Mount Elbert

Mount Elbert - 4401M

2767M Prominence

39.117749 -106.445287

July 22, 2024

2H 15M up NE ridge

Colorado Trail detour

Before even hitting the Colorado trail in mid July I had planned on bagging at least a few 14ers. The first peak I set out to stand a top was Mount Elbert. Mount Elbert is the highest point in the Rocky mountains, and the second highest point in the lower 48. On July 22 I woke up at 4 AM after a night of Thunderstorms and rain. Throughout my Colorado trip it was very common that thunder and lightning struck in the early afternoon. For this reason I was up and down the mountain before any signs of clouds started to appear. After packing up camp, I hiked a mile or two to the trailhead sign, and made my way up the busy trail. I blasted past dozens of day hikers whilst hauling my 30+ lb bag. Thankfully for me, the altitude did not seem to bother me. As I made it up past treeline the sun started to rise, and I turned off my headlamp. The quickly rising red orb made for some quite spectacular lighting in the early morning. After 2 hours and 15 minutes on the trail I shared the very cold summit with two others. The summit views were immaculate, but I didn't stay on top for too long before starting to descend the East ridge. The East ridge was just as easy if not easier than the North East ridge. After a few hours of descent I re joined the Colorado Trail, and made my way into Twin Lakes Village.

It was 4:15 by the time I reached the trailhead

The sun was starting to rise by the time I got to treeline

A very nice sunrise

Looking towards Mount Massive

Mount Massive from summit

Summit

 

South ridge on way down

route