The Route...

(Map from 14ers.com)

9500'

This was our first glimpse of Elbert the morning of the climb. Shot from US-24 just north of Leadville...

9500'

Mt. Massive (14,428'), Mt Elbert's slightly lower, yet more visually imposing, neighbor to the north...from US-24 north of Leadville...

9700'

An old shack sitting under the gaze of Elbert along the access road...

9900'

Passing Halfmoon Creek Campground on the way to the trailhead...

Mt. Elbert Trailhead -- 10,040'

The northeast ridge, the one we'd be climbing, rises above the trees...

Mt. Elbert Trailhead -- 10,040'

We got the feeling we had arrived a bit late, the parking lot was nearly full...

Mt. Elbert Trailhead -- 10,040'

Only 4,700' of vertical to go!!

Colorado Trail -- 10,100'

The forest near the trailhead was a mix of Fir and Pine and would remain that way until treeline...

Colorado Trail -- 10,200'

A small stream crossing and the last reliable water along the trail...

Colorado Trail -- 10,600'

The trail passed the remains of an old mining shack about 3/4 of a mile from the trailhead...

Colorado Trail -- 10,650'

The trail continued to climb relentlessly...

Colorado Trail -- 10,650'

The thick forest even restricted views behind us...

Colorado Trail -- 10,700'

The trail tops out at this curious pile of rocks before descending slightly to the upper junction with the Colorado Trail...

Colorado-North Mount Elbert Trail Junction -- 10,560'

At the junction with the Colorado Trail this sign pointed us toward the ridge...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 10,700'

The sun in the trees above was pleasant...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 10,900'

It wasn't until nearly a mile and a half in that we started getting any views...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 11,200'

The trail got increasingly steep as it tried to gain the ridge...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 11,400'

The relative flatness of the lower ridge was a welcome change after two previous grinding miles...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 11,600'

A nice little clearing atop the ridge, about a quarter mile before treeline, treated us to some views ahead...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 11,600'

The clearing also gave us our first views back to the east...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 11,700'

As we neared treeline there were some decent size snow drifts still hanging on amongst the pines...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 11,750'

I noticed quite a number of dead or dying Douglas Fir trees as we climbed, I'm curious as to the cause...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 11,750'

These early morning clouds worried me...afternoon thunderstorms are an every day occurrence in the high peaks...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 11,900' - Treeline

The mosquitoes were pretty bad at this point and we were looking for a nice breeze...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,000'

We got our first up-close look at the ridge ahead..."It doesn't look so bad..."

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,000'

At this point were just over half way along the trail (2.3 miles) but still had around 2,400' of vertical to climb...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,200'

The trail above treeline continued to climb relentlessly...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,200' - Mt. Massive

Mt. Massive (14,421') sits in the sun to the north...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,300'

This shot gives you an idea of the grade we were hiking up much of the time...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,300'

The trail was wearing on us by this point but the nice thing was there were plenty of nice places to stop for a breather!

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,350'

The smells of the alpine wildflowers combined with the views resulted in an pleasant assault on the senses...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,350'

Looking the 2,300' down to the parking area...impressed with our progress...and then realizing we'd only made half the climb...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,400' - Mt. Massive (14,421')

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,400'

The colorful alpine tundra...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,500'

Despite all the views, for much of the climb this was the view we were concentrating on...a seemingly endless hill...

Moss Campion -- 12,600'

I believe this pretty little flower is Moss Campion that has yet to fully bloom...

Phlox (sp?) -- 12,600'

This little flower, Phlox, is responsible for much of the pleasant smells above treeline...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,650'

We couldn't help but keep looking back to the beautiful view behind us...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,650'

Mt. Massive, to the north, is only a few feet shorter the Elbert and offered a good guage as to how far we had climbed...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,650'

Here, the trail crosses from the north to south side of the ridge allowing the blue-green waters of Twin lakes to come into view...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,700'

As the trail once again gained the top of the ridge we were quickly reminded there was a lot of climbing yet to go...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,700'

The beautiful Twin Lakes area to the south...

Alpine Primrose -- 12,800'

What I believe is Alpine Primrose just blooming out...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,850'

This ridge, the "crux" of the route, is the toughest section of trail. We'd be climbing around 1,000' in less than a mile...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,850'

We broke for lunch before the big climb and took in the view across to the south ridge. Can you make out the climbers atop it?

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 12,850'

The panoramic view to the east from our lunch spot...

North Mount Elbert Trail -- 13,100'

The "crux" of the climb begins...