jratk - Jun 13, 2006 3:38 am Date Climbed: May 24, 2006
ellingwood blanca traverse
4 wheeled for a while up the road, hiked in and did ellingwood and blanca. Great weather, set up a bivy and climbed little bear the next day via nw face.
Kiefer - May 27, 2006 11:55 am Date Climbed: May 25, 2006
SW Face
From Blanca, I thought this was going to be a pain in the ass talus scramble, I was wrong. Relatively good climbers trail most of the way up on good (sometimes loose) rock. The traverse over from Blanca just below the ridge was actually more exciting than doing Blanca itself! Ideal weather though.
Route Climbed: SW classic ridge Date Climbed: September 1999
Really neat 1,000 foot class 2/3 ridgeline to summit. Traversed over to Blanca's summit also. Great views of northern Sangre's and Blanca's N face. Awesome yellow fall colors. Very scenic area.
Route Climbed: Blanca to Ellingwood Traverse Date Climbed: 9/30/05
What an awesome one-day solo ascent of Blanca and Ellingwood. Parked about one mile past the trailhead and began hiking at 7am. Summitted Blanca at 11:45am, the last 100 feet was a little more time consuming because of fresh ice and snow. Stayed about 150 to 200 feet below the ridge while traversing to Ellingwood. No snow or ice on Ellingwood. Some route finding issues on the way down Ellingwood. Hiked out and returned to the truck by 6pm. I love fourteeners in the Fall!
Route Climbed: Southwest Ridge Date Climbed: 27 Aug 2005
Hiked up to Lake Como from 8800', set up camp, and then continued on to the Southwest Ridge. I took a fairly direct path from the unnamed lake to the low point of the ridge. The ridge was exciting - it looks in numerous places to be harder than 3rd class - but there is always an easy way around any difficulties. One of the best 3rd class routes I've done!
Route Climbed: Blanca connecting ridge/SE Face Date Climbed: August 2003
Climbed this as the third peak in Little Bear/Blanca/Ellingwood enchainment. Stuck to the ridge 90 percent of the way to avoid miserable talus slope. Seemed logical after doing Little Bear/Blanca ridge. Also descended Ellingwood's south ridge for continued 3rd and 4th class climbing. A banner day.
Route Climbed: Traverse from Blanca Date Climbed: May 29, 2005
This route gets an early sunhit ... snow was softening up by the time I made it onto the SW face. Stuck to the ridge - some easy and fun scrambling. Several fun glissades on the way back down to Lake Como.
Route Climbed: A small fissure in the south face Date Climbed: 20 August, 2004
I had a fun night and day in the Lake Como basin, and climbed a somewhat obscure route on Ellingwood's south face: a small fissure to the east of the larger crease between the summit block and the southwest ridge (the one that most south face ascenders use). This one goes straight for the summit from the top of the talus slope just north of the lower Crater Lake.
The storm at Lake Como the night before was atrocious. I'm surprised nobody was killed.
Route Climbed: Southwest Ridge Date Climbed: October 12, 2002
What an awesome time to come to Como Lake! We didn't share this basin with *anyone* else all day. We tried out the SW ridge and loved it so much, we repeated it in 2003. A trip report is available here.
Route Climbed: Traverse from Blanca Peak Date Climbed: September 16, 2001
Nice Mountain. I am suprised some people resisted recognizing it as a seperate summit from Blanca. My 10 month old puppy Sopris' second fourteener and fifth mountain. Raymond dog was along on this one as well.
jratk - Jun 13, 2006 3:38 am Date Climbed: May 24, 2006
ellingwood blanca traverse4 wheeled for a while up the road, hiked in and did ellingwood and blanca. Great weather, set up a bivy and climbed little bear the next day via nw face.
Kiefer - May 27, 2006 11:55 am Date Climbed: May 25, 2006
SW FaceFrom Blanca, I thought this was going to be a pain in the ass talus scramble, I was wrong. Relatively good climbers trail most of the way up on good (sometimes loose) rock. The traverse over from Blanca just below the ridge was actually more exciting than doing Blanca itself! Ideal weather though.
Mountain Jim - Mar 3, 2006 5:03 am
From Como LakeGlad this peak is added to the list of 14er's.
sprosseda - Jan 25, 2006 5:23 pm
Route Climbed: SW classic ridge Date Climbed: September 1999Really neat 1,000 foot class 2/3 ridgeline to summit. Traversed over to Blanca's summit also. Great views of northern Sangre's and Blanca's N face. Awesome yellow fall colors. Very scenic area.
Old Ickabod - Oct 4, 2005 3:56 pm
Route Climbed: Blanca to Ellingwood Traverse Date Climbed: 9/30/05What an awesome one-day solo ascent of Blanca and Ellingwood. Parked about one mile past the trailhead and began hiking at 7am. Summitted Blanca at 11:45am, the last 100 feet was a little more time consuming because of fresh ice and snow. Stayed about 150 to 200 feet below the ridge while traversing to Ellingwood. No snow or ice on Ellingwood. Some route finding issues on the way down Ellingwood. Hiked out and returned to the truck by 6pm. I love fourteeners in the Fall!
Bob Bolton - Sep 30, 2005 10:12 pm
Route Climbed: Blanca/Ellingwood traverse Date Climbed: September 20, 2005Nice traverse from Blanca.
bc44caesar - Aug 29, 2005 10:36 am
Route Climbed: Southwest Ridge Date Climbed: 27 Aug 2005Hiked up to Lake Como from 8800', set up camp, and then continued on to the Southwest Ridge. I took a fairly direct path from the unnamed lake to the low point of the ridge. The ridge was exciting - it looks in numerous places to be harder than 3rd class - but there is always an easy way around any difficulties. One of the best 3rd class routes I've done!
RC Cola - Aug 17, 2005 1:53 am
Route Climbed: Southwest Ridge Date Climbed: August 14, 2005Great climb!!! I recommend this route over the South Face for any climber!
doumall - Aug 8, 2005 1:53 pm
Route Climbed: SW Ridge Date Climbed: August 6th, 2005Climb this mountain on its own via the SW ridge. One of the best class 3 routes on Colorado's 14ers.
doumall - Jul 13, 2005 3:14 pm
Route Climbed: Traverse via Blanca Date Climbed: July, 11 200432nd 14er!
umbra alta - Jun 22, 2005 2:56 pm
Route Climbed: Blanca connecting ridge/SE Face Date Climbed: August 2003Climbed this as the third peak in Little Bear/Blanca/Ellingwood enchainment. Stuck to the ridge 90 percent of the way to avoid miserable talus slope. Seemed logical after doing Little Bear/Blanca ridge. Also descended Ellingwood's south ridge for continued 3rd and 4th class climbing. A banner day.
km_donovan - Jun 8, 2005 7:13 am
Route Climbed: South Face III Date Climbed: September 1, 2000Descended from Blanca and traversed to the route. A cool sunny day but back in Texas it was 110 deg. I was glad to be on Ellingwood.
hhsilleck - Jun 2, 2005 1:23 am
Route Climbed: Traverse from Blanca Date Climbed: May 29, 2005This route gets an early sunhit ... snow was softening up by the time I made it onto the SW face. Stuck to the ridge - some easy and fun scrambling. Several fun glissades on the way back down to Lake Como.
bakcast - Jan 5, 2005 7:41 pm
Route Climbed: Traverse from Blanca Date Climbed: July 2000Nice relaxing traverse after Blanca - has anyone actually stayed on the ridge for this traverse instead of heading accross the face?
Ratballs - Sep 12, 2004 11:42 pm
Route Climbed: A small fissure in the south face Date Climbed: 20 August, 2004I had a fun night and day in the Lake Como basin, and climbed a somewhat obscure route on Ellingwood's south face: a small fissure to the east of the larger crease between the summit block and the southwest ridge (the one that most south face ascenders use). This one goes straight for the summit from the top of the talus slope just north of the lower Crater Lake.
The storm at Lake Como the night before was atrocious. I'm surprised nobody was killed.
Trip report here.
cagedalpinist - Aug 18, 2004 1:11 am
Route Climbed: High traverse from Blanca Peak Date Climbed: 12 July 2004Beautiful climb.
DaveC - May 20, 2004 9:37 pm
Route Climbed: ne ridge Date Climbed: june 01Had plans for little bear first, but weather caused a late start and ellingwood as a default. summited w/4 others with the same dilemma and plan.
RyanS - Apr 9, 2004 5:48 pm
Route Climbed: Southwest Ridge Date Climbed: October 12, 2002What an awesome time to come to Como Lake! We didn't share this basin with *anyone* else all day. We tried out the SW ridge and loved it so much, we repeated it in 2003. A trip report is available here.
Larry V - Apr 7, 2004 11:58 pm
Route Climbed: High traverse from Blanca Peak Date Climbed: July 1998Windy morning! Bagged Blanca, Ellingwood, and Little Bear in one day.
JonBradford - Dec 18, 2003 7:05 pm
Route Climbed: Traverse from Blanca Peak Date Climbed: September 16, 2001Nice Mountain. I am suprised some people resisted recognizing it as a seperate summit from Blanca. My 10 month old puppy Sopris' second fourteener and fifth mountain. Raymond dog was along on this one as well.
Jon