La Plata Enchilada

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May 23-25, 2026

Located less than 15 miles northwest of Durango, the La Plata Range is a subrange of the San Juans in southwestern Colorado. The main spine of this range forms a big "U" shape facing south, creating an obvious crest of jagged peaks above treeline. Over the past few years, a grand linkup of these peaks has seemed to increase in interest, with the name "La Plata Enchilada" given to it by locals. Several parties had completed it in 2024 and 2025, with reports of ascents dating back to 2022. Most ascents went in a clockwise direction, starting from Parrott Peak and ending on Deadwood Mountain.

Most parties seemed to go for the route later in the summer when everything was dry. Since I happened to be in Durango in mid May, I decided to do the route as a multi-day backpack with ice axe+crampons and mountaineering boots. In all it ended up taking 2.5 days, being slowed down by both the snow and heavy backpack. As with most of the San Juans, much of the terrain consisted of horribly loose rock, and at times I was happy to have snow coverage over the ubiquitous scree fields for more pleasant travel. 

 

Peaks climbed

Peak	Elevation	Topographic Prominence	Summit Coordinates (lat/lon)
Parrott Peak	11,871 ft	317 ft	37.37501, -108.10276
Madden Peak	11,981 ft	518 ft	37.38237, -108.10575
Star Peak	11,761 ft	40 ft	37.38896, -108.10563
Star Peak North	11,880 ft	347 ft	37.39188, -108.10746
Gibbs Peak	12,297 ft	391 ft	37.40971, -108.10227
"Little Gibbs"	12,212 ft	240 ft	37.41474, -108.09934
Burwell Peak	12,673 ft	156 ft	37.42089, -108.09026
Spiller Peak	13,134 ft	198 ft	37.42800, -108.08698
West Babcock	13,153 ft	100 ft	37.42924, -108.08016
Babcock Peak	13,160 ft	504 ft	37.42955, -108.07938
Mt. Moss	13,193 ft	230 ft	37.43896, -108.07821
Lavender Peak	13,234 ft	374 ft	37.44152, -108.08151
Hesperus Mountain	13,238 ft	2,844 ft	37.44499, -108.08897
Centennial Peak	13,068 ft	264 ft	37.44716, -108.07702
Sharkstooth Peak	12,464 ft	519 ft	37.45980, -108.07301
Diorite Peak	12,761 ft	435 ft	37.43993, -108.05093
Indian Trail Ridge	12,341 ft	411 ft	37.46486, -108.03312
Cumberland Mountain	12,396 ft	389 ft	37.44402, -108.00430
Snowstorm Peak	12,516 ft	356 ft	37.43887, -108.01182
Lewis Mountain	12,736 ft	1,113 ft	37.42205, -108.01453
Baker Peak	11,956 ft	261 ft	37.39829, -108.03177
Silver Mountain	12,486 ft	1,335 ft	37.38686, -108.02948
Deadwood Mountain	12,290 ft	282 ft	37.38283, -108.04349
Ohwiler Ridge	11,849 ft	100 ft	37.37377, -108.04861

Total Stats

33 miles

18,200 ft gain/loss

class 5.6

I started around 7am on day 1 from Bay City Campground, one of many free primitive campgrounds found along the La Plata River. My pack started out weighing around 35lbs with all gear and food combined. I walked north along the road for just under a half mile before finding an unmarked trail which headed west up Snowslide Gulch. Over a distance of 2 miles, this trail would ascend 3,200 ft of elevation to Parrott Peak, providing a good calf burner to start out the day.

The first five peaks (Parrott through Gibbs) were very straight forward, resembling nothing more than large anthills that were easily walked up and over and on to the next one. 

The first notable obstacle came just after Little Gibbs at a series of broken plateaus just north of the summit. I went up to the first and then second plateau and couldn't find my way off the second, so I backtracked to the notch between the two and descended west down a loose gully, then paralleled the towers northward until I could swing east back onto the ridge. 

Another series of broken towers could be found just north of the following peak, Burwell Peak. Thankfully this time it was more a matter of traversing just below the eastern sides of these towers instead of faffing with gullies. 

A jumble of easy slopes and ledges led up the south ridge of Spiller Peak, after which began The Knife, a 0.4mi long stretch of class 4 knife edge ridge between Spiller and West Babcock. This short stretch of ridge had built up a bit of notoriety with some locals, with several people bringing up this section when I had mentioned scrambling in the La Platas. The rock quality was generally as good as alpine rock could get in the San Juans, and it was usually advisable to stay right on the tippy top of the ridge, sometimes straddling the crest. The only exception here was a small pinnacle immediately east of Spiller which I traversed across on its left (north) side before doing a short class 4 downclimb to a notch just east of it. This move probably marked the crux of The Knife. 

I dropped my heavy pack at West Babcock and climbed the short distance to Babcock as an out-and-back. After dropping down to a notch between the peaks via a short class 3 gully, I considered my options for Babcock. This peak would involve the crux moves for the entire route. One option would be to descend a steep snow gully to the south for several hundred feet before picking up the class 4 South Ridge of Babcock. The other option would involve 50 ft of class 5.6 climbing straight from the notch. 

5.6 route highlighted

I chose the 5.6 option. From the notch, I stemmed up a short chimney to the left until it ended at a pedestal, then turned right and scrambled up some low 5th class flakes, making sure to bang on and test each one along the way. Afterwards a short section of easy scrambling brought me to the summit.

I reversed my way back down Babcock and back up West Babcock without much difficulty, and ate some food while watching clouds build over the next section of ridge. Small snow flurries were dropping here and there with no sign of major convection, so I decided the weather was good enough to continue. 

The ridge between West Babcock and Moss was a loose nightmare, with a series of broken towers which were mostly bypassed to the left (west) when I couldn't find ways over them. Bypasses consisted of either junky scree gullies or steep snow slopes where there would've been junky scree gullies without snow. Liberal use of the ice axe indicated that the snow slopes were the preferred choice of terrain for me. 

A good sized snow shower hit me as I reached the summit of Moss. Somewhere in the distance, someone whooped from the direction of Lavender, where I eventually spotted two figures standing on its summit. 

Lavender consisted of twin summits, with its western summit slightly higher. The traverse between Moss and Lavender probably took around 15 minutes, with mostly talus slopes save for the last 50 ft to Lavender which was ascended via a class 3 chimney from its east.

As the skies briefly cleared, I could see just how much snow there was for the next several peaks. The mountaineering boots which had been mainly a source of slow clunky hindrance for the past several hours were now about to become their weight in gold. 

I descended straight down the west side of Lavender, shimmying down a low 5th class chimney which felt very secure. It was possible to descend back around the class 3 east side and wrap around, but the chimney looked safe enough to avoid this. Some fun ridge scrambling mixed with postholing brought me to the large notch west of Lavender where I briefly met up with the two guys who had been on the summit of Lavender earlier. They had ascended a route on the north side of the peak, and now proceeded down the north side of the saddle we were at, plunge stepping through deep snow.

I continued west, going up and over a 100 ft bump to the next prominent notch, dropping my pack there for the out-and-back to Hesperus. A large snow shower could be seen to the west. I made it halfway up Hesperus before the shower had engulfed me. I ducked down the leeward side of the ridge for about 15 minutes and waited for it to pass, which it did quickly. I resumed my scramble to the summit, where I was met with brilliant sunshine and great views in the late afternoon light. 

Back at my pack, I took out my axe and plunge stepped down the couloir to the north, descending into the center of Sliderock Basin. The slope angle started off right around 30 degrees but that didn't last long. After descending about 1,000 ft to an elevation to 11,800 ft, I heard the sound of running water and decided to set up camp near it. There were no totally flat spots and the sun was already super low, so I decided to just settle there instead of searching for a better spot. It took about 20 minutes to set everything up and start cooking dinner, and then get settled into bed just as it was getting dark out. I would spend the entire night sliding down my sleeping pad due to the 10 degree slope I was pitched on, eventually using my partially full pack as a backstop at my feet. 

The next morning I woke up surprisingly not very hungry. My stomach had been grumbling the whole night, likely as a result of some new backpacking food I was not used to. As a result, I did not eat much which was a mistake, and I ended up paying for that decision the first half of the day with lethargic movement and decreased energy. 

The first order of business was ascending one of Centennial's western scree gullies in order to access its north ridge. The first gully visible from camp looked like death so I continued north, passing another bad gully before locating one that looked safe to ascend. This gully was as junky as it looked and I was happy for it to be over as I broke out into sunshine on the north ridge. 5 minutes of easy walking up this ridge brought me to the summit of Centennial. 

A long but easy descent north brought me to the 11,936 ft spot elevation saddle between Centennial and Sharkstooth. I dropped my pack here for the out-and-back to Sharkstooth, ascending one of its prominent garbage gullies on its western face. This peak was probably the chossiest on the entire traverse, with the entire ground composed of large shark tooth shaped blocks shifting and sliding frequently with the slightest pressure and trying to bite my ankles. I was happy to have this peak in the rearview after returning to my pack.

Back at the 11,936 ft saddle, I descended east on trail, happily coasting on the easiest terrain I'd stepped on for the past 24 hours. It didn't last long however, as the trail quickly entered a northern aspect and became snowed in. Some postholing and cursing ensued. In total I was on the trail for about 2 miles as it wrapped around the east side of Centennial, but with so much snow it might as well have been off-trail. I crossed several sources of water here and topped off my bottles. 

As I reached the large basin northwest of Diorite Peak, I left the "trail" and made a gradual contouring ascent towards Diorite's west face. This section was almost entirely snow and I again reminded myself that the clunky mountaineering boots and axe were worth it. A large snow tongue was present on most of Dirorite's west face and I stayed on it as long as possible to avoid nasty looking scree off to the side. Eventually I was forced onto the scree as the snow tongue ended, but it was only 15 more minutes of struggle before I topped out. 

The section of ridge after Diorite was unexpectedly tedious with multiple bumps and snow clumps which had to be navigated around and through. Of particular note were a series of towers just west of Fall Gulch. I bypassed these on their eastern sides, dropping down 200 ft and first postholing through nasty scree and then steep snow. 

Eventually I intersected the Colorado Trail, dropping my pack there to do the short out-and-back to Indian Trail Ridge. This was a fairly pleasant jaunt after all the tediousness.

I re-shouldered the heavy pack and continued down the Colorado Trail a short ways to Taylor Lake. Sensing that I was running on fumes at this point, I decided to spend an hour here filtering water and cooking some oatmeal. It was nice to relax here listening to birds and the gentle lapping of water. 

2 miles of pleasant walking on trails and dirt roads brought me to the southwest side of Cumberland Mountain, where I dropped my pack to do a quick round trip for that peak. At this point I greatly appreciated stopping earlier at Taylor Lake as I felt my energy rushing back. 

Back at the pack, I continued up a dirt road to the low saddle between Cumblerland and Snowstorm, then left the road and hiked up Snowstorm's northeast ridge. This was a very straightforward affair that wasn't tedious. Just one foot in front of the other. 

Continuing south from Snowstorm, I went up and over a few bumps before intersecting a pack trail coming up from Columbus Basin. I descended this trail for about half a mile to a small pond where I'd make camp for the night. Unlike the previous day where it was almost dark by the time I'd found a place to camp, there was plenty of remaining daylight today and I took care to find a good flat spot to set up and organize my things before cooking dinner and enjoying the evening. I hit the hay early before it even got dark. The weather forecast for the following day didn't look great, and I hoped to get an early start to beat the forecasted afternoon thunderstorms. 

I was up and moving by 5am, slowly trudging up talus to access the northeast ridge of Lewis Mountain. Once on the ridge, it was pleasant and fun travel on easy knife edges which were no more difficult than class 3. I sat down on a sub-summit to enjoy the sunrise and eat some snacks. Unlike the last two mornings which had seen clear skies, today there were clumps of virga scuttling across the sky, and the air felt noticeably humid. 

I went up and over the summit of Lewis about 15 minutes after sunrise, gazing down south at the large descent to Puzzle Pass and large re-ascent to Silver Mountain. At least the terrain here was relatively easy and I felt great this morning, so it went decently quickly.

Some stratiform snow showers fell as I made my way up to Silver. I had a good spring to my step by now and the mountain did not feel as big as it had looked from Lewis. This area also seemed more popular as there were decent use-trails here and there. I coasted down the connecting ridge to Deadwood and was surprised to run into a couple who were hiking up Silver. 

On the summit of Deadwood I met up with a man who had ascended a decent-looking trail from the west. Looking down, another two people were seen walking up. This looked to be a decently popular local hike. 

Instead of taking the popular trail, I turned my attention south towards Ohwiler Ridge. A short steep descent brought me to a faint use-trail which followed the ridge, eventually reaching Ohwiler Ridge Peak. This terrain was grassy and fairly pleasant travel. 

Continuing down the ridge, I eventually hit a seldom used dirt road which intersected other such roads heading down in a general southwestern direction towards the community of Mayday. In less than an hour I had dropped 3,000 ft of elevation on these cruiser roads and found myself walking through what seemed to be the backyards of cabins. After walking through and open gate with a barking dog in an adjacent cabin, I spilled out onto County Rd 124, the main road going through La Plata Canyon. A 0.8mi walk up this road brought me back to Bay City Campground where I happily dropped my heavy pack and jumped into the river to wash off.