Mt. Elbert Trip Report 10/04/2014

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Mt. Elbert - 14,438 feet "South Elbert" - 14,129 feet
Date Posted	10/04/2014
Date Climbed	08/30/2014
Author	rob runkle

Elbert and Sister South - North TH
After finishing the official 14ers list in June 2014, I was excited to finally visit Colorado without having the "list" hanging over my head. I could pick peaks that were easy, enjoyable, and I could repeat peaks without feeling like I was neglecting my list endeavor. Plus, I was really looking forward to showing my buddy Scott the beauty of Colorado, and the pure enjoyment of peak bagging. Scott and I targeted the middle of the state. We would focus on the Sawatch, Mosquito and Front Ranges, but we didn't have anything specific planned. Having said that, I did want to target Mt. Elbert - the high point of Colorado - as our first hike. This would give us a pretty good first day challenge, but still stick with class one. Or, at least that was the plan. As always, we arrived in Colorado the night before. We flew into Denver, picked up the car, groceries, dinner and drove to the Mount Elbert North Ridge Trailhead. We arrived at the trailhead, and finally got camp setup around midnight. Both of us slept pretty rough. The first night in the mountains is always a difficult one, but Colorado was having a cold early September, and we both slept very cold. Personally, I woke up several times in the middle of the night, mostly because I was chilled. the temps were probably around low 40s, which is right on the border of uncomfortable with a Summer sleeping bag and gear. We woke around 5:30 am, and started up the trail around 6 am. Several cars had pulled into the parking lot between 5 and 6 am, and by the time we started up the trail, the main lot was almost completely full. The initial trail is all below treeline. There is slight left turn, very close to the trailhead. The trail feels like it should go straight, but there is a bunch of tree debris across the trail along the straight path. That is typically an indication that people have place the trees across the trail, in order to prevent people from taking that path. Sure enough, the clear path is to the left, and it continues unimpeded. Coming from just above sea level, both Scott and I were huffing pretty hard on our first hike of the trip. We continued along the clear path, until we reached treeline. Along the way, we chatted with multiple groups, some from sea level, like us, and some from Colorado. In general, most of the groups were moving at about the same pace. Since we were hiking on a Saturday morning, the mountain was pretty crowded. As we got above treeline, things started to slow down a bit. I was definitely feeling the elevation. And, since this was Scott's first endurance experience at elevation, we were both watching how he felt. One of the comments that I got from Scott, which I totally understood, was when he told me, "I'm lightheaded, almost like I'm a little drunk." Both of us worked through the exhaustion, and trudged towards the top. As we got higher, the wind picked up significantly. I'd estimate 10-20 mph winds, with 30 mph gusts. It wasn't windy enough to disturb your footing, but it was enough to keep you chilled, and made you want to keep moving. False Summit of Elbert We hiked up and over the false summit, and the true summit was in sight. The main summit was crowded with people, and it had a significant layer of recent snow. We ultimately made the summit in 4:45 hours from leaving the trailhead. Both of us were feeling pretty good, and looking forward to the descent. I had it in my mind that I would want to also grab the "soft summit" of South Elbert while I was there. Since this was my second time on top of Elbert, I wanted to be able to also grab something new. I asked Scott if he wanted to go ahead and slowly start down the main trail without me, while I went over and grabbed South Elbert. I assumed that he wouldn't want to grab a soft summit. But, to my surprise, Scott said that he wanted to go over to South Elbert also. So, after about 10 minutes on top of Elbert, we started South, down the ridge, towards South Elbert. Last Pitch up Elbert The Summit!! Summit cheesy Selfie Our next target - South Elbert The trip to South Elbert, from Elbert is not an insignificant trip. Getting to South Elbert was relatively easy, but getting back to the main Elbert summit would require a notable reclimb of the summit. We ultimately made the easy hike over to South Elbert in just under an hour. I estimated that it would take us 1.5 hours or more to get back to the main summit, then we would have a 3+ hours hike out by the main trail, to the trailhead. That was when I came up with the genius plan to scramble down the South Elbert South Ridge, into the basin, and try to gain the main trail down low. This decision turned into an interesting "off-route adventure" to kick off our first day. Pika Scott and I on top of South Elbert Once we tagged the South Summit, I took off down the South ridge in order to scout out a potential down climb. The route that I saw was definitely doable, but would require a bit of class 2+, and maybe some loose class 3 down climbing. At the time, it seemed best that we continue "down" rather than reclimbing the main summit. So, I texted Scott to head on down to meet me at the ridge. The ridge down climb was definitely doable, but as like many rarely traveled paths, it was loose, and crumbly. it probably stayed below class 3, and the danger was minimal, but in order to avoid any uncomfortable spills, we traveled slowly down the ridge. It probably took us an hour to get down into the basin. There were a few moments where it looked like our route was choked off, but each time, we were able to find a moderate path down. Once we got down to the basin, we realized that the hike across the basin was not going to be an easy stroll through the meadow. From the summit, the basin looked flat and green. It looked like an easy hike out. But, it was moderately rolling hills, entangling willows, boulders, some mild down climbs and an easy creek crossing. Ultimately it stayed class 2, but at this point, both of us were very ready for an easy class 1 - brainless - hike out. We reached the low ridge on the other side of the basin. At this point, I checked my GPS, and started to get worried that I might have miscalculated our off-route choice. Our trajectory just wasn't lining up to intersect with any point on our ascent route. From the top of South Elbert, I had spotted a clear trail that I assumed was the main trail. We were heading that direction, and I was starting to think that it was not the main trail after all. Once we reached the trail, we met up with some other hikers, and they told us that we had stumbled upon the "South Elbert Trail." Argh!! This meant that we had another basin to cross before we could get back on the main trail. Neither of us were very interested in any more off-route travel. Fortunately for us, the hikers that we ran into, understood our dilemma, and graciously offered to give us a ride from the South trailhead, back to our car. We accepted their offer, without any hesitation. The remaining hike down to the South Trailhead took about an hour. from the Summit of South Elbert, to the South Elbert Trailhead was about 3:20. Our total trailhead to trailhead time was just over 9 hours. We jumped into our new friends SUV for the drive to our car. The drive down from the South Trailhead was a nightmare. We had 5 adults in the car, and that caused us to bottom out several times along the dirt road. Eventually we made it back to pavement, and made quick work back to the main Elbert trailhead. Overall, the drive took about 45 minutes from trailhead to trailhead. Although our choice to make a downclimb off of South Elbert was a serious navigation feux pas, overall, from a time and effort standpoint, I believe that we still ended up better off than if we had resummited the main summit, and gone down the main trail. Our trip down from South Elbert, including the drive back to our car was about 4 hours even. If we had gone back to Elbert, and down the main trail that would have been at least 4.5 hours. Plus, the descent on the main trail would have been long and grueling. The hike out on the South trail was actually pretty enjoyable. For a future trip, if you could arrange a car shuttle, I would highly recommend doing Elbert from North to South, or vise versa. Both trails are very clear and safe, with minimal chance of getting yourself into trouble due to being unfamiliar with the descent. GPS Track Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Elbert and Sister South - North TH

After finishing the official 14ers list in June 2014, I was excited to finally visit Colorado without having the "list" hanging over my head. I could pick peaks that were easy, enjoyable, and I could repeat peaks without feeling like I was neglecting my list endeavor. Plus, I was really looking forward to showing my buddy Scott the beauty of Colorado, and the pure enjoyment of peak bagging. Scott and I targeted the middle of the state. We would focus on the Sawatch, Mosquito and Front Ranges, but we didn't have anything specific planned. Having said that, I did want to target Mt. Elbert - the high point of Colorado - as our first hike. This would give us a pretty good first day challenge, but still stick with class one. Or, at least that was the plan.

As always, we arrived in Colorado the night before. We flew into Denver, picked up the car, groceries, dinner and drove to the Mount Elbert North Ridge Trailhead. We arrived at the trailhead, and finally got camp setup around midnight.

Both of us slept pretty rough. The first night in the mountains is always a difficult one, but Colorado was having a cold early September, and we both slept very cold. Personally, I woke up several times in the middle of the night, mostly because I was chilled. the temps were probably around low 40s, which is right on the border of uncomfortable with a Summer sleeping bag and gear. We woke around 5:30 am, and started up the trail around 6 am. Several cars had pulled into the parking lot between 5 and 6 am, and by the time we started up the trail, the main lot was almost completely full.

The initial trail is all below treeline. There is slight left turn, very close to the trailhead. The trail feels like it should go straight, but there is a bunch of tree debris across the trail along the straight path. That is typically an indication that people have place the trees across the trail, in order to prevent people from taking that path. Sure enough, the clear path is to the left, and it continues unimpeded. Coming from just above sea level, both Scott and I were huffing pretty hard on our first hike of the trip. We continued along the clear path, until we reached treeline. Along the way, we chatted with multiple groups, some from sea level, like us, and some from Colorado. In general, most of the groups were moving at about the same pace. Since we were hiking on a Saturday morning, the mountain was pretty crowded.

As we got above treeline, things started to slow down a bit. I was definitely feeling the elevation. And, since this was Scott's first endurance experience at elevation, we were both watching how he felt. One of the comments that I got from Scott, which I totally understood, was when he told me, "I'm lightheaded, almost like I'm a little drunk." Both of us worked through the exhaustion, and trudged towards the top. As we got higher, the wind picked up significantly. I'd estimate 10-20 mph winds, with 30 mph gusts. It wasn't windy enough to disturb your footing, but it was enough to keep you chilled, and made you want to keep moving.

We hiked up and over the false summit, and the true summit was in sight. The main summit was crowded with people, and it had a significant layer of recent snow. We ultimately made the summit in 4:45 hours from leaving the trailhead. Both of us were feeling pretty good, and looking forward to the descent. I had it in my mind that I would want to also grab the "soft summit" of South Elbert while I was there. Since this was my second time on top of Elbert, I wanted to be able to also grab something new. I asked Scott if he wanted to go ahead and slowly start down the main trail without me, while I went over and grabbed South Elbert. I assumed that he wouldn't want to grab a soft summit. But, to my surprise, Scott said that he wanted to go over to South Elbert also. So, after about 10 minutes on top of Elbert, we started South, down the ridge, towards South Elbert.

The trip to South Elbert, from Elbert is not an insignificant trip. Getting to South Elbert was relatively easy, but getting back to the main Elbert summit would require a notable reclimb of the summit. We ultimately made the easy hike over to South Elbert in just under an hour. I estimated that it would take us 1.5 hours or more to get back to the main summit, then we would have a 3+ hours hike out by the main trail, to the trailhead. That was when I came up with the genius plan to scramble down the South Elbert South Ridge, into the basin, and try to gain the main trail down low. This decision turned into an interesting "off-route adventure" to kick off our first day.

Once we tagged the South Summit, I took off down the South ridge in order to scout out a potential down climb. The route that I saw was definitely doable, but would require a bit of class 2+, and maybe some loose class 3 down climbing. At the time, it seemed best that we continue "down" rather than reclimbing the main summit. So, I texted Scott to head on down to meet me at the ridge. The ridge down climb was definitely doable, but as like many rarely traveled paths, it was loose, and crumbly. it probably stayed below class 3, and the danger was minimal, but in order to avoid any uncomfortable spills, we traveled slowly down the ridge. It probably took us an hour to get down into the basin. There were a few moments where it looked like our route was choked off, but each time, we were able to find a moderate path down. Once we got down to the basin, we realized that the hike across the basin was not going to be an easy stroll through the meadow. From the summit, the basin looked flat and green. It looked like an easy hike out. But, it was moderately rolling hills, entangling willows, boulders, some mild down climbs and an easy creek crossing. Ultimately it stayed class 2, but at this point, both of us were very ready for an easy class 1 - brainless - hike out. We reached the low ridge on the other side of the basin. At this point, I checked my GPS, and started to get worried that I might have miscalculated our off-route choice. Our trajectory just wasn't lining up to intersect with any point on our ascent route. From the top of South Elbert, I had spotted a clear trail that I assumed was the main trail. We were heading that direction, and I was starting to think that it was not the main trail after all. Once we reached the trail, we met up with some other hikers, and they told us that we had stumbled upon the "South Elbert Trail." Argh!! This meant that we had another basin to cross before we could get back on the main trail. Neither of us were very interested in any more off-route travel. Fortunately for us, the hikers that we ran into, understood our dilemma, and graciously offered to give us a ride from the South trailhead, back to our car. We accepted their offer, without any hesitation.

The remaining hike down to the South Trailhead took about an hour. from the Summit of South Elbert, to the South Elbert Trailhead was about 3:20. Our total trailhead to trailhead time was just over 9 hours. We jumped into our new friends SUV for the drive to our car. The drive down from the South Trailhead was a nightmare. We had 5 adults in the car, and that caused us to bottom out several times along the dirt road. Eventually we made it back to pavement, and made quick work back to the main Elbert trailhead. Overall, the drive took about 45 minutes from trailhead to trailhead.

Although our choice to make a downclimb off of South Elbert was a serious navigation feux pas, overall, from a time and effort standpoint, I believe that we still ended up better off than if we had resummited the main summit, and gone down the main trail. Our trip down from South Elbert, including the drive back to our car was about 4 hours even. If we had gone back to Elbert, and down the main trail that would have been at least 4.5 hours. Plus, the descent on the main trail would have been long and grueling. The hike out on the South trail was actually pretty enjoyable. For a future trip, if you could arrange a car shuttle, I would highly recommend doing Elbert from North to South, or vise versa. Both trails are very clear and safe, with minimal chance of getting yourself into trouble due to being unfamiliar with the descent.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

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