Winter ascent and camping

[14erjoe]

I'm looking for recommendations for a winter ascent later in January in the Mosquito, Sawatch or Sangre range. Ideally something not too technical with a fairly safe winter route. Also, my base camp will be a popup camper so if anyone knows of a route where we could potentially tow a camper into and park for a few nights that isn't too far from the trailhead that would be awesome. Thanks.

[I Man]

Elbert would be a great choice. You can easily drive to the South Elbert TH and the route is avy safe and relatively gentle the whole way.

[14erjoe]

Thanks I Man. Do you mean the East Ridge? The East Ridge appears to be the most popular winter route from what I can tell. The Southeast ridge looks like it has some steeper sections that could be avy terrain.

[SchralpTheGnar]

Yeah, east ridge, great winter route. I don't know if you can camp at the trailhead though.

[14erjoe]

Cool. Yeah if not at the trailhead it looks like there are numerous campgrounds in that area and county roads so I'm sure we could find someplace to park the camper.

[rijaca]

The east ridge route is accessed from the South Elbert TH. Accessible all year round (plowed). Not sure if you camp at the TH. Don't think any of the close FS campgrounds are open this time of year.

[SchralpTheGnar]

Just don't try to camp at any of the closed campgrounds, the dude was all like "can't camp here" and we were like "WTS, there's no one around and we'll be out in the morning" and the dude was like "doesn't matter gotta go" and we were all like "no way" but ended up having to leave.

[Voshkm]

there are several very nice campsites on the way to the East Route Trail Head, You probably cant get your pop up all the way into the trail head but if u willing to leave behind and drive in the rest of the 1/4 mile with a 4x4 or foot it, you probably will enjoy and avoid fighting the campground management and get forced to leave at threat of Law Enforcement involvement as some guys would... East route has very low Avy danger and is one of the easier mountains, wind exposure is pretty high on that route but that is a trade off of low avy, you can gear up for wind but other than the insta inflater suit not a ton of clothes designed for avy

[rijaca]

there are several very nice campsites on the way to the East Route Trail Head, You probably cant get your pop up all the way into the trail head but if u willing to leave behind and drive in the rest of the 1/4 mile with a 4x4 or foot it, you probably will enjoy and avoid fighting the campground management and get forced to leave at threat of Law Enforcement involvement as some guys would... East route has very low Avy danger and is one of the easier mountains, wind exposure is pretty high on that route but that is a trade off of low avy, you can gear up for wind but other than the insta inflater suit not a ton of clothes designed for avy

The summer TH is not accessible this time of year.

[Hoot]

The summer TH is not accessible this time of year.

True most years but in 2013 the summer TH was easily accessible on MLK weekend with a 4WD. I've car camped at the winter TH and seen other do so as well. Speaking from experience, it can get pretty cold in that parking lot!