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Peak(s):  Mt. Elbert  -  14,438 feet
Date Posted:  10/09/2016
Modified:  11/18/2016
Date Climbed:   10/09/2016
Author:  Barfood
 October trip up NE Ridge   

This was my second 14er to hike after doing the Pikes Peak Ascent in 2007 and hiking up Pikes Peak again in 2008 via Barr trail. However the steepness, short night of sleep before doing this hike and not drinking enough water to stay well hydrated made this a much tougher hike for me.

Woke up at 1am and left from our SW Denver location. About a 2 hour drive and we were the first car in the trailhead parking lot.  Temperature was 22F, calm and a few patches of snow around from the cold snap a couple days ago.  We left in the dark at 4:20am (no coincidence) with headlamps as the moon had set much earlier. 

The trail to follow is well marked and there is a bridge across the creek.  After following the steep switchbacks up to the ridge, we followed the steep climb through the forest in the dark.  About 3 hours in (7:20am) the sky was lightening up with sunrise as we were also nearing tree line.  The trail gets even steeper as it ascends relentlessly towards several false summits.  Encountering a fair amount of snowpack on the trail we decided it prudent to put on our Yaktrax on the section up to the steepest crux of the trail.  We accidentally followed a secondary trail up the steep crux instead of the main trail that veered off to the right, which we found on the way down.  The secondary trail seemed a bit riskier and left us exposed in some areas. Either way is tough, this is very steep, rocky terrain.  It did warm up nicely into the upper 40F's and remained mostly sunny.  We got to the summit around 10:40am, almost 6-1/2 hours after starting and lots of amazing pictures along the way. 

There were only a couple people up there but many more on the way up.  Spent a half hour at the summit before heading down.  It was a tough hike down the very steep terrain above tree line and we took off our Yaktrax after the really steep crux.  Even below tree line it was relentlessly steep back to the trailhead.  We spent 3 hours 50 minutes coming down, of which 2 hours 35 minutes was moving.  The rest of the time was stopped for breaks and pictures (also giving us a break from the steepness).  Got back to the trailhead about 3pm. 



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