I have tried Elbert twice via the SE Ridge route with others and have had to turn back both times (once because of a friend's knee, and once because the ascent took WAY too long and we turned around after reaching South Elbert). This year, I decided I wanted to try one solo. I picked Quandary because I knew I wouldn't be alone even though I was solo. I left our rental in Vail at 4:35, and was on the trial at 5:30am. When I got a look at the summit from the road, it was shrouded in clouds, and I was worried it would not be my day again. I talked to a nice guy at the TH (Dalton) who was taking his daughter for her first 14er, and we both decided it was worth a try to see if it would burn off.

The first section was steeper than I expected, and it took me a while to warm up. There was a lot of fog at the beginning.

I felt better after I got a mile or so behind me, and the sun started to work it's magic.

Once I made the ridge, the wind really started blowing. I met some hikers from CO and IL, and ended up walking with them off and on for much of the trip. Above 13.5k I really felt like I slowed down, but I felt pretty good. There was a small snowfield just before the summit that was already getting slippery at 8:15. I summited at 8:25, and looked to be the 6th person up top.

I spent about 30 mins on the summit, before I started to get kind of cold. On the descent, I met lots of folks heading up. There were some stray clouds blowing over the top now and then, but people kept plugging away. Coming down all those "steps" on Quandary got kind of old (i.e. my quads were beat), but I was glad for the reasonably stable footing. South Elbert is a pain coming down because it is steep and the trail can be really loose in parts. I reached my car at 11:00 on the dot for a 5.5 hour round trip. Overall, I couldn't ask for much more. The sketchy weather at the start made for some great pics. I finally got an official 14er. And I met some nice folks on the way.