I have a business trip to Denver around the middle of Feb.

Would like to do a 14er either as a day hike or an overnighter.

Main concerns are trailhead access and avalanche danger.

Any recommendations?

Thanks.

See the page below for much information:

http://www.summitpost.org/colorado-14er ... ter/337648

It should be useful answering some of your questions.

I would suggest Quandary - great winter access.

mattpayne11 wrote:I would suggest Quandary - great winter access.

Great sledding too, according to a friend.

Thanks for recommending "Colorado 14ers in Winter." Great page! I had an earlier version of it, but it seems to have been updated. Cool.

Regarding Quandary: Did that late last winter via the East Ridge. Any other good, safe winter routes?

Elbert via east ridge(South Mt Elbert TH) is pretty safe and is seeing lots of traffic to keep the trail packed.

Sherman is fairly short for a winter 14er - there's a cornice at the saddle to negotiate and it can be windy.

Torreys via Loveland Pass(12,000) is safe(but a lot of up and down).

I have climbed the east ridge of mt Lincoln, 3 times in the winter. The only remote avy danger, is by the Lincoln ice fall . Most of the ice climbers have already packed the trail down. Once on the ridge, it is wind swept, and bare. Looks intimidating from the road, but nothing more than class two. One of my favorate winter outings.

Great suggestions. Thanks.

Gives me some starting points for my research.

Any guesses as to whether the storm that's predicted to hit Colorado in the next few days will ruin climbing for the Feb. 12/13 timeframe?

Hoping things will set up by then...watching the Colorado avalanche web site...

Specifically, I was aiming for the East Ridge route on Elbert.

Will the snow that's forecast destroy that route for the Feb. 12/13 weekend?

Thanks!

Will the snow that's forecast destroy that route for the Feb. 12/13 weekend?

If it snows significantly, it might make it a bit more challenging since you will have some trailbreaking, but as long as you stay on route the avalanche danger is as low as it gets on any winter 14er. Avy danger is near zero on that route, but make sure not to get off route! If you get off route, this may not be the case.