Mt. Elbert - the highest point in Colorado. At 14,440-feet, the mountain is also the highest point between Mt. Whitney in California, Fairweather Mountain in Canada, La Malinche Mountain in Mexico, and Mont Blanc in France.
My wife and I have hiked it twice. The first time we literally spent less than 5 minutes at the summit. Rolling thunder and ominus looking clouds forced us to leave as soon as we reached the top. Feeling like we were ripped-off, we returned the following year, and enjoyed more than an hour at the summit under glorious Colorado skies.
Below is a video by a fellow hiker by the name of Kara Murphy. Along with video of some outstanding scenery, Kara does an excellent job of providing some key tips for climbing the mountain. In it, she also mentions 14,421-foot Mt. Massive, Elbert's neighbor to the north. There's a very interesting story associated with the two mountains.
In the 1970s there was a movement among some people that felt that Mt. Massive was more deserving of being Colorado's highest mountain. The group apparently embarked on a campaign to stack rocks at the summit in order to raise the height of the mountain. Those who wanted to keep the status quo would periodically visit Mt. Massive and dismantle the over-sized cairn. Fortunately, at some point, the pro-Massive group realized their quest was becoming Quixotic, and eventually gave up.
If interested in hiking the mountain someday, please visit the Mt. Elbert page on our website for more details and photos of the trail.
Jeff
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
No comments:
Post a Comment