La Plata Peak - NW Ridge route, with maps & route description

A friend & I climb the northwest ridge route up La Plata Peak, Colorado’s 5th highest mountain, on July 29, 2021. This was my 2nd time hiking this route. La Plata, which means “silver,” stands out in its ruggedness and relative steepness among Sawatch Range 14ers, most of which are less rugged. Not surprisingly, the ascent up this mountain is pretty steep and unrelenting. We pass through the forest in La Plata Gulch by way of a trail that in places is an actual staircase, switchback up the steep slopes of the NW ridge where grasses and wildflowers abound, and finally up the rocky final stretches to this lofty summit. As always, in this video I include maps and route description, as well as some history about the mountain and surroundings. Enjoy the footage! For my hike up Mt. Belford, which I mention at the beginning of this video:    • Mt. Belford - Summit hike via SW slopes, w...  . For Missouri Mtn.:    • Missouri Mountain - Summit climb via NW ri...  . For Mt. Yale:    • Mt. Yale - ascent of the collegiate peak a...  . For other mountain climbs:    • Mountain Hikes and Climbs  . Following is table of contents for this video: 0:00 Intro., different views of the mtn., and history 2:25 route overview, and directions to the TH, at ~10,000’ 3:14 South Fork Lake Creek road stretch (brief) 3:55 Lower La Plata Gulch, to ~10,100’ 5:27 Upper La Plata Gulch, to ~11,000’ 9:23 NW ridge, to ~12,750’ 16:26 Final stretch to the summit, 14,336’ 26:13 Scenes at the top 27:55 Additional images from the day 28:04 Getting back to the TH, and final thoughts 29:04 Scenes from Leadville, and enjoying a burger, fries & beer Music selections: 1) “Laugh and Cry” - The Mini Vandals (YouTube audio library) 2) “Twilight Train” - Dan Lebowitz (YouTube audio library) 3) “Pink Sunrise” - The Great North Sound Society (YouTube audio library) 4) “Flurry” - movie jingle Additional sources: 1) For maps: U.S. Geological Survey - USGS 2) "A Climbing Guide to Colorado's Fourteeners" by Walter R. Borneman and Lyndon J. Lampert. Pruett Publishing, 2nd edition, 1988. 3) "Colorado's Fourteeners - From Hikes to Climbs" by Gerry Roach. Fulcrum Publishing, 3rd edition, 2011. 4) 14ers.com: La Plata Peak/routes/northwest ridge 5) For signs: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture - USDA 6) "Colorado's Highest - The History of Naming the 14,000-Foot Peaks" by Jeri L. Norgren. John Fielder Publishing, 2020.