1st Timer Last week of May Plan advice

[bgibsoncbs81]

My son and I are traveling in from sea level to try to hike our 1st ( and possibly 2nd) 14er. We are planning on staying in the keystone area and here is my tentative plan:
1. Fly in Sunday 5-26 afternoon and drive to Keystone
2. Monday: Spend Monday in Breckinridge gathering trail conditions, sightseeing, find a short 2 mile hike to gain some elevation to help acclimate and drive to elbert trailhead and return to keystone early for goods nights sleep.
3. Tuesday: Drive to Elbert trail head and start our hike at 630 ( at the latest) with the intention of reaching summit shortly before noon turnaround time
4. Wednesday: If legs allow, hike Quandary

I have all the gear except snowshoes and spikes and plan on renting those if I found out that we need them. My real concern in the snow and midday slog that late May can produce.
The mountains we have looked at are Elbert, Quandary, Grays / Torreys, and Bierstadt but settled in on Elbert and Quandary. Im open to changing my area to the peaks to the southern part of the state if I need to.
Any other advice is greatly appreciated especially on ways to check for trail conditions. Any tips or shops that you would recommend gathering intel?

[aholle88]

Current conditions on Elbert.

036BB8DB-E923-4C00-AB89-7C101FA0F350.jpeg (129.26 KiB) Viewed 16995 times

We just received 2ft of snow overnight in addition to 20+ inches prior to that in the past week here. It will melt some, and people will hike it between now and then but snowshoes and spikes may be worthwhile. The south/east side from twin lakes is your best bet. Quandary will be trenched out more than Elbert.

[SkaredShtles]

Pretty bad year to try 1st 14'er in late May. Bring skis.

[mtnkub]

Based on the likely snow conditions in May, better bets may be Quandry and/or Bierstadt.
And if you are feeling fine in Denver and during the drive to Keystone (altitude wise), consider driving over Loveland pass instead of taking the tunnel. And stop at the pass to stretch your legs; and maybe consider hiking up a little bit towards Mt Sniktau.

[mtree]

Hard to say what conditions will be like on Elbert (or any 14er) 2 weeks from now. Be prepared for any kind of weather and conditions. Snow, hail, rain, thunderstorms, lightning, wind, sunny skies, fog or any combination. There will be snow. Lots of it. Too early to say if it'll be trenched, wet, deep, icy, or mush. Quandary gets alot more activity than Elbert so trail conditions will likely be more favorable. I'd bet on needing snowshoes; spikes a maybe. Expect a slog, regardless.

[ECF55]

May is really putting up a good fight. There was a great base when I was there at the beginning of the month and there have been numerous storms that have added a lot of snow in the eastern and northern ranges in Colorado--to the point that several ranges are now above average for snowpack snow-water equivalent. The one exception right now is the San Juan range, which is below average (but still holds a ton of snow in the upper basins and north facing slopes).

You can always use commercial satellite imagery to get a feel for snow coverage. Sentinel Hub https://browser.dataspace.copernicus.eu ... ode=SINGLE is a great resource.

Good luck.

[Ptglhs]

I remember doing Elbert about 3 weeks later than your trip in 2022. There was still significant snow coverage and post holding in a variety of places on the East ridge. 3 weeks earlier with the amount of storms we've had, this may? Absolutely brings snow shoes.

Quandary gets traveled enough that there will be a pretty good trench and you might be able to get away with only having micro spikes.

[Barnold41]

Snow isn't going away anytime soon... chances nearly everyday in Leadville this week.

[bgibsoncbs81]

Do you guys think i should re-route to the San Juans? Not an issue to do so if you think that will be better.
I appreciate all the help and real-time info!

[Ptglhs]

Do you guys think i should re-route to the San Juans? Not an issue to do so if you think that will be better.
I appreciate all the help and real-time info!

San Juan's see a lot less traffic than Elbert or quandary. And most of the traffic they're getting this year is people who want to ski, which usually isn't the line A hiker wants to go up. Quandary is accessible year round from a paved State highway. A lot of those roads in the San juans might not even be open memorial Day weekend

If you want to do this memorial Day weekend, I think you should try for quandary. As others have stated it will have a fairly well packed down trench. It's also shorter and more accessible than Elbert.

See what the condition can see how you're feeling after doing quandary and then You can choose whether or not you want to try the state high point.

[Chicago Transplant]

Snow water equivalent (SWE) graphs are available here, if you click on the area you get the average for that basin. You can get more detail by clicking the "Interactive Snow Water Equivalent Map" button and clicking by individual site.

Keep in mind percentage is by the basin as a whole and individual site vary. Some site also have more average snow, so can be a wide difference in SWE by percentage, but much closer by actual inches of SWE. Example: Hoosier Pass (near Quandary) is at 20.9" of SWE and 142%, while Red Mountain Pass in the San Juan is at 96% but 19.2" of SWE. Fairly close in inches, but far apart in percentage.

https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/su ... ement=wteq