but how far has the road close affected it ? Also , what about some of the Sangres near Cotopaxi area on 50, they seem like they would be benign once you hit the ridges.
Thanks
Kevin

[mrgooseskin]

La Plata is supposed to be a pretty good winter climb. The TH is the same as the summer TH, and it's about 4000-ish feet of gain, and the avy danger is low. We're gonna give it a go on Monday. Scott Patterson has a trip report posted on SP about La Plata in winter.

[CO Native]

Just to clarify, La Plata's summer route does not have low avy risk. However you can start from the same trailhead and take a route that gains the ridge earlier to avoid the avalanche risk of the standard route.

[Scott P]

Just to clarify, La Plata's summer route does not have low avy risk. However you can start from the same trailhead and take a route that gains the ridge earlier to avoid the avalanche risk of the standard route.

Here is the route description:

http://www.summitpost.org/route/269433/ ... oute-.html

[sgladbach]

Summer route = Blue
Winter route = Red



It is my understanding (from three sources) that the winter route is well packed right now (1/13/10).

[AlexMack]

Any in the San Juans that might be comparable, even with a little more distance with the possibility of an overnight??

[killingcokes]

San Luis, Uncompaghre and Sunshine all have reasonably safe routes for winter. Take a look at Dawson's guide for great winter info. There are also great trip reports here along with route info as well

[mountainmicah83]

One bonus about San Luis in the winter is that if you go north from Creede, you won't need nowshoes to get to the top of the first pass. They do snowcat tours back there so you can follow the Cat tracks for quite a ways. It's still quite a long walk though. I would say you want to overnight this one and make it a 2 dayer in winter.