Camped at the Elbert creek campground overnight. Started the NE Ridge trail at 5:45 am. Virtually no snow anywhere on the trail, but a lot of bugs below treeline. Above treeline, winds were surprisingly calm (sustained winds, may be around 15 - 20 mph). The pitch above 13500' (approx.) is very steep and consists of sand and loose scree, until you get to about 14000'. Many people opted to hop up the boulder field at this point instead of going up the scree. While there's still ~440' left to climb, it is mostly on good trail.
|
