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Peak(s):  Mt. Elbert  -  14,438 feet
Date Posted:  08/25/2015
Modified:  08/28/2015
Date Climbed:   08/25/2015
Author:  rdennisjr
 Elbert from a flatlander, two routes   

Take note that this report is from a flatlander's view (Live in Nebraska - 1,200 feet above sea level). The overall route took us up the Northeast ridge via the standard route, down the Southeast ridge and back to the original trailhead via the Colorado trail.

Arrived the day before to our cabin in Leadville with 4 other guys, all in decent shape but with only lower altitude hiking experience. Two of the team had made the attempt on Mt. Elbert from the Southeast route a few years ago but had to turn back due to snow. We got in town about 5 or so and so had about 13 hour to acclimate. Some of you might think this is a bit too brief. You would be right! But the timing is what it was.

Planned start of the hike was from the trailhead at about 6am and we were within just a few moments of that. Road up was easy to find and no problem at all with my truck. Lot was half full and plenty were two wheel drive cars. We each were packing relatively light except for water which we were each bringing about 4.5 liters with us. We did pack both wet and a few layers as there was a 40% chance of storms in the afternoon. Sunglow was just starting on the horizon so head lamps were needed for the first about 45 minutes. We had all done enough hiking to know the altitude was going to be a challenge as was the topography. The hike started well enough in the dark with a few other teams of climbers all within ear shot. No difficulty with following the trail at all. We did all laugh a bit at our first stop about 30 minutes in to drop the first layers and pack away the headlamps that even though this is considered an easy part of the trail there was already some strain from the baseline altitude. At no point did we consider ourselves lost or even concerned that we had lost the trail.

First serious break was at the tree line. We knew we were only seeing the first false summit so we were not disappointed in discovering that as we climbed. Once past the tree line our flatland physiology did however start to get challenged pretty quickly. Short breaks began to become more often and the recovery became further from baseline each time. We were all however pretty driven and while we knew our pace was slow we felt we had the drive, the conditioning and the equipment to complete the climb. As described on the route pages, the crux of the matter is from about 13,500 to 13,900 in the rocky switchbacks. This was brutal and all of us were going for the small goal - make it past the next switchback to the big rock, etc. Short breaks of a minute or so were needed about every 30-40 feet of forward travel it seemed like. This was not technically challenging, but just physiologically. Trecking poles were a lifesaver through this area. Once we dragged ourselves through this however, the final push to the summit was much easier and provided some welcome relief as we were all suffering from the altitude at this point. The summit had about 20 folks on it and everyone was absolutely friendly. The marker was a bit difficult to find but we did get it spotted.

We were able to spend about 30 minutes on the summit before an approaching storm cell caught our eye and it was time to head down. We felt we had about 45 minutes before the storm would hit but we were concerned about the steep rocky section and how that would go in the rain. So we pulled the trigger on our alternate plan which was to descend the Southeast route as it seemed a bit shallower. We then would hike the Colorado trail back to its intersection with the Northeast trail and then down to the trailhead where the truck was waiting. I always find that down is often more difficult than up and this route provided that in spades. The trail is obvious but by the time we hit the treeline the toes, ankles, knees and quadriceps were all pretty sore. Breathing however was finally starting to get a bit easier. This is a bit more of a alpine meadow environment and less rocky to some degree than the Northeast trail

We hit the Colorado Trail (well marked again) and turned North back to the start. This is a really pleasant undulating forested trail that runs about 3.3 miles back to the Northeast trail. There was a bit more elevation change than we expected in places but again an easy trail to follow with a few small stream crossing, several with improvised bridges.

Overalll - a great triangle route of 13.6 miles with three very different trails. We spent about 6 hours on the ascent which was about an hour longer than we had planned as our adaptation to the altitude just wasn't up to any faster a speed. We all felt we had nothing left in the gas-tank when we arrived back at the truck, but all were satisfied with our summiting our first 14er.

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Sunrise from trailhead
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At the tree line
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Good indication of the lower slopes
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View to false summit from scree
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Downhill from about half-way up the scree
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At the summit
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All five back safely

My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):




Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
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