Mount Elbert - 14,433 ft

Date: 6-10-07

Climbers: George & Abby Barnes

Route:  East Ridge II, Class 1

RT distance:  7.6 miles

Elevation gain:  4,000 feet

RT time: 5 hours 59 minutes

Time to summit:  3 hours 40 minutes

Time on summit:  20 minutes

Time to trailhead: 2 hours

Coordinates of summit:  39° 7.07'N, 106° 26.72'W

USGS Quadrangle:  Mount Elbert

Beta (by George):

South Elbert 4WD TH is easily accessible (no snow).  Pretty tame 4WD, not much worse than I-70 eastbound near the Eisenhower tunnel.

Check out the nearby Twin Lakes Nordic Lodge for a super laid back dinner.

Trip Report (by Abby):

After much discussion over which 14er to climb this weekend, it came down to which TH was closest to where we ate dinner.  So Mt. Elbert via the South Elbert 4WD TH it was.  We camped in the Liberty at the 4WD parking.  No porcupines kept us up this weekend but the alarm still went off too early for my liking.  We were hiking by 0610.  The trail is easy to follow but doesn’t waste any time gaining elevation.  We reached treeline in about an hour and took a sunscreen and breakfast break.  We continued on the trail at my slow but fairly steady pace.  At around 13,200 we ran into our first major snow and opted to leave the trail and climb straight up the snow instead of switchbacking in and out of the snow on the trail.  The snow was still firm enough to easily hike up and that sped up our progress.  I was able to make it to the summit 10 minutes before George’s goal of 1000 so I was pretty happy.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous so we took time to snap some pictures and take in the view from the summit.  It was pretty awesome to be at the highest point in Colorado!!  On the way down we got to do a fabulous glissade that made quick work of a couple hundred feet of hiking.  We caught back up with the trail shortly after the glissade and stayed on it the rest of the way down. 

Heading up

On top

La Plata

Maroon Bells

Snowmass-Capitol

Hike out