La Veta Pass

The climbe to a Veta Pass has just began for SP7297 on the return trip to Pueblo. Mount Blanca rises in the background. La Veta Pass is about 12 miles ahead, at 9242 ft.

I have never been to the pass but you can find a lot of impressive scenery without going to the pass. The grade is 3 percent on the east side of the pass and 2,5 percent on the west side. It takes at least 4 units with 3 000 hp to get 50 loads back over the pass. They used 6 GP40:s both days I visited the valley in 1999.

You could get the best pictures from the pass when they used to run a La Veta Turn. This was the trip they did from Alamosa to La Veta on the east side of the pass when they had more cars than they could handle with the normal runs.