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First Mt. Whitney, now Mt. Elbert?
#23136 04/22/12 10:13 PM
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My brother and I successfully summitted Mt. Whitney last July and owe much to the good people of this site for the wealth of knowledge they shared about that beautiful mountain. (there's a trip report on here somewhere) and are actually attempting Mt Elbert (14,440ft) in CO at the end of June this summer. I was wondering if anyone has ever been over there? Any thoughts?

Thanks and Good Luck to all those that are Whitney Bound this year....smile

Jared

www.dedicate2fitness.com

Re: First Mt. Whitney, now Mt. Elbert?
Jrod8 #23160 04/23/12 12:31 PM
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Well Jared there are at least 9 routes that are Class 1 or Class 2 which take you up Elbert. It has been reported that someone on a bicycle even biked to the top to deliver a copy of the Denver Post Newspaper to a friend of his that spent the night on top. The best guide book is Gerry Roach's "Colorado's Fourteeners" 2nd edition which is fairly cheap vs the new 3rd edition since the info has not changed. I've climbed Elbert 4 times going up 3 different routes. When more of you Californians(I'm a native Californian) get tired of the Sierras & alot of the hassle, think of coming to Colorado where we have no permits or WAG Bags to deal with. Just don't try to climb Longs Peak on a weekend when over 500 others would be joining you. Now for the best route.

Between Leadville and the Twin Lakes there is a forest service road that will take you West to Halfmoon Creek road. The Mt Elbert trailhead is almost the same place as the Mt Massive trailhead, just southeast across the road a tenth or two further East. The NorthEast Ridge trail starts at just over 10,000' and the roundtrip mileage is about 9.0 miles.

There is a shorter East Ridge route but requires a 4 wheel drive or Richard P's motorcycle and starts at 10,200' and cuts the round trip mileage to just over 7 1/2 miles. It joins the NE Ridge trail up near the top. Rather than bore everyone else, if you have any questions please e mail me at ernie_cunliffe@hotmail.com

JUST ADDED: Found the best resource other than a book. Go to www.summitpost.org Once there go far right and put in Mt Elbert and then you search. There are 21 TRs about climbing Elbert with 3 alone on the NE Ridge Route.

Re: First Mt. Whitney, now Mt. Elbert?
CMC2 #23167 04/23/12 03:10 PM
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CMC2,

Thanks so much for the info!! When you say the "best" route, do you mean that in terms of difficulty/ease or scenery (views)...any other Colorado 14ers you would recommend or do instead of this one if you only had a couple days?

I probably will email you to get a little more info closer to he time. I live in California, but looking forward to coming to Colorado! Thanks again!!


Jared
www.dedicate2fitness.com

Re: First Mt. Whitney, now Mt. Elbert?
Jrod8 #23169 04/23/12 04:22 PM
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Best route probably means the most travelled as a Class 1 & about the easiest. Actually the Eastern route, the one requiring a 4 W Drive, is considered the easiest and it is slightly shorter. But using the Halfmoon road and the Mt Elbert trailhead, you can also do Mt Massive( 12' lower than Elbert) from its trailhead some .1-.2 miles further West on the same road. Massive has 5 summits over 14k and there are about 8-9 trails to the main summit. It is lot longer than Elbert as the easiest trail is some 13 1/2 miles round trip.

Probably one of the more popular climbs is to do 3, some call it 4, 14ers in a 7 mile loop, all Class 2. You drive to Kite Lake which is 12,000' ( I believe there is a fee camping area and there is a fee day hiking area too) climb Democrat, go over Cameron (not considered a true separate 14er) to Lincoln and then finish the loop by doing Bross and back down to Kite Lake. The approach is south of Breckenridge and Hoosier Pass with an entry road West of a small town Alma. Anyone driving in that area beware of speed traps in both Alma and Fairplay which is just south of Alma.

Re: First Mt. Whitney, now Mt. Elbert?
CMC2 #23184 04/23/12 08:12 PM
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Originally Posted By: CMC2
...
Probably one of the more popular climbs is to do 3, some call it 4, 14ers in a 7 mile loop, all Class 2. You drive to Kite Lake which is 12,000' ( I believe there is a fee camping area and there is a fee day hiking area too) climb Democrat, go over Cameron (not considered a true separate 14er) to Lincoln and then finish the loop by doing Bross and back down to Kite Lake. The approach is south of Breckenridge and Hoosier Pass with an entry road West of a small town Alma. Anyone driving in that area beware of speed traps in both Alma and Fairplay which is just south of Alma.

There still seem to be private property issues in the area.
From:
http://14ers.com/routelist.php?peak=Mt.%20Bross

"Notice! The summit of Mt. Bross is currently closed as the Colorado Mountain Club (CMC), Colorado Fourteeners Initiative (CFI) and other organizations work with private landowners to obtain access to the summit. If you decide climb all the way to the summit please understand that you could jeopardize the opening of the summit."

You can use 14ers.com for routes, trailheads and current info.

Dale B. Dalrymple

Re: First Mt. Whitney, now Mt. Elbert?
dbd #23185 04/23/12 09:53 PM
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What Dale says is true. However there are jeep roads to the top of Bross and side roads that come within a few feet of the summit elevation (14,172') so many climbers will hike along the highest road up to where there is a private property sign posted before heading down to Kite Lake. They probably reach an altitude of 14,165' + or-. Since 1980 I have climbed Bross 12 times and never knowingly seen the owners, a security officer, or a sheriff vehicle. There used to be a summit register at the high point. I have never signed in on the register as that is not my style anyway & I don't know if it is still there. I have seen alot of private 4 wheel vehicles enroute to the summit and many on the summit itself. Hopefully the issue will be resolved soon as they did resolve the problems with climbing Democrat and Lincoln and also Mt Wilson way down southwest near Telluride.

Forgot to mention the main Private Property 14er in Colorado. Culebra Peak is 9 miles from the New Mexico border, in the SE part of Colorado. Originally a land grant from the Spanish King the ranch owning the Peak has transferred in recent years from the Taylor Ranch to now the Culebra Ranch. A hostile environment at times as once the ranch foreman shot and killed a trespasser as many of the nearby locals consider the ranch a public area to cut firewood, hunt, and fish. I first climbed Culebra in 1979 and they charged you $10. Gradually the price went up to $15. $25. and now it is $100. all CASH. The climbing is by arrangement and you phone the ranch headquarters with climbing only allowed in the June, July and August time periods. AND yes, the ranch foreman was packing heat when I last climbed Culebra for $25. The state of Colorado tried to purchase the ranch to tone down the hostility there but the deal fell through. A state park entry fee to climb the Peak would have been alot cheaper than the $100. they currently charge to access the private ranch. And I always wonder how much of the cash fee stays in the foreman's pocket and how much gets to the owners.




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Re: First Mt. Whitney, now Mt. Elbert?
CMC2 #23228 04/24/12 11:01 PM
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That is some interesting stuff about Culebra...thanks for the info! I really appreciate it from both of you!

I was just wondering one more thing, What type of summit weather/temps/snow is the norm for Colorado peaks at the end of June/early July? We were thinking about doing an overnight or two on our trip somewhere along the route (if that's allowed).

Thanks again everyone!!

Jared
www.dedicate2fitness.com


Re: First Mt. Whitney, now Mt. Elbert?
Jrod8 #23274 04/25/12 11:43 AM
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Hard to guess the weather in Colo lately due to changes in the Winter snows and lack thereof this year. "Normally" the time frame you mention is generally pretty good as the rains start toward the end of July and into August. I have been snowed on in every month of the year while in the Mts, but usually you get rain, some minor hail storms and no snow from early July to late August. I've never bothered to check the temperatures en route or on top.

You can pretty much camp anywhere along the hiking/climbing routes as long as you use good judgment in picking your camping site but I question why you would want to bother as most of the 14ers involve short hikes and carrying all your gear to camp overnight would hardly be worth the effort. Exceptions to this would be the longer trail approaches to 14er summits such as Pikes Peak, Longs Peak, Capitol Peak, the 3 in the Chicago Basin, the Blanca group in Lake Como area, and maybe Snowmass. Of the 55 14ers I have only backpacked for Capitol, the Chicago Basin 3 (which also normally involves the Durango-Silverton Railroad trip to the Basin trailhead) and the Blanca group up the terrible Lake Como road. Certainly for Elbert or Massive you would not want to backpack and overnight camp and you would car camp if you chose to drive to Kite Lake for the Democrat, Lincoln and Bross loop.


Re: First Mt. Whitney, now Mt. Elbert?
CMC2 #23489 05/01/12 11:43 PM
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Thanks for all the info...I really appreciate it. Yeah, we will probably just do some car camping, just tossing around the idea of sleeping under the stars somewhere while we're out on the trail.

Thanks again, Wherever the trail leads you this summer, have a great time! Elbert, here we come!


Jared
www.dedicate2fitness.com

Re: First Mt. Whitney, now Mt. Elbert?
Jrod8 #23509 05/02/12 02:25 PM
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I tackled Mt Elbert back in June of last year. It was really amazing. I wanted to find out more about Whitney and found this community. Lot's of good information I see smile What was funny about Elbert is once I got to the semi-top I sat there for awhile, enjoyed the view and whipped out my Kindle. Believe it or not, I actually had service at like 13,500 feat hah, so I started reading an emotobook. Only took like 40 minutes then I descended back down. Was a great trip! Does anyone know if you can get service on Whitney? Anyone ever tried?

Re: First Mt. Whitney, now Mt. Elbert?
RickD #23512 05/02/12 02:38 PM
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There is weak cellular service on the summit for some companies. Does the Kindle use cellular?

Re: First Mt. Whitney, now Mt. Elbert?
Steve C #23513 05/02/12 04:07 PM
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Originally Posted By: Steve C
There is weak cellular service on the summit for some companies. Does the Kindle use cellular?

The 3G versions do.


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