20,412 steps on Mt. Elbert, Northeast Ridge Standard Route


This is the third year for the old guys from Kansas to come to Colorado for a 14er. This started as a dream to make it on top of a 14er in my 60th year. We are old high school buddies that have bonded together with this annual trip to Colorado. I have to say that the climbs are getting a little harder to do with my age and flatlander conditioning.

This year we planned to do one a little harder that what we had done in the past as the idea was do some of the easier ones later when we are older. We planned to do Elbert and then Massive the next day. We knew we had to get an early start, so we were hiking with headlamps at 5:30 am. We were one of the first to start up Elbert that day. The hike out of the trees was a little harder than I expected and I did make the statement (more than once) that I was not doing well and I might give up and go back to the car. My friends offered encouragement and I agreed to go on until we got above tree line.

At 62 years of age and with some problems with my legs I was just not having fun climbing Mt. Elbert. I was thinking that there comes a time when you have to decide that maybe you are too old for this. I kept thinking about a person we saw on our first 14er. The guy was 78 years old and climbing real slow. His climbing partner told us, "He looks like he is going to die, but he will make it." I told myself if he can do it, so can I. I guess I put the thoughts of quitting behind me because we just kept going up.

We all just started taking breaks when we needed to get our breathing under control. We made it to the top in a respectable time and enjoyed the summit for almost an hour.

I think the state of Texas might have been the state with the most representation on the summit, but I did not take an official count. Most of the the climbers on the summit were in their twenties. I overheard one phone conversation from a son to his dad about his dad climbing. I heard the caller say, "I know you can make it there are people up here over 60." We also witnessed some of the ashes of a loved one being spread on top of Mt Elbert. This was very close to the heart for me as this is what I want done when I pass and I feel closest to God in the mountains.

About the time we were starting to get ready to go down a person shows up on the summit alone. He was dressed in a dress shirt, vest, dress pants, white loafers, golf socks, and a white bowler type of hat. He looked like he had just gotten of a bus as he was so neatly dressed and and the climb was made without effort. He had a leather satchel with a water bottle and a camera. He passed us on the way down and he looked like he was surfing the mountain trail down.

We started down and we found that two out of the three of us were very slow going down as we had used our legs up in getting to the top. It took us almost as long to get down as it did getting up. We were one of the last ones to leave the parking lot that day. I know I had sewing machine legs most of the way down. I had to have a talk with myself about the effort to get down and then I found my second wind and started picking up the pace to get down.

We did not attempt Massive the next day. We just did not have the legs for a second 14er. We learned from this trip. For our trips will plan for only one 14er. We need to get an early start as we might be all day on the mountain. We need to plan our climbs when weather will not be an issue. For any older people that might be reading this wondering if they can still get up on top of a 14er I say, "Do it." Bring a lot of "Want to!" with you to the mountain and you will be rewarded with a great experience. We have already forgotten about the pain of climbing Mt Elbert and we have started planning the trip for next year.

The title for this trip report is accurate as I used a pedometer on the climb.

Thanks to 14ers.com for great information and to all we talked with on the climb including the two climbing machines from Oregon.