“Thursday night and everyone arrived at my place – my apartment looked like an REI store vomited in my living room! Gear EVERYWHERE - it was awesome.

Friday

Friday morning, TMac and Dhutch (gear sluts) wanted to check out the GoLite sale in Boulder so he picked her up at my place and they headed out. The rest of us hit MickyD’s for a quick breakfast and then we discovered a flat tire on DeltaHiker’s car.

How many TT’ers does it take to change a tire? I ran the jack, Pennsy ran the lug wrench and Bateaux shuffled tires. We’re signing up for Nascar pit duty next week.

Riding out to the trailhead involved crossing over the Front Range and the Gore Range and then entering the Sawatch Range – Pennsy and ENS were in my car and for most of the ride they were a little slackjawed. Deltahiker was following me with Armymedic and BateauxDriver and they were checking out the views and drove past the exit. We had perfect blue skies and the snow capped peaks looked just tremendous.

Upon arrival at the trailhead we quickly changed boots and such, took a group photo (of course) and proceeded up the trail. Just being at the trailhead was an elevation record for most of the group. Since our plan was to basecamp for the Mt. Elbert climb the next day we had heavier packs than we might have otherwise – besides the fact that we were packed for a mountaineering expedition – snowshoes, crampons, ice ax, full winter camp clothes, etc. Seemed odd – no snow at the trailhead, but we knew it would be cold in camp overnight – and there’s LOTS of snow up on the mountain! Welcome to springtime in Colorado!

The hike up the 4wd road was fairly uneventful, a couple of nice overlooks for the shutterbugs – the views are great looking out over the Twin Lakes. We reached the junction of the Colorado/CDT and the Elbert trail and turned right – downhill to get into the beaver pond area where we planned to camp. Unobstructed views to the East of the Gore range – spectacular! After pitching camp and looking for the best water source we proceeded to get the fire area ready – plenty of dead wood around, it appears there was a minor fire some years back but the area has either recovered very well or really just didn’t take too much damage. We discovered that we were camped on a snow/ice covered marsh area when we dug out some snow to clear a fire pit and we hit water! Pennsy laid some logs down for a base and proceeded to build the fire up over the water – a floating fire! That night, a little wine was passed around and we chatted and talked but not too late – the next day was our day to climb Elbert.”

“Saturday

We woke up and got out of camp right around 8 am – a little later than I might have liked, but tolerable. The weather looked great as we proceeded up the mountain. About tree-line though, the wind picked up and a few clouds started rolling overhead. From up here the views were incredible – the Gore Range to the East, Mt. Massive to the North – it was everything we’d hoped for. We kept climbing. The snow started falling but it wasn’t a white out – we could see the summit and the descent route – we kept climbing. At about 13,000 feet we met a couple of climbers coming down that we had spotted on the way up. They said they got within about 300 feet and turned back due to the weather. We didn’t think the weather was that bad and we kept climbing. The slope just kept going up and so did we. At 13,500 Pennsy, ENS and I could still make out one person in our group that was below – the others had turned back around 12,500 or so (they can confirm that elevation). We kept climbing. By the time we hit 14,000 the wind was blowing about 35 mph or so and snow fall stung our faces, but the descent route was still visible and the clouds rolling in didn’t seem any darker, so we kept climbing. Finally we hit the summit ridge and then we were there – 14,433 – the highest point in Colorado, the highest point in the Rocky Mountains and the second highest in the lower 48 states! After a couple of quick photos we started boogieing down the mountain. I did a short butt slide down one section which was a lot of fun. We met a guy going up with a snowboard – said he was training for a mountain in the Yukon.

We finally got back to camp and the crew was all there waiting on us. Dhutch was awesome, fixing us hot water for soup and making sure we were all in good shape. Deltahiker had even found my bagels that somehow fell out of my pack. After some food and some rest we fixed a proper dinner and stoked the fire. None of us stayed up late Saturday night as it was pretty cold and we were all pretty wiped out.”

“Sunday

Sunday we woke up to a very cold morning – about 15 degrees with a little frost inside my tent. Sunny skies though and it soon warmed up to a nice day. This being a rest day we were all pretty lazy about getting camp broken down. We set things out to dry in the sun and lazily packed up and headed out of camp. On the way out of camp we noticed a message from Bison in the snow! He had come into camp the day before while we were all up on the mountain.

Hiking back down to the car we got an opportunity to slack pack a bit as TMac had parked his jeep about halfway between the trailhead and our camp on the 4wd road. So TMac ferried gear down to the trailhead and a couple of us (armymedic and myself) rode on the side rails drawing laughter from a couple of older ladies that were headed up the trail for a dayhike.

Before heading over to Mt. Massive to relocate camp we opted for a trip into Leadville for lunch. If you’re ever there, go to the Passtime Club – terrific place, and get a Bison Burger!

After lunch we found our way out to the Massive area and parked on Willow Creek road and began hiking in looking for a good place to camp. Just before the Wilderness Boundary we found a real nice spot with a big fire ring, some cut wood and a good water supply – looked like home to us! We stayed up a little later that night, it being the last night of the trip. We had a great time talking and joking and just hanging out. It was warmer (we were only at 9,800 feet compared to 10,500 the past nights) and the stars were out – very nice night. Dhutch, who is now the official TT chef, made some chocolate pudding that we all shared for dessert with some gorp provided by Bateaux!”

“Monday

The last day – the group split up. Dhutch had a sore ankle left over from last weekends adventure race (her team won), ENS was sunburnt a little and Deltahiker slept in. Armymedic had left with TMac on Sunday. Pennsy, Bateaux and I went up Massive with the idea of getting to tree-line at least to soak in some good views. We thought that maybe we wouldn’t need snowshoes – the snow on Elbert had been pretty firm for the most part – BIG goof on my part. We post-holed and wallowed in the snow – even crawled at times. Bateaux opted out but Pennsy and I kept plowing ahead. We popped into a nice snow free meadow with killer views and a few left over mining artifacts and had a snack. We also spotted a saddle up higher that we made our goal. Finally at about 11,500 the snow firmed up where we could actually travel effectively and we reached the saddle. We had the two southern summits and the primary summit of Mt. Massive right in front of us – incredible. Mt. Massive is, well, massive – to say the least - five summits, four of which are above 14,000 and three miles of ridge area above tree-line.

After getting back to Denver and cleaning up we all went to dinner and met TMac and his other half and had a great evening.

I’m really glad that everyone got to come out and hope they come back soon.”

“Sounds great.

dhutch heated water, but did she buy hot wings to cook on the campfire? Nanny, nanny booboo, booboo.

I really wish I could have made this one.”

“Sounds like a great time! Can't wait to see pictures.

My theory is confirmed. Pennsy is a machine.”

“Wings????!!!!!

sadly, we had no wings cooked over the fire.

But Sarbar's freezer bag cookbook got some mad props out there.

We thought about you dayhiker - you gotta come out here. ENS and Pennsy both said that just driving thru the mountains on the way to the trailhead was worth the trip out!

And, Yes... Pennsy is simply a machine - the elevation didn't seem to phase him.

They are all on on airplanes still. Deltahiker is on his way to Estes Park for a couple of days (lucky)”

“YEEEEHAWWW. So, what's big enough to make me log in from work? An amazing weekend in the mountains, that's what! I was the "one person in our group" that the robo-hikers could see as they neared the summit, but I didn't want to be the last man on the summit in the inconsistent weather, so I bailed at around 13,400 within 3/4 mile of the summit. Oh, well, the point of the hike was to be out with friends, not just to get the summit.

The restaurant Roam mentioned is where Leadville's "Red Light" district was in the Old West era. Food was awesome - and cheap!

How many winter-load packs of slack-packers can you fit in a Wrangler that already is loaded with off-road gear? Um, a lot if you don't worry about things like mirrors!

Here's some pictures before I go back to work

http://community.webshots.com/album/558790341FjtOju”

“thanks for the pics TMac!

I meant to say also - the route that Pennsy and I followed up to tree line on Mt. Massive was 100% off trail travel. It was a beautiful Ponderosa Pine forest with a few aspen mixed in for good measure. Very open and easy hiking - except for the dam snow!

We saw TONS of elk sign, scat and scrapes - in one aspen grove EVERY tree in sight was scraped from two feet to 10 feet off the ground!”

“Great report! I am sooo jealous. What were you thinking heading into the woods without snowshoes in April?

Hopefully I'll get back there sometime soon and we can get together. I really want to climb Kit Carson/Challenger, but may go from South Colony just so I can climb Crestone Needle again.


For the record - it's the Mosquito/Ten Mile Range east of Leadville. The Gore Range is north of Frisco.”

“Good read! Sounds like a challenging trip and those always make for the best stories and memories.

Cheers!”

“braggart.

;)”

“For the record - it's the Mosquito/Ten Mile Range east of Leadville. The Gore Range is north of Frisco.”
toejam
12:10:15 PM
4/24/07

woops! thanks - I apparantly got mislead and never fact checked what I was told.”

“Good deal -- sounds like a good time was had by all. I'm going to take a stab at Elbert this coming August; should be interesting -- I ain't never done no 5000' ascent before...”

“Great TR Roam. Glad to see an excellent time was had by all.

Luv the pics Tmac!

More pics please. :)”

“I hope you dorks were thinking of we when you were getting high!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!



All I can think to say at this moment is....

fhgwhgads!!!!!!!!!!!!!

”

“Hey Roam!!
Great TR and the pics from Tmac were really cool (and cold looking!!)
I wish I could have gone, but that's the ways things work out. Ended up in Ken-tuc-key. lol
See ya later!
Randall”

“Great report! - sounds like it was a challenging yet rewarding trip.”

“I'm home, what a trip! Getting high with Uncle ELbert, the snowfield of death, the postholes from hell, massive Massive, buffalo burgers, Avalanche beer, sleeping cheek to cheek with Dhutch, what can I say?

Thank you Roamy for putting us up, and for putting up with us. You still can't drive but you're one hell of a trip leader. Colorado is awesome and I had a fantastic time. Yes, I will be back, and next time I'll remember to pack the snowshoes. Doh! Thanks to Tmac for bailing me out on that note.

Great trip report Roamy and super pics, Tmac. I have 175 pics to sort out so it might be a day or 2 before I get mine up.

What were you thinking heading into the woods without snowshoes in April?

For that, Roamy got officially inducted into the Bonehead Club. But I'm just as guilty for agreeing that we probably wouldn't need them on Massive, cuz we really didn't need them on Elbert. It made for quite a hike though. How often do you get to sink to your waist and laugh about it?

By the time we hit 14,000 the wind was blowing about 35 mph or so and snow fall stung our faces

Or so? "So" was pretty brutal. I've done a lot of mountain hiking in the dead of winter, but I can not remember a time where I wore 4 layers of clothing while working my ass off up a mountain without overheating. That's how "so" it was. The joy of reaching the summit was worth every step though.

It was great meeting new people: Tmac, Army Medic, Delta Don (what's that flower you have on?), Bateaux and hooking up again with Dhutch and Roamy. You guys rule! Yeah, you too ENS.

Quote of the trip from the Silver Dollar Saloon: "Food??? We're a saloon!!"”

“Love your pictures Tmac. Could you guys not see LaPlata from the summit of Elbert? It's really spectacular, but looks like maybe the weather was coming from that direction.”

“Great trip with fabulous company and incredible locations. Thanks again Roam. Bonehead maybe but being a great trip planner and host offsets it all :-)

It was so good seeing Roam, TMac, Pennsy and ENS again. Good to meet bateauxdriver, deltahiker and armymedic too. So many times common interest makes a TT group gel but this felt like one big happy cozy family. Just remember guys as learned at the Passtime, ladies first. HAA!

So many great memories, too many to list but here's a couple that will always stand out:
1. Mt. Elbert, Mt. Massive and all the surrounding peaks looming majestically over us all weekend
2. Being up on Elbert
3. The incredible floating campfire
4. I hate rabbits, you hate rabbits, we all hate rabbits!
5. Searching for wine in Leadville with Deltahiker on a Sunday...futile
6. Laughing with all you goofballs until my cheeks hurt
7. Going to the Go-Lite clearance sale with TMac and coming home with more gear than I left with :-D (all of it fitting in my luggage, priceless)
8. Using my new crampons no matter how painful on the ankle
9. Carrying the ice axe whether it was used or not, just stinkin cool
10. Everyone coming home to camp safely from the mountain and greeting the summit team with hot drinks
11. Last but most certainly not least the slumber parties and sleeping with Pennsy. Did our cheeks really touch and I missed it? Dagnabbit!

"Y'all" are the bestest!
Let's do it again sometime, somewhere soon
last edited: 4/24/07 8:46:05 PM”

“Wow, great TR! Must have been an awesome summit!”

“Awesome TR and pics guys . I'm Jealous too!”

“Hey toejam - we couldn't see but about a quarter mile or maybe half a mile from the summit. La Plata might as well not have been there.

Tell ya what, I'll go to La Plata and look over at Elbert this summer. :)”

“WHICH cheeks are we talking about here, Pennsy & dhutch?? :-D You guys have awesome pics. I'd say I wish I had been there, but that would be a total lie, b/c that hike sounded really hard and painful. LOL! Also I don't know why you people let ENS get such a bad sunburn!”

“Great trip reports, great photos; GREAT TRIP, ya snow hos! What fun! Thanks :-)”

“WHICH cheeks are we talking about here, Pennsy & dhutch?? :-D
lyra
8:44:53 AM
4/25/07

In the man-law book the question of which cheeks is somewhat inconsequential...

This is just great! Pennsy is becoming an expert rock and ice climber, he's having epic high altitude aventures, and has been rubbin cheeks with dhutch (which, my sources tell me, she is adorable!).

Am I gonna havta b!tchslap you, Mr Pennsy Climber?!?”

“Yeah, ENS became the little pink man didn't he - sorry 'bout that but he fell asleep in the sun. At least it wasn't like that guy in "A River Runs Through It", he did come home with his clothes on and all.”

“Nice photos Tmac. When are the rest of you losers going to post yours? I'm having to live vicariously through these photos. Get with the program.”

“OH MY GOD.


I have to get out there! I have been that high once (well, a few feet shy of it) and have done a lot of 11,000-13,000ers...

Damn but I do miss elevation!

Might be diffrent now since its been a while, but elevation used to never bother me untill I got above 14,000ft and then all I needed to do was pop an asprin and go slower lol
last edited: 4/25/07 9:18:34 AM”

“Heehee, just pickin'!”

“Lyra - you need to see it to believe it. In the summer it wouldn't be as hard. Make ENS take you to Leadville for a bison burger and a peak! But make him put on some sunscreen for crying out loud :-)

I gave him cleanser and lotions to help that sunburn. Believe me it looks a lot better than on Sunday!

As to which cheeks - that's just between Pennsy and me ;-)”

“I was telling my son (15) about the Passtime Club in Leadville - he can't wait to go!”

“Have I mentioned yet that being back at work $ux?”

“Hey guys I just want to say thanks for everything. Roam you are a great host and trip leader. This was my best TT trip yet, not that there have been any bad ones. Alex and Sarah thanks for letting us take over and trash your house. It was great to meet Armymedic, Delta Don, Pennsy, Dhutch1, TMac and ENS(again). I can't think of many other friends that I would rather spend time with than you guys. It is amazing that even when exausted, out of breath and freezing everyone was of great spirit and so nice. Congrats to Roam, Pennsy and ENS for making it to the top of Elbert. I don't know how you guys had the drive to push on in those conditions. You will certainly never forget that day.

TMac, Delta Don, DHutch1, Armymedic and myself didn't make it to the top but we did push ourselves to the edge of where our strength and safety zone allowed. I'm proud to have been there with you pushing every step of the way. At arounf 13,000 feet I was running low on go, freezing and ultra concearned about the weather, I don't regret turning back. I'll be back in July with my boys if it all works out. I expect Elbert to be much less dramatic in July when mostly free of snow and ice. I still can't believe that someone drove a jeep up there before.

I didn't take a lot of pics but will post what I did take later. It didn't seem worth taking my gloves off most of the time. Pennsy was the trip shutter bug he should have most everything covered. Delta Don thanks for driving me to the airport in the early, cold morning rain. Have fun in Estes Park. I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye to everyone at the airport. We tried calling before we turned off for my gate. I'm back in the warm and sunny south, I hope you guys have a great summer. Hope to see ya'll again.

Thanks,

Bateaux
last edited: 4/25/07 11:17:35 AM”

“Bateaux, your welcome out here at my place any time - (goes for the rest of yas too).

Look me up when your in town, we can grab a beer or three maybe.”

“CO is awesome! The Rockies are awesome! I thought Pennsy took a ton of pics. When I got home I had 210 to sort through. CO trips are indeed in the future.

thanks for a grrrrreat trip Roam! and thanks for the super hospitality.”

“By the way, if anyone wound up with an extra cell phone charger I think it's mine.”

“Can't wait to see some of those pics.

bateaux - you called it. Deltahiker needs to change his screen/trail name to Deltadon :-) Now that I think about it you could be "bigmanpostholing" lol

...and you owe TT a canoe fishing trip. Remember you promised I'd finally catch a fish! :-)

I have to put this up there with one of the best trips ever thanks to Roam and his logistics assistant TMac. Thanks to Diane and the kids also for helping to shuttle to dinner and putting up with all of us.

It's all you guys' fault. I've got the bug and now want to go to a mountaineering school/camp to learn how to use all of that equipment properly and practice climbing techniques. With that added confidence and a healed ankle, I'll be sure to make it next time. That 14rs book doesn't help sitting next to my reading chair.

ENS - don't forget your face cream!!”

“

my camera batteries died on Mt. Elbert so I didn't get many pics until we were up on Mt. Massive.”

“hey guys, I just wanted to say thanks for a great trip!! I had an awesome time and everyone was so great!! I think I made some great friends!! I hated to come back so early but some of us actually had to go back to work ;) Roam, thanks for everything, you invited us right in and made us feel right at home! I don't know if I was just really hungry or what but those burgers were the best at The PassTime Cafe and the beer just made it that much Better!! Dhutch, you take care of that ankle and I hope everyone had a safe trip home!! I'll have to agree with Dhutch, let's Do it again sometime, somewhere soon!! I hope to see everyone again soon!!”

“Friends indeed. Without your bandage job Armymedic I wouldn't have made it to treeline! Thanks again.”

“It was great to meet new TTers and reconnect with Hutch. Once again, this place proves to have great people behind the trail names.

Thanks for the kind words about my pix. :) I took some of them through a camera "dry bag" that I picked up at REI for about $12 and am pretty impressed with the clarity.”

“Sweet! Wish I could have been there.”

“Bison's trip report:

I got up at about 5 and was out the door by 5:30 on my way to Mt. Elbert. Got to the trailhead and realized that I'd forgotten to pack my shell, ugghghgh! at 7:30 and headed up the 4 wheel drive road. It was a pleasant hike and there wasn't much snow. Really I could have gone ahead and driven most of the way up instead of hiking it. After about 2 miles the 4wd road ended and the trail started to become snowy. The snow was fairly hard packed so I didn't need to throw on my snowshoes. I knew I wasn't going to be able to go up the mountain without my shell, so I was hiking fast, hoping to catch everybody in camp before they set out. So I kept scanning the area to see if I could find the TT camp. Eventually I saw a large collection of tents a couple hundred yards below the trail. I set off toward the camp but when I arrived they had already set off up the mountain. It was obvious that this was the TT camp from the copious amount of beer and wine bottles laying about :)

So I left a message in the snow saying "Bison was here :)" and set off back down the trail to my car.

Sorry I missed you guys, see ya next time.”

“Sorry we missed you Bison, but you would have suffered in those conditions without a shell. Speaking of missing, what happened to the king of all dorks Adventurist?

Roamy - great pics, even if your battery did die on Elbert. I have you covered for Elbert.

Here are my pics”

“Sorry, I missed all of you guys! I'll look at Pennsy's pics later!

BTW.. what do you think of Colorado?”

“Hey Roam.. this scene looks vaguely familiar! (Estes Cone)



Great Pics!
last edited: 4/26/07 11:57:50 AM”

“yeah, I seem to have a knack for finding the waist deep (or more) postholeing areas.!”

“great pics Pennsy!!”