Mt. Elbert Trip Report 08/25/2009

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Mt. Elbert - 14,438 feet
Date Posted	08/25/2009
Modified	09/02/2009
Date Climbed	08/21/2009
Author	munisano

Unicycle descent of Mt. Elbert East Ridge Trail
I've been mountain unicycling for almost 4 years but this was my first attempt at riding down a "true" mountain. This trip was a bit spur of the moment, though I'd been toying with the idea of riding down some 14er for quite a while. So when my friend, Dink Taylor, asked me to fly out to Colorado to help crew/pace him at the Leadville 100 mile foot race, I didn't hesitate and told him I'd be there. But that was Saturday, which left me all of Friday (my rest day ;) ) to kill. So about a week before I headed out to Leadville I decided that I'd take a crack at unicycling down the Mt. Elbert East Ridge Trail. I settled on Mt. Elbert after reading of other successful unicycle descents of the North East Ridge: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=5000&cpgm=tripmain and http://www.gb4mfg.com/mtn/Elbert_7-3-05.html I'd also read on 14ers.com about other successful mountain bike descents of Mt. Elbert: http://www.14ers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=19866&start=15 So I was fairly confident that I could ride down most of Mt. Elbert. I decided on the East Ridge because of the trail beta I could gather indicated that it might be possible to ride from the summit itself, at the cost of the lower sections of trail might not being rideable (by me). It seemed like a small sacrifice! So a little before 7:00a.m. I prepared my gear and shortly there after left the lower South Elbert Trailhead and began the long six mile and nearly 5000ft vertical hike UP! Did I mention I just flew in less than 12 hours before from Huntsville, Alabama (I'm a flat lander!)? After about 36 1/2 minutes of mostly hiking (riding some of the brief downhills) I'd arrived at the South Elbert Trailhead (2 miles) and crossed the footbridge. The brief section of Colorado trail was a fun spin but I quickly arrived at the the Mt. Elbert trail and began the long 4 mile hike UP! I stopped for a brief break just above treeline (boy was the route below treeline ever steep!). I still felt pretty strong climbing, but I won't lie it wasn't easy pushing my uni uphill and carrying the extra weight of my body armor in my pack. I began to second guess my judgment, the trail still was steep and loose. Would I even be able to ride this stuff? Was I wasting my time? Nah, I wanted to hike up Mt. Elbert anyhow and if I couldn't ride down it, that was okay; I just enjoy being out here! Up and up I continued to hike, pushing my uni in front of me. I did receive several funny looks from groups of hikers I passed but no derogatory circus comments or "where's your other wheel?" type jokes; merely questions about my sanity of trying to ride down this mountain! So after what seemed like forever I arrived at the last bench before the summit. And after 3 hours and 1 minute I'd arrived at the summit of Mt. Elbert via the East Ridge trail. I was the second party to arrive at the summit, just behind a group of 3 young women, who were nice enough to snap a summit photo of me. I rested a bit then after one final gratuitous summit shot of my uni: I began the "fun" part.* The descent took 2 hours and 10 minutes (6 miles) for a total round trip time of 5 hours and 35 minutes. I was able to ride perhaps about 75-80% of the descent, only down climbing portions that had huge potentials for pedal strikes (i.e. narrow trail between large rocks). I just took my time and rode every section I could, often waiting for climbing parties to pass so I could continue riding. I had a total blast and was amazed that I was actually riding portions of trail that I thought were too steep and loose on the way up! My quads took a serious beating however as I didn't have my hydraulic brake installed which meant I was using my legs to slow me down (by applying back pressure on the pedals) on the steeper sections! (I'm still very sore as I type this!) Trail Beta for future unicyclists: From the summit the first several switchbacks are a bit of a jumbled rocky mess but rideable as long as you‘re good at avoiding pedal strikes and can hop decently; also fairly steep and loose in parts (a brake would be very handy). After the first 1/4 mile or so the trail levels out quite a bit leading to a couple long, gradual switchbacks that take you back over to the eastern ridge you climbed up. This part is some of the best high altitude riding to be had; still a few "baby heads" around but 100% rideable by even an intermediate level rider. Once back to the eastern ridge the trail begins a steeper descent though still very much rideable just beware of pedal strikes as the trail gets a bit "trough-like" in places. The views from the upper east ridge are panoramic and incredible! There are a few, short sections where the trail drops steeply with large rocks, may be best to down climb rather than press your luck (your skill will decide). The trail continues to switchback quite a bit with some very steep and loose sections that really would benefit from having a brake (I had to down climb a few of these just because I couldn‘t keep traction and would skid!). Eventually you‘ll arrive at what I call "the wedge", a 1/4 mile long fairly straight but steep (almost 100% grade) downhill. The good thing is it should be well packed dirt (at least it was when I was there) mostly free of pedal striking rocks and it is fairly wide so there are several line choices. A brake would be handy but I managed to not UPD (unplanned dismount) on this whole stretch but it did fry my quads out from leg braking! Ouch! At the bottom of the wedge is about the only "flat" section on this trail a short stretch where hikers (and unicyclists) like to take a break on the ascent or descent; great place for a picnic! Continuing on, the trail angles downward again but now there is more dirt and less rock and this section all the way to treeline and a bit beyond is 100% rideable. There are some fun flat rocks, berms and steps to make this part interesting for all levels of riders. You‘ll pass into tree line in this leg and then the trail gets very steep, loose and technical. If I‘d had a bit more body armor and a brake I‘d attempted to ride some more of the "Aspen section." Basically from the start of the Aspen grove down to the trail intersection with the Colorado trail it was not very rideable for me. Trail was very narrow with huge pedal striking rocks and very steep and loose with numerous turns and drops. A great place to session but on tired legs could be a formidable challenge! There were a few stretches in here that I rode through the Aspen grove but largely I just down climbed (save it for another day) but rode the last leg down to the Colorado trail intersection. The short leg on the Colorado Trail is 100% rideable (like a freeway after riding the last section!) including a fun foot bridge back to the main (upper) trailhead. As I didn‘t have 4WD I parked at the lower (paved) trailhead which is two miles and another 800‘ of descent further (you‘ve descended 4 miles and 4,100‘ at this point!). If you descend to the lower trailhead it is all 100% rideable 4WD road with a short stream crossing mid route. Enjoy! Thanks to whomever posted this video on YouTube: *Since I was traveling alone I couldn't get any riding photos of myself though I did try a few times with my self timer without success! I'm hoping the hiking parties I met on the descent who snapped some photos of me might read this and send me their photos, if so I'll post them here. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Unicycle descent of Mt. Elbert East Ridge Trail

I've been mountain unicycling for almost 4 years but this was my first attempt at riding down a "true" mountain. This trip was a bit spur of the moment, though I'd been toying with the idea of riding down some 14er for quite a while. So when my friend, Dink Taylor, asked me to fly out to Colorado to help crew/pace him at the Leadville 100 mile foot race, I didn't hesitate and told him I'd be there. But that was Saturday, which left me all of Friday (my rest day ;) ) to kill. So about a week before I headed out to Leadville I decided that I'd take a crack at unicycling down the Mt. Elbert East Ridge Trail. I settled on Mt. Elbert after reading of other successful unicycle descents of the North East Ridge:
http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=5000&cpgm=tripmain
and
http://www.gb4mfg.com/mtn/Elbert_7-3-05.html
I'd also read on 14ers.com about other successful mountain bike descents of Mt. Elbert:
http://www.14ers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=19866&start=15
So I was fairly confident that I could ride down most of Mt. Elbert. I decided on the East Ridge because of the trail beta I could gather indicated that it might be possible to ride from the summit itself, at the cost of the lower sections of trail might not being rideable (by me). It seemed like a small sacrifice!

So a little before 7:00a.m. I prepared my gear and shortly there after left the lower South Elbert Trailhead and began the long six mile and nearly 5000ft vertical hike UP!

Did I mention I just flew in less than 12 hours before from Huntsville, Alabama (I'm a flat lander!)?

After about 36 1/2 minutes of mostly hiking (riding some of the brief downhills) I'd arrived at the South Elbert Trailhead (2 miles) and crossed the footbridge.

The brief section of Colorado trail was a fun spin but I quickly arrived at the the Mt. Elbert trail and began the long 4 mile hike UP!

I stopped for a brief break just above treeline (boy was the route below treeline ever steep!).

I still felt pretty strong climbing, but I won't lie it wasn't easy pushing my uni uphill and carrying the extra weight of my body armor in my pack. I began to second guess my judgment, the trail still was steep and loose. Would I even be able to ride this stuff? Was I wasting my time? Nah, I wanted to hike up Mt. Elbert anyhow and if I couldn't ride down it, that was okay; I just enjoy being out here! Up and up I continued to hike, pushing my uni in front of me. I did receive several funny looks from groups of hikers I passed but no derogatory circus comments or "where's your other wheel?" type jokes; merely questions about my sanity of trying to ride down this mountain! So after what seemed like forever I arrived at the last bench before the summit.

And after 3 hours and 1 minute I'd arrived at the summit of Mt. Elbert via the East Ridge trail. I was the second party to arrive at the summit, just behind a group of 3 young women, who were nice enough to snap a summit photo of me.

I rested a bit then after one final gratuitous summit shot of my uni:

I began the "fun" part.*

The descent took 2 hours and 10 minutes (6 miles) for a total round trip time of 5 hours and 35 minutes. I was able to ride perhaps about 75-80% of the descent, only down climbing portions that had huge potentials for pedal strikes (i.e. narrow trail between large rocks). I just took my time and rode every section I could, often waiting for climbing parties to pass so I could continue riding. I had a total blast and was amazed that I was actually riding portions of trail that I thought were too steep and loose on the way up! My quads took a serious beating however as I didn't have my hydraulic brake installed which meant I was using my legs to slow me down (by applying back pressure on the pedals) on the steeper sections! (I'm still very sore as I type this!)

Trail Beta for future unicyclists:
From the summit the first several switchbacks are a bit of a jumbled rocky mess but rideable as long as you‘re good at avoiding pedal strikes and can hop decently; also fairly steep and loose in parts (a brake would be very handy). After the first 1/4 mile or so the trail levels out quite a bit leading to a couple long, gradual switchbacks that take you back over to the eastern ridge you climbed up. This part is some of the best high altitude riding to be had; still a few "baby heads" around but 100% rideable by even an intermediate level rider. Once back to the eastern ridge the trail begins a steeper descent though still very much rideable just beware of pedal strikes as the trail gets a bit "trough-like" in places. The views from the upper east ridge are panoramic and incredible! There are a few, short sections where the trail drops steeply with large rocks, may be best to down climb rather than press your luck (your skill will decide). The trail continues to switchback quite a bit with some very steep and loose sections that really would benefit from having a brake (I had to down climb a few of these just because I couldn‘t keep traction and would skid!). Eventually you‘ll arrive at what I call "the wedge", a 1/4 mile long fairly straight but steep (almost 100% grade) downhill. The good thing is it should be well packed dirt (at least it was when I was there) mostly free of pedal striking rocks and it is fairly wide so there are several line choices. A brake would be handy but I managed to not UPD (unplanned dismount) on this whole stretch but it did fry my quads out from leg braking! Ouch! At the bottom of the wedge is about the only "flat" section on this trail a short stretch where hikers (and unicyclists) like to take a break on the ascent or descent; great place for a picnic! Continuing on, the trail angles downward again but now there is more dirt and less rock and this section all the way to treeline and a bit beyond is 100% rideable. There are some fun flat rocks, berms and steps to make this part interesting for all levels of riders. You‘ll pass into tree line in this leg and then the trail gets very steep, loose and technical. If I‘d had a bit more body armor and a brake I‘d attempted to ride some more of the "Aspen section." Basically from the start of the Aspen grove down to the trail intersection with the Colorado trail it was not very rideable for me. Trail was very narrow with huge pedal striking rocks and very steep and loose with numerous turns and drops. A great place to session but on tired legs could be a formidable challenge! There were a few stretches in here that I rode through the Aspen grove but largely I just down climbed (save it for another day) but rode the last leg down to the Colorado trail intersection. The short leg on the Colorado Trail is 100% rideable (like a freeway after riding the last section!) including a fun foot bridge back to the main (upper) trailhead. As I didn‘t have 4WD I parked at the lower (paved) trailhead which is two miles and another 800‘ of descent further (you‘ve descended 4 miles and 4,100‘ at this point!). If you descend to the lower trailhead it is all 100% rideable 4WD road with a short stream crossing mid route. Enjoy!

Thanks to whomever posted this video on YouTube:

*Since I was traveling alone I couldn't get any riding photos of myself though I did try a few times with my self timer without success! I'm hoping the hiking parties I met on the descent who snapped some photos of me might read this and send me their photos, if so I'll post them here.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Noller	Dr. Johnson says 8/25/2009 7:08pm Boswell once told Samuel Johnson that he had been to see a demonstration where a man rode three horses simultaneously. Johnson remarked, ”Such a man, Sir, should be encouraged; for his performances shew the extent of the human power in one instance, and thus tend to raise our opinion of the faculties of man. He shews what may be attained by persevering application; so that every man may hope, that by giving as much application, although perhaps he may never ride three horses at a time, or dance upon a wire, yet he may be equally expert in whatever profession he has chosen to pursue.”
MUni Rider	Awesome Job! 8/26/2009 11:43am Sorry I wasn‘t able to ride with you. Way to go man. Hopefully our schedules will match up if you come back for another ride.

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