Mount Elbert is the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains of North America. It is also the highest of the fourteeners in the US State of Colorado, and the high point of the Sawatch Range. It is located in Lake County, approximately 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Leadville. It lies within the San Isabel National Forest.
Elbert is the second highest mountain in the contiguous United States, after Mount Whitney in California, and is but 65 feet (20 m) shorter than Whitney’s 14,505 feet (4,421 m).
Elbert is a fairly easy climb (after adjusting to its elevation— beware Altitude sickness), and is popular with hikers. There are three routes up the mountain. The standard route ascends the peak from the east. The most difficult is the Black Cloud Trail, which takes ten to fourteen hours, depending on the pace. The third option up is the North Mt. Elbert Trailhead (North Halfmoon Creek trail) which we took being the less crowded.

Getting There
North Mt. Elbert Trailhead (North Halfmoon Creek): (10,050 ft.) From Leadville, drive 3.5 miles south on U.S. 24 to Colorado (CO) 300. Turn right (west) on CO 300 and drive .7 miles. At .7 miles, turn left (south) on Lake County 11 which is a newly paved road. Drive south 1.8 miles on Lake County 11 and turn right (west) at the signed intersection for Halfmoon Creek. Continue southwest past the Halfmoon Creek Campground and the Elbert Creek Campground until reaching the signed North Mt. Elbert Trailhead at 6.9 miles. Note: This trailhead is also referred to as “South Colorado/Main Range Trailhead” in some guidebooks. It is an access point for the Colorado/Continental Divide trail, a short section of which runs from here to the Lakeview Campground to the south.

The Route
We arrived in Leadville pretty late and drove Jays Toureg up past the Halfmoon Creek Trailhead till it forks at Halfmoon Creek. You can hike this trail from here North to Mt. Massive of South to Elbert. It was late so we camped there with the idea that we would scope out the route in the light.

When we wok up the day looked great, perfect sky. The river crossing right at Halfmoon Creek was washed over pretty good, and although Jay was confident his nice new Toureg would be able to drive through it with no problem I wasn’t completely sure. Since it was a beautiful day why not hike it? So we chose our gear and hoofed it. If you drive further up you can take another mile or two off the route and gain another 1,000’ or so. However we passed two broken bridges the second one looking like you would really need to winch it to get through. Maybe late in summer after all the melt has run off a typical high-clearance 4×4 would be alright there.

We kept hiking south with Elbert rising on our left, but being down in the valley makes it tough to orient. We were expecting to see a fork in the trail for when it takes a shoulder of Elbert up, but we never saw one… I can confirm after taking the same route back down that we never saw a clearly defined hikers/climbers trail. The further you go south on this trail the more you have to hook back to Elberts summit once you gain the ridge. You can see the detour we took on the way up in the GPS trail in the photo gallery for this trip.

Making our way up east and toward the summit ridge and clearing tree-line we found ourselves climbing talus fields all the way up to the ridge. From on top of the ridge we could see the true summit perhaps a half mile or so along this East ridge. We were blessed with perfect weather and incredible views !!

We decided that we should take the most direct route back North to the Toureg. We scree/snow-surfed down the scree and remaining snow and got down in a snap. Plastic shell mountaineering boots might seem a tad heavy/clunky when you selecting your gear at the trailhead, but when you get can jog/surf scree with no risk of twisting an ankle etc its sooo worth it. Yes, I believe in the plastic boots (least in my Koflach’s)

Mountain Conditions
There is no substitute for getting an early start, and getting as much of the mountain “behind you” as early in the day as possible. Keep a good eye on the sky as weather conditions can deteriorate rapidly. The greatest weather danger is from lightning strikes, and climbers are killed almost every summer in Colorado by lightning strikes. July seems to be the most deadly month for lightning.

Two climbers were killed by lightning in Colorado within a couple days of each other in the summer of 2003. I think the following important information from Gerry Roach’s book “Colorado’s Fourteeners From Hikes to Climbs” bears repeating. Added here with permission from Gerry Roach:

Colorado is famous for apocalyptic lightning storms that threaten not just your life, but your soul as well. This section will have special meaning if you have ever been trapped by a storm that endures for more than an hour and leaves no gap between one peal of thunder and the next. The term simultaneous flash-boom has a very personal meaning for many Colorado Climbers.

Dangers

1. Lightning is dangerous!
2. Lightning is the greatest external hazard to summer mountaineering in Colorado.
3. Lightning kills people every year in Colorado’s mountains.
4. Direct hits are usually fatal.

Precautions

1. Start early! Be off summits by noon and back in the valley by early afternoon.
2. Observe thunderhead buildup carefully, noting speed and direction; towering thunderheads with black bottoms are bad.
3. When lightning begins nearby, turn around. If you can see lightning you are already too close.
4. Get off summits and ridges and below tree line as quickly as possible

Protection

1. You cannot outrun a storm; physics wins.
2. When caught, seek a safe zone in the 45-degree cone around an object 5 to 10 times your height.
3. Be aware of ground currents; the current from a ground strike disperses along the ground or cliff, especially in wet cracks.
4. Wet ropes are good conductors.
5. Snow is not a good conductor.
6. Separate yourself from metal objects.
7. Disperse the group. Survivors can revive one who is hit.
8. Crouch on boot soles, ideally on dry, insulating material such as moss or grass. Dirt is better than rock. Avoid water.

Memorial Day weekend was one of those rare weekends where there is a little extra time available to pull off a mountain overnight trip. As it worked out, everything lined up just right. The plan: to drive up to Buena Vista Colorado for a late Sunday Night arrival at Delaney Creek trailhead, hike in the dark to camp about halfway in still below tree line, summit Mt Yale the next morning, leaving Monday late afternoon and Tuesday for some random hiking and fishing. The hardest part was trying to explain to my sweet 7yr old daughter Anna that this camping trip wouldn’t be all that fun for her to come along with. That the conditions up that high can get cold and depending on your personality and your equipment, somewhat miserable. She very reluctantly went to bed and as I was ready to go I heard a soft whisper of “Daddy?” from the top of the stairs where my sweet daughter was standing in three somewhat random layers of clothes (to be prepared for the conditions I had described — soo cute!) determined to come along. Only with some cuddle help from Mom was I able to get out and hit the road as planned. I can’t wait to bring her along on one of these mountaineering trips, but a little later in the year and a shorter route will be best.

Everything worked out just so, and it was a great trip. A three quarter waxing moon was setting when we arrived around midnight. Jay and I had packed in advance and we were quick to go after checking out our backpacks one last time. Jay had a fishing weight scale he pulled out to see who managed a lighter pack once we had our water and were all set. He had 47lbs I had 41 which I got a kick out of because he had been bragging on how light his pack was going to end up. We both ended up with a good bit of extra food in the end and talked a bit about what both of us wouldn’t bring next time.

The walk through the woods was the perfect dreamlike night-time experience, calm with only slight breezes, cool, crisp and a clear starlit sky. Delaney creek was always at our side as we hiked in a short ways to the fork in the trail. We knew there was a fork in the trail where one route leads up to Mt Yale and the other route leads up to Hartenstein lake, and that there was a sign there. Just as we had heard the sign was right there. We knew also knew there were two good camping options at this point, we could either go up the Yale path and look for some flat camping spots another half mile or so, or we could go take the Lake Hartenstein trail and camp along side Delaney Creek. We went up the Yale trail and sure enough, a half mile in, found lots of sites to choose from. Pitched camp fast and got a few hours sleep. We didn’t do the crack-o-dawn climb mostly because of the late night hike in, we stayed in camp and left about 7:30 so it was sunny and warming already.

The weather looked great, stable conditions and almost totally clear. We packed small hip packs each with our choices of equip for the way up, I took crampons which I didn’t need, the snow was warmed up enough already we never saw any ice slopes. We passed one mountain runner who was on his way back down, not sure if he went all the way up but it was gratifying to see him eye us over with our Gore shells, Koflach boots and trekking poles and say “You guys are equipped right for this”.
Once treeline ended we started up the broad south-western shoulder of the mountain which provides a fairly direct line to the summit ridge. The actual trail was obscured by the snow and a few weathered paths from previous visitors. We picked a line up and made our way post-holing occasionally. Without snowshoes route finding was a little more interesting looking for either cold hard show to kickstep up in places or exposed scree to step from rock to rock. We separated in our route taking as we worked our relative ways up the slope I ended up staying more to the left than Jay who was going up a slightly steeper couloir. We yelled back and forth and planned to meet up on the ridge top. Weather was stating to build, but conditions were still fairly stable. We could spot some Thunder heads in places off in the distance, but they were clearly not in our path, we had good visibility to the west – southwest where the weather was coming in from.

Gaining the summit ridge was most excellent for you get awesome views on the other side of Columbia and Harvard, both climbed last year, and other high ranges all around. I had heard that you can see the most 14ers from the top of Yale than any other CO peak.
I followed the ridge trail to the summit, and peered over the various couloir exits until I saw Jay making his way up. We hung out at the summit and took a meal enjoying the incredible views and our success. More weather was building but we stayed up on top across that ridge till at least 1pm when we decided that it was time to go down. Lots of glissading made the trip down take ¼ the time and we were back in camp that afternoon.
The climb was the best part of the trip, but the low key hanging around camp and just taking it easy in the wilderness through the night till the next day made this an awesome memorial day trip.

Date:
02.20.2007
Elevation:
14,265 feet (13th highest in CO)
Maps:
USGS Quad: Breckenridge
Trails Illustrated® – TOPO Map # 109.

Quandary Peak located just south of Breckenridge will provide an exhilarating experience for all who conquer its summit. Considered one of the easier 14ers in Colorado, the route up still comprises about 3 miles distance as it gains over 3,100 feet in elevation. I had two days set aside to go for a winter ascent. Monday the 19th it was snowing hard so instead of heading up into the blizzard I went snowboarding with my friend Jay in Breck, we had a blast and after the lifts closed the snow stopped. Over a few pints at the DAM in Dillon, it was decided; he had to head back to the ‘ol grindstone and I was going to try out my new 1man 4season shelter at the Quandry trailhead and see if the weather would allow me up in the morning.

Getting There
Directions: From Breckenridge, you drive south on highway 9 about 7.5 miles from the last traffic light in Breckenridge to Blue Lakes Road on your right. After turning right onto Blue Lakes Road (No.850) you turn right again onto No. 851. The Old Quandry trail is approximately 1.1 miles down this road, but when I got there in the dark there was a closure sign with instructions on where the new Forest Service trailhead is which is really at the first immediate right hand turn off on 851. It was a road that wasn’t plowed but is probably accessible spring-fall. I parked there and hiked in to check it out, the Quandry trailhead is just a few hundred yards in. A perfect spot to bivouac for the night!

The Route
The powder was waist deep so I stamped out a footprint for my newly aquired Sierra Designs Assailant 1 man shelter and pitched it for the night. I knew I could pack it up and toss it back in the jeep in the AM so I set my alarm for 5AM and hunkered down wondering how warm this dealio would be and what the condensation would be like. The wind was howling around and even being tired from the day of snowboarding I was kind of excited and woke up several times thinking “is it time to go yet?” Maybe it was just the altitude. I could see some snow laying on top and wondered how much had accumulated, but when the alarm actually did go off I found just a couple of inches piled on top. The condensation wasn’t bad inside and I was real happy with how this shelter held up, I’m sure I’ll be taking it up more, hopefully this winter.

It was clear, moonless sky so I decided to snap a shot of the shelter site but was super disappointed to find the cannon sure shot digital camera complained that the battery needed charging. I had just charged it up fully the day before. I knew it was just the cold, that seems to make the camera think the battery is dead, or the cold actually somehow does drain the battery. I put the battery down close to my skin to warm it up hoping I could squeeze off a few snaps on my way, and packed her up back to the jeep and put together a bag to take to the top. I brought the shelter, down bag, crampons, trek poles, GPS, some food, snowshoes, camera, the usual small odds and ends, and 2 liters of water spiked with Gatorade to keep it from freezing right away. I decided to start out with no snowshoes on, there was a relatively stomped trail at this point, and I was on my way around 6:30am!

The trail starts up the long eastern shoulder of Quandry and at this point is in some lodgepole pine. It was packed down with just a few inches of new show so I was able to go a half mile or so until I starting post holing up to my waist. Time for the snow shoes!
That kept me up on top, but now there were multiple tracks from folks who had skied down through the trees and I had to pick my own line, I wasn’t skiing down I was going up. I knew by GPS and map that I needed to stay to the south side of the shoulder while always going up and picked a good line to follow where the tree line ended. I was breaking trail now for there was none visible. The winds above tree line were such that all former tracks were obscured. A great feeling knowing no one was on the route I was taking. I wondered if I would see anyone on the mountain at all.

The shoulder route provided a few glimpses of the summit ridge along the way, and at about 13k’ the snow was so windblown it was hard and crusty. The route flattens out for a piece here and provided dramatic views down the south edge to the frozen lake below. I could catch glimpses of the Christo Couloir which looked like it would be a great early summer snow climb and a direct route up from the lake to the summit. I stashed my snow shoes at a cairn and put on crampons for the final stretch.

The wind was gusting so hard it knocked me over a few times. I could see these snow devils come swirling down and I would just stop and lean into them with my head down. The wind with the blowing snow was biting but not impossible to deal with. One issue with this route is that the weather generally comes from the west, but you can’t see the western horizon at all on your way up, that view is blocked by the mountain itself. The summit came into view but I was only stealing peaks to the west for the wind was mean.
Up on the summit at about 11am the views were incredible. I could see a ground blizzard from the wind on the ridge just to the west with some weather behind it so I didn’t hang out too long, the camera worked, the body-heat warm-up method brought life back. But I think what I am bringing next time for cold, I mean freezing, temps and photos is a $10 disposable film camera that doesn’t depend on a battery.

The way back took half as long and the wind was at my back. I did not see a single other person going up or coming down. All in all a wonderful night/day on the mountain!