Beat Down served on La PLata (14,336)

The day started with the screeching of the alarm clock, 2:30AM, time to go and get my ass kicked on a fourteener after arriving from sea level only a day before. The day began well enough, we were on the trail by around 6, but unfortunately, we missed the turnoff for the 14er trail, and added about 5 miles to our day, putting the peak out of reach, as we had to be back in Boulder by 7 that evening, and the warm weather made us weary of wet slides in the afternoon. Adding to our troubles, the skin up the Northwest ridge was through some horrible conditions: an inch or two of crust on top of over a foot of rotten snow, slowing us down even more. Given the conditions we instead decided to skin up to above treeline, chill a bit and ski back down. I can't figure out how to order the pics without going crazy so here they are.