Elbert - The Great 48

Mt. Elbert (HP #14)

We arrived at the Mt. Elbert trailhead just after 4pm.  Lindsay and I had done Elbert the previous fall in just under 7 hours and wanted to make good time for two reasons:  First, to avoid having to use headlamps on the descent and secondly, to get to leadville in time to order pizza for dinner.  We set off on a blistering pace and ended up making the summit in 2:28 which is pretty quick considering the 5,000 feet of elevation gain and 14,400 feet of overall elevation.  There was a small amount of snow on the summit that was avoidable and we didn't even need to use microspikes.  It must have been 60 degrees on the summit with almost no wind.  What a glorious evening to be on the top of Colorado!  We made it back down from a round trip ascent of 4:30 and were eating High Mountain Pizza by 9pm.  At this point our lead over world record pace was over two full days and all the hardest mountains were done.  Off to the midwest!