Mt. Elbert - East Ridge

[Cthulhu 2008]

Has anyone been up Mt. Elbert's East Ridge Route since the last TR from January?

It looks like a sunny and great forecast for a Thursday tour. Wondering if there is continuous snow to the summit currently. Thanks!

[pete26]

I summited on 2-22 from the E ridge. Continuous snow on the entire route except for the flat/rocky section around 13k. You can see it from the highway. Other than the 15min section I walked through the rocks, I was able to skin the entire route car to summit. I splitboarded down all the same terrain and only had to hike a few mins down on the road but the grade was almost perfect. Made for a quick descent.
Saw a few people snowshoe the entire route and a few others leave snowshoes around 12.5k and then continue with microspikes.

[Cthulhu 2008]

Thanks Pete!

That helps a lot.

[AyeYo]

Which route is generally more avy safe, the east ridge or Northeast ridge ? It's hard to tell without having been there and without having seen which areas hold snow and which don't. The NE ridge looks to have a steep section, but no idea if that's typically blown clean or not.

[illusion7il]

Which route is generally more avy safe, the east ridge or Northeast ridge ? It's hard to tell without having been there and without having seen which areas hold snow and which don't. The NE ridge looks to have a steep section, but no idea if that's typically blown clean or not.

EAST RIDGE. I believe its the 2nd most popular winter route behind Quandary and is considered an avy safe route. Usually boot packed to the point where you don't even need snowshoes, but you might want to bring them along. Road is paved to Lower TH. I don't think you will hear of too many doing the NE ridge from the N. Elbert TH as its usually closed miles below the TH.

[Scott P]

Which route is generally more avy safe, the east ridge or Northeast ridge ? It's hard to tell without having been there and without having seen which areas hold snow and which don't. The NE ridge looks to have a steep section, but no idea if that's typically blown clean or not.

Usually both have low avalanche danger, but as mentioned, the road to the NE ridge is usually closed in winter, thus the East Ridge is the normal winter route.