We took this as our cue to call it a day.

Summer came and went and I climber many fantastic routes including Keiners on Longs, Lone Eagle Peak's North Face, The Ellingwood Arete on Crestone Needle and many others.  I knew that m season would be about to really wind down as I had a thesis to defend in November and I had barely started working on it.  I figured what better way to end the season than to try to solo the Ellingwood Ridge on La Plata.  Jen and my friend Brian Morsony wanted to come along to do the standard route so the plan would be that we would all just meet at the peak.  

We left Boulder on Friday, September 16th, 2005 and headed for one of the campground above twin lakes.  As I usually do now I decided to NOT rough it.  To this end we brought a huge tent we call  'Big Red' and an inflatable air mattress.  This made for a great nights sleep.  We awoke around 5:00 AM to what would be (other than wind) a bluebird day and headed for the trailhead.  WE stayed together until the 3rd stream crossing at which point I veered east and they headed up the standard route.  Allot has been written about how to actually gain the ridge so I'll keep my explanation simple.  Head east through the woods for ~.5 miles, maybe less.  You can use a compass to stay on course but heading towards the rising sun (you are getting an early start right?) will do as well.  Do not turn right to early, you'll end up bushwhacking and maybe not even in the basin between the Ellingwood Ridge and the standard  route.  Just keep on going until you cross another obvious stream.  If you want to be sure you are in the right place then walk another minute or two until you come to a second stream.  There is a wooded ridge that runs south between these two streams.  While there is a trail up it it is difficult to find.  Just make your way up the ridge and when you gain treeline you'll see the Ellingwood Ridge above you.  I choose to aim southeasterly to ensure I would gain the ridge at its start.  This adds a bit of time but I wanted the whole thing.

I'm not totally sure how to describe this thing other than it is LONG.  It was like the energizer bunny of 14er ridges, it kept going and going and going.....

I sort of made up a combination of the route described in Gerry Roach's 'Colorado Fourteeners' and 'Colorado Scrambles' by Dave Cooper.  I wanted to do as much of the ridge right up on the ridge as I could but there was still snow and ice and I was alone.  I basically stayed on the ridge when I could and when the climbing felt either to sustained or above the 5.4ish level, I would drop down.  I'd like to go back one day with a partner and stay on top the whole time but this time prudence dictated I not be a hero.   Below are a few pictures of my journey.  you can stay right on the ridge crest the entire way to point 13,140 except for one obvious wall which might require double ropes to rappell but a short, ~30 foot downclimb on the side to avoid.


At what Roach describes as point 13,140 I angled down some benches and stayed low for awhile.  This stunk.  I had to look all around to find out how to regain the ridge after this point and ended up climbing steep stuff like what is pictured below.