I'm doing Mt. Everest Base camp (Nepal) in November and as part of my training I wish to climb Mt. Elbert (since Mt. Whitney here in California requires a permit by lottery which is a huge hassle).. I have a couple of questions

- I want to do this trek on August 31st (Labor day weekend), I'm in Southern California but plan to fly into Denver for the weekend. Since I have no friends who are interested in this sort of stuff (nor have the fitness, ability or free time to come with me to Colorado) I would have to look for a buddy to do this with me. I understand it's a day trek, how hard would it be to find one and any pointers of where I should look?

- I am not a very experienced climber but i'm in reasonably good shape, I've climbed some mountains here in SoCal including Mt. San Jacinto which was 7 hours roundtrip to/from the summit at 11,000 ft.

- I know it may be taboo to even suggest this, is it OK to summit Mt. Elbert solo? Is this even a good idea in terms of safety?

Elbert is a walk up. Start early ~30 minutes before sunrise to avoid the thunderstorms come up after noon. I have done it a couple times via the south trail taking up some first timers. The trail is well marked and on a weekend day in August there will be plenty of others out (maybe 200+) If you rent a 4x4 you can make it to the true trail-head saving yourself a little foot time. It is steepest at the beginning of the trail. Take plenty of water since I recall there were limited water resources up high.

http://www.summitpost.org/mount-elbert/150325
http://14ers.com/photos/peakmain.php?peak=Mt.+Elbert

You will most likely fly into Lukla which is 9,383 ft to start your base camp trek. Generally the outfitters have you spend a day or two there to help with acclimatization also. Enjoy your trip and don't forget to go by the "Starbucks" in Lukla and say hi to Phurba.