Day 4 - Keyhole Plateau
Keyhole Plateau is located between Mt Lamarck and Piute Pass, another unnamed 13er, but this one fairly easy. Most of the 20 participants made it to the summit and back before the afternoon thunderstorms are set to begin. There are several ways to approach Keyhole Plateau. Most folks hiked up to Piute Pass and approached from the NW. Three of us went up to Lower Lamarck Lake and then through Wonder Lakes to climb it from the east. This turned out to be the faster route (several miles shorter), but not by a whole lot. Another route goes to Upper Lamarck Lake and the to Sky High Lake to also climb it from the east. 6 or 7 of us used this latter route for descent since it had a nice sand/scree descent to Sky High Lake. Unfortunately between Sky High Lake and Upper Lamarck Lake is a mile-long boulder field that made it a poor choice.
Tomorrow we are heading to the Red Lake TH to climb another 13er (unofficially named Twin Peaks) near Mt. Prater. Weather is supposed to continue to be poor tomorrow. 5am start should help us get up and down before the worst of it.