Mount Elbert
14 January
2007
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Trip Report
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14 Jan 2007 - Mount Elbert Winter Climb (2nd Annual)
Climbers: Dave Hale, Matt Hale, Gary Neben, Dave Gibson
Trailhead: South Mount Elbert Winter Trailhead
Round trip distance: 11.6 miles
Round trip time: 8 hours and 12 minutes (4:48 up, 2:53 down)
Elevation gain: 4826 feet
Last January 15th, Dave Hale, Brian Freiburger, and I climbed Elbert from the South Mount Elbert trailhead. This is a fairly avalanche-safe route as it mostly follows a long gentle-sloping ridge. Of course the price is a long approach. When I suggested we do the same climb again this year, Dave quickly agreed and reserved "The Barn" at the Mount Elbert Lodge for a very comfortable weekend base camp. The predicted snow and bitter cold temperatures discouraged some potential climbing partners, but not Gary Neben with whom I had climb Jagged Peak last summer. In fact, Gary put in a long hard day on Saturday climbing Gladstone Ridge to knock off another 13er. I joined Dave, Emily, Sharon, and Matt Saturday night before Gary returned from his climb. Dave cooked up a great dinner and we all enjoyed the evening in the cozy accommodations.
After coffee and breakfast Sunday morning, Dave, Matt, Gary, and I left the Lodge at 6:45 and were at the trailhead within 20 minutes. The cars of Bill Blazek's CMC group had been parked there overnight as they were camping on the trail near tree line. The four of us began hiking in snowshoes at 7:25 am. Last January we carried, but never wore our snowshoes. The skies were overcast, it was snowing lightly and the temperatures were in the single digits as we set out. From the parking area, we hiked most of the first two miles along the 4WD road leading to the Colorado Trail intersection. It took us 50 minutes to reach the bridge at the end of the 4WD road. We were lucky that we did not have to break fresh tracks in the deep snow. The CMC group, and perhaps others before them, had left a nice trench for us to follow up through the trees. Hiking up the steep section from the Colorado Trail to tree line keep me plenty warm despite the cold temperatures. Near tree line we passed the CMC camp site. I put on my balaclava, goggles, and heavy gloves before leaving the shelter of the trees. Not surprisingly, the wind picked up and it became considerable colder as we began the ridgeline ascent above tree line. While my toes got a bit cold and numb in my leather hiking boots, I managed to stay reasonably warm.
We passed Bill Blazek and another climber headed down as we continued slowly up the ridge. At around 13,000 we decided to stash our snowshoes as most of the ridge above us was windswept and rocky. From that point to the summit our pace was very slow but steady. Helping motivate us to keep pushing forward, the sun began to break through the clouds and the wind surprising calmed. At 13,800 we met up with the other six members of the CMC group, including Bob Dawson and Keith Bershader, on their way down from the summit. From that point we followed the tracks of the CMC group to the summit. The four of us reached the top of Colorado at 12:13 pm after 4 hours and 48 minutes of climbing.
We spent nearly half an hour enjoying the windless summit which amazingly felt warmer than any point below. Thin clouds limited the views somewhat, but the surrounding scenery was still spectacular. Despite knowing I should be eating much more, I could only manage to eat half a candy bar washed down with Gatorade slush. We started back down at 12:45 pm. It was still very cold, but without the wind and a little more sunshine the descent was relatively pleasant. After retrieving our snowshoes, we tried hiking without them, but that didn't last for long. Moving downhill on snowshoes was easy except in the steepest sections below tree line. The hike out on the 4WD road seemed to take forever. I reached the trailhead at 3:38 pm, just a few minutes after the others who are much faster than I on the downhill. My downhill time was 2 hours and 53 minutes, a little faster than our downhill time last year. Wearing the snowshoes most of the way down and avoiding the postholing we suffered last year probably saved us time. My ascent time was 27 minutes slower this year, most likely due to wearing snowshoes most of the way up. It certainly couldn't be because I'm getting older.