We aproached La Sal pass from the east. This was our first good view of our peak. The one that looks tallest is Mount Peale. At 12,721 feet, it's the tallest peak in the La Sals. Tukuhnikivatz is the far peak. At 12,482 feet, it's actually muck closer in elevation than it appears due to the perspective.
The next morning, we started up the mountain. This is the view of Tukuhnikivatz near La Sal Pass where we started.
To our right at the start is Mount Peale. Note the clear skies--that will change.
The La Sals are high enough that they generate their own weather. Warm air from the Colorado Plateau to the west blows eastward and rises at the La Sals, forming clouds. This picture is of Mount Peale mid morning. Fortunately for us, Tukuhnikivatz is the westernmost peak, so the weather forms to the east of it. Mount Peal just a couple of miles away had thunderclouds, but it was blue sky above us. The thunder itself was pretty cool. We'd hear it boom over Mount Peale, and then a second later it would echo off of Tukuhnikivatz, and a couple seconds after that, we'd hear the echoes rumbling off of South Mountain to the south.
Here is South Mountain, the creatively-named southernmost peak in the La Sals. You can see how the clouds form. The air blows in from the right (the west), rises over the mountain, and forms clouds to the east (left) of the peak.
The clouds produced a little rain in addition to thunder. Here, you can see a pocket of rain falling on the valley we drove through on the previous day. (Mount Peale is the peak to the left.)
Although it was August 21st, there was still snow near the peak. It was a particularly wet winter, so it may not melt all the way this summer. This is facing westward, so the sky is blue, but behind us to the east there was thunder and lightning.
Here's Nancy at the peak. Someone had made a recliner out of rocks (the whole crown of the mountain was loose rocks). The near mountain is South Mountain, and the more distant Mountains are the Abajos down by the Arizona border.
Me near the summit with Mount Peale in the background.
This is looking down 2000 feet to La Sal pass below. The Jeep we rented is parked just behind the trees in the center of the image. The lake to the left is Medicine Lake. The road from the east (left) is fairly tame, but when we went down to the west (right), it was a rather challenging Jeep trail.
This is the view down to the town of Moab, over 8000 feet below. The long valley is Spanish Valley, and the green patch at the top is the town.
This is a view of the red rock Colorado Plateau and Canyonlands National Park, with the Colorado River snaking through the canyon. The mountains in the background are the Henrys.
This is the view back up from Spanish Valley. The central peak is Tukuhnikivatz; the one to the left is Mount Peale, and the one to the right is South Mountain.
We drove back home following the Colorado River which carves through redrock canyons. This is the view with rosy evening light, looking back up towards the northern La Sals (slightly shorter peaks north of the one we climbed).