Mt. Elbert Trip Report 05/01/2006

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Mt. Elbert - 14,438 feet
Date Posted	05/01/2006
Modified	08/17/2010
Date Climbed	04/27/2006
Author	scarbucks

Mt. Elbert
Trip report for Mt Elbert 4/27/06 Started at the 4wd trail on the south trailhead with a subuaru legacy. The 4wd trail was a little too much for this car. Needed a little more clearance. Started at around 4 pm. About a half mile up the trail we decided that the car had taken enough of a beating. We parked the car and started our climb. We backpacked up the remaining mile of the road before we got to the trailhead. The trail had not be maintained for the upcoming season and had lots of branches on it. At some points the trail was had to follow. We lost the trail for a few hundred yards before finding it again. The snow started to become a problem so we strapped on the snow shoes and continued on. At 10,500 feet we decided to take any flat and dry spot we could find to call camp. At 11,000 feet we found a good place for our camp. This was about a hour after we had started. It was a nice night. I forget a lighter so we couldn't start my stove. We ate our stew cold and got into the tent around 6:30 pm. We went to bed shortly after that and slept off and on until 5am. We ate some pop-tarts and got dressed for the climb. We left camp at 6:15am on a beautiful mourning. It was probably 30 degrees so the snow was very hard which helped our speed greatly. We hiked thru snow until about 12,000 feet. The remaining part of the climb was also snow but wasn't very deep. We reached the summit at 9:05 am. The wind was blowing very hard and our hands were extremly cold so we took some pictures and moved on. The snow at the top was very deep so we couldn't find the register can. We hiked on to South Elbert which only took 40 minutes from Elbert. Our Hands were still very cold at this point so we took the ridge down to the Point which was quite steep. We had lunch at the point and then climbed down the remaining ridge. The snow was deep so we slid down one of the chutes. We then met back up with the trail we started on. The snow on the way back had warmed up and we had to put our snowshoes on. The snow was extremly soft so at some points we still feel thru. We reached our camp at noon. The sun was shinning bright at this point so we put our big packs back on and hiked down to the car. We reached the car around 1:30. A fabulous trip to say the least. If we left camp any later this trip would have been difficult with the snow. We didn't see any sign of other hikers on the trail. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Mt. Elbert

Trip report for Mt Elbert 4/27/06

Started at the 4wd trail on the south trailhead with a subuaru legacy. The
4wd trail was a little too much for this car. Needed a little more clearance. Started
at around 4 pm. About a half mile up the trail we decided that the car had taken enough of
a beating. We parked the car and started our climb. We backpacked up the remaining mile
of the road before we got to the trailhead. The trail had not be maintained for the upcoming
season and had lots of branches on it. At some points the trail was had to follow. We lost
the trail for a few hundred yards before finding it again. The snow started to become a problem
so we strapped on the snow shoes and continued on. At 10,500 feet we decided to take any flat
and dry spot we could find to call camp. At 11,000 feet we found a good place for our camp.
This was about a hour after we had started. It was a nice night. I forget a lighter so we
couldn't start my stove. We ate our stew cold and got into the tent around 6:30 pm. We went
to bed shortly after that and slept off and on until 5am. We ate some pop-tarts and got dressed
for the climb. We left camp at 6:15am on a beautiful mourning. It was probably 30 degrees so
the snow was very hard which helped our speed greatly. We hiked thru snow until about 12,000
feet. The remaining part of the climb was also snow but wasn't very deep. We reached the summit
at 9:05 am. The wind was blowing very hard and our hands were extremly cold so we took some pictures
and moved on. The snow at the top was very deep so we couldn't find the register can. We hiked
on to South Elbert which only took 40 minutes from Elbert. Our Hands were still very cold at
this point so we took the ridge down to the Point which was quite steep. We had lunch at the point
and then climbed down the remaining ridge. The snow was deep so we slid down one of the chutes.
We then met back up with the trail we started on. The snow on the way back had warmed up and we
had to put our snowshoes on. The snow was extremly soft so at some points we still feel thru. We
reached our camp at noon. The sun was shinning bright at this point so we put our big packs back on
and hiked down to the car. We reached the car around 1:30. A fabulous trip to say the least.
If we left camp any later this trip would have been difficult with the snow. We didn't see any sign
of other hikers on the trail.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

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