After moving to New Mexico in 2011, I climbed Questa Dome six times with various partners from 2011 to 2013. It is a beautiful granite formation around 10,000 ft in the valley to the west of Venado Peak. Admiring them up the valley, I was intrigued by the Latir Peaks and considered skiing them, but it never became a priority. Last year, pictures from Jason Halladay of a day romping around the Latir Peaks Wilderness inspired me to start trail running. The terrain is spectacular and pretty ideal for this genre of mountain play. I highly recommend this route or variations of it.
There must have been a good storm yesterday afternoon or evening. I was completely soaked after the first mile. I carried two liters of water and it was just enough for me today. Over the course of the outing, I ate a few handfuls of barbecue potato chips, one Luna bar, and an Emergen-C. Comparing our GPS tracks in retrospect, it looks like Matthew Matta took a slightly more efficient route. Coincidentally, my loop is in the opposite direction again (clockwise for me).
Descriptions for the pictures:
*Cabresto Lake shortly after sunrise (6:27 am)
*Cabresto Peak, my third summit, also the most amenable to efficient movement of all the summits for me.
*Venado Peak (left) and Cabresto Peak (right) from the north, with the Wheeler Peak group in the distance to the south.
*An attractive lake below Latir Peak
*Heart Lake during one of my deviations from maximum efficiency