Today was like cheating. Winter? What winter. It was warm and only one spot of wind. No extra approach, since the trail head is accessible in winter. There was a snowshoe trench all the way to treeline, and then after that, we could see the summer trail! Didn't even need the snowshoes until the afternoon descent through the trees

So after ~5 hours of enjoyable conversation, we reached the "winter summit" of La Plata, another snowflake acquired. Here the other 3 summitters of the day gathered and huddle on the NE side of the peak out of the wind.

Beautiful views of Sayres Benchmark and the X-rated couloir graced us in the way up, and on the summit, the fairly dry Sawatch range greeted us. The snowy Elks were visible in the distance.

The down went faster with some boot glissades, regular glissades and good 'ol plunge stepping. The snow didn't get post hole worthy until the final slope before our stashed snowshoes. Here some wallowing occurred before the quick snowshoe descent. Only the annoying up hill back to the cars remained on this easy, short day.