Mt. Elbert Spring Snow Ascent

“dhutch - don't fight it, just accept that Eddie will trick you somehow... :)”

“EddieS isn't quite right in the mind.”

“lol - I figured that out in the first 15 minutes. But in a good way. Funny stuff”

“Pennsy - awesome.

Sir Pete - just do it!

ducttape - go for it - even if you don't make the summit it'll be a good trip. Hell - weather could easily keep all of us off the summit.”

“since I rarely fly and know squat about rates, do flight prices fluctuate a lot? I was figuring on waiting on phone snob Pete before booking a flight, but if that $150 Baltimore flight could disappear, I'm wondering if I should grab it?”

“Rates do fluctuate especially durng high demand times like the holidays, ski season where we're going, FL in March. ??? Will that fare change if you wait? Hard to say but it should be off season for flying into DEN.

Just a guess.”

“I'm looking at flights. Looks like the best I can do is $265. I just gotta get off work and get a yard pass from the wife.”

“Wow, airfare jumped $50 since I checked a few days ago. I think the holidays are screwing with rates. I'm gonna check again around the first week of January. I think they will start dropping again. I putting my vacation down for this trip at work the first week of January as well. I'm pretty confident that I am going to make the trip.”

“sounds good -”

“Make sure your cookies aren't on for whatever website you are using to search. I heard if you search often you get back different rates depending on what website you use.”

“That's a pretty good trick Adventurist. I'll remember to clean my tracks before searching again.”

“I sure wish April would hurry up and get here. I want to be 14!”

“betcha it would be fun on top of Elbert now, eh?”

“I was just looking at the Colorado Mountain Club to find a trip to this mountain and you're planning one! From what I know it's a tough climb. I'll post some beta from the book I have of Colorado 14ers.
I'd like to join you folks if thats OK. Biggest snow mountain I've done is Rainier once in June (too much snow - no summit attempt), and then once on August (success).

What dates are you actually flying in on. Should I fly into Denver on Friday, or be there on Thursday. If I can hook up with some transporation that would be great to save a rental car, but I do have frequent flier miles available so....

Any questions you have on my background, let me know. I have met/hiked (some time ago) with Pennsy, EarthNsky, LtHiker...and if I've forgotten other names sorry about that. Feel free to email me at bgberlin@hotmail.com
Later......”

“climbhi -- look at the beginning pages of this thread to find the travel plans that have already been made. If ENS vouches for you great and I'm sure the trip organizers will let you know if there are any issues or size limitations. But I wouldn't count on a recommendation from Pennsy doing much good ;-)

This is going to be an epic trip!”

“Pennsy

That area only got about a foot of snow from the storm last week.”

“Ouch, that smarts Hutchy. I won't get mad though, but I WILL get even. ;o)

yeah, I'll vouch for that climbhi dude from Joisey. He shares my first name so he can't be all bad.

Addy - I guess I better go look at a map. I don't even know where Colorado is, never mind that lil ole mountain.”

“Ugh.. Good Ol' Phillipsburg geography classes fail us again!”

“:-P

Gotta go look for topos. Yay!”

“Say topo in Phillipsburg and they think you made a typo trying to say typo.”

“Don't you mean taco?”

“of course I meant taco. I must have made a topo.”

“Wahoo! I'm Pennsy Approved!! Pennsy - I still can't look at a full moon without hearing you do your Wolf Cries up by the Wolf Center near the DWG. Be good to see you again as well as other folks. Also looking forward to meeting others on this trip.

To you CO. folk, would it be crazy to try to fit in another mountain in the Sawatch Range after Mt. Elbert? That's of course the weather is perfect and we're not sinking in snow up to our knees.

I'll put some gear quesitons on the other list. But I do have a 4 season tent (2 people, Mt. Hardwear Annapurna)”

“Well, we talked about the trip over the weekend and I didn't wind up sleeping on the coach.

How big of a concern are avalanches? Did yall wear the little transponder devices when doing these type of trips?”

“If you arrive early enough to get used to the altitude and are a strong enough climber I don't see why you wouldn't be able to snag another mountain in the area in the next day or 2.

For the route we are taking I don't see a huge avalanche danger.”

“Also, can trail runners be used with snow shoes? Would this be a bad idea?

Would a 4 season tent be required?


I'm asking all of these questions to get a handle on if any additional gear would be needed.

I should be able to be warm down to 10* or so. Is that reasonable for this trip?”

“ooops, that's sleeping on the couch above.”

“I wouldn't use trailrunners for this trip. The snow will most likely be wet and there's a possibilty you will be sinking regardless of snowshoe size.

There's a picture somewhere of a guy sinking well past his knees with snowshoes on in April. That was towards the bottom of the mountain where its much warmer.”

“I do have some hiking boots from way back when. If they're still in good shape then I'll keep considering. Purchasing and breaking in boots for a single trip wouldn't be a good idea.”

“Right now I'm planning on coming on Thursday night, leave Tuesday morning. Adventurist- what days do you have planned for Elbert? Any kind of schedule?”

“I'm not planning the trip. But I would suggest making basecamp during the day on Friday. Summit on Saturday. Leave basecamp on Saturday night or Sunday.”

“Making topos - no, not tapas but I am hungry now that I think about it!

Here are the links to a 1:24000 and a 1:10000 detail map. Maps are my favorite.

http://www.mytopo.com/review.cfm?mytopoid=4861

http://www.mytopo.com/review.cfm?mytopoid=4862”

“I concur with Adventurists itenerary. I'll be taking that Friday off from work, we'll head over to the area on Friday, its prolly around a three hour (give/take) drive from Denver.”

“Sounds like a great plan guys. I call dibs on a front seat!”

“can you call shotgun that far ahead of time and from another state?

:)”

“Yes :-D
last edited: 12/27/06 12:50:00 PM”

“Especially since I'm bringing such killer mappage to the party. On order, confirmed.”

“you have a point.... I'll have to check with the girl child on the specific rules for shotgun - she IS the local expert.”

“I'll bring my world class charm and wit! that's gotta count for something.”

“I'll bring beans....at least I'll get a window seat...
When things get more settled, Roam Around, depending on how many folks there are, I might have some frequent flier miles that could go towards renting another car if needed.”

“Ok, now I know climbhi will fit right in. You and EddieS should get along famously.”

“Thank goodness Fartex isn't going on this trip.”

“never the less, shots will be fired on this trip and there will be men down.”

“speaking of men down ENS, why ain't you answerin yer emails this week. I've been cc'ing all of this week's Dacks plans to ya, yet you ignore me. Me so sad.”

“I've been sick.. which is no excuse.”

““never the less, shots will be fired on this trip and there will be men down.”
EarthNsky

Ruh Roh!
luckily he said "men down"”

“shots fired is code for passage of gas and man down is code for butt or knee hit the ground, thus qualifies as a legite fall.”

“oh btw Pennsy, I heard airlines are jacking up their rates after the new year.”

“I'm thinkin' ... I'm thinkin'....”

“lol wow you guys really do speak a different language!

Hey Fritz! How ya been? c'mon you know you wanna.”