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I noticed there are very few Trip Reports for Ellingwood Point in the snow season, so thought I would add a "better late than never" report to the collection.
Climbed: May 19-20, 2017
TH: 8,500' on Lake Como Road
Climb times: 3:17 to Lake Como Friday, 4:00 to Ellingwood summit, 8:40 RT to camp, 2:15 pack-out to car
Partner: Nate Palmer
Background
Nate is the guy who recruited me onto the Board of the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, so we had spent tons of time together on board stuff, but had only climbed together a couple times before. Nate is closing in on finishing the Colorado 14ers with some difficult Elks, the distant Wilson Group and a random straggler Ellingwood Point left to go. We had been hoping for good snow conditions and an open road up to Maroon Lake with an eye on giving the Bells Traverse a go - new peaks for him and new spring grid slots for me. As luck would have it, the Elks got hammered with new snow and it didn't seem like a good idea to go for that. The Wilson Group is just far away and we were both on the clock away from our wives and kids. Ellingwood it is! Nate brought a flatlander friend up Blanca when he did that one, but his friend got altitude sick, and Nate (being the upstanding citizen that he is) took his buddy down and orphaned Ellingwood for another time.
Not a bad place to spend a day....
The Climb
Neither of us drives a great car for the Lake Como road (if there is such a thing), so we played it safe and started at 8,500', not all that far above the valley floor. We both worked that Friday, so we loaded our heavy packs in the dark and marched up the road to set up our camp at Lake Como using Nate's MegaMid for our tent. We started a little after 5:00 AM on Saturday morning with me leading the way since I had done Ellingwood in winter 2016 (meaning I theoretically knew the way). The problem was we were hiking inside a ping pong ball that morning.
Looking back down into the ping pong ball.
I couldn't see where I was going in the least, but figured if I just kept heading up hill, we would eventually hit the ridge. And sure enough, we did. We turned left and Nate took over the lead, still firmly inside the ping pong ball that had become our home.
Moving up the ridge.
As the ridge got a bit spicier, the clouds began to evaporate around us and we could see a tiny bit ahead as well as back down below us.
Looks like it could be interesting... Looking back at the saddle.
Uh oh, I thought. I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to hit the ridge at the Blanca/Ellingwood saddle. Nate went a bit farther up the ridge to see if it would go. He came back within minutes shaking his head that it didn't look great. Rats.
No go.
From our descent, we saw the problem with the ridge:
The ridge with our track on the way out.
The thought of descending back down several hundred feet didn't sound great. I took over the lead and angled down and right, hoping to find safe passage across and underneath the cliffs above us, preferably without losing too many vertical feet. I found a spot that looked like it might go. I began kicking steps into the snow and plunging my axe in above me with each step, gradually traversing across to another rock rib. Nate followed behind me.
Traversing And more traversing
Once through that section, I angled back up towards the ridge onto easier ground with Nate close behind.
Almost back to the ridge crest with Blanca looking on. Mt. Lindsey makes an appearance.
The views to the east, looking back down the ridge and over towards Lindsey were spectacular as the clouds continued to dance around us!
Nate coming up the ridge with Lindsey and Spanish Peaks.
As we approached the summit ridge, Nate took over the lead up to the summit where we were rewarded with outstanding views of Blanca and Little Bear.
Summit ridge Nate earning it. Little Bear Blanca
Nate had a kid birthday party he was supposed to be at Saturday afternoon, so we didn't stay long at the summit before heading down. With the beauty of a now-bluebird day, we bombed straight down the snow slope into the valley below, returning to camp much more quickly than our ping pong ball ascent with my misstep of hitting the ridge too low.
Direct line descent. Our too early top out far right with traverse below crux visible. Just a cool rock in the snow on the way out.
Despite the false start on the ridge, it was an amazing day out last spring. Hopefully that opportunity for the Bells will present itself in Spring 2018 and Nate and I can get out together again. Thanks for reading.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Thank you for adding a report! And for the beta for me to climb the ween after you went.
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