How to get there:
The starting point is Lake Como. See the description
under Blanca Peak Route description:
We followed the trail from Lake Como towards Blanca Peak, first
along the jeep road, thereafter the trail up to about 3820 meter, this
is after Blue Lake and up the steeper trail until it reaches a new,
more level area.
From here, climb the lowest saddle on the west ridge
from Ellingwood Point on ledges ascending east (to the right). Instead of
climbing Ellingwood Point via this ridge (going right), scramble west
(left) along the ridge. The ridge is narrow and sometimes one may need
to drop a little below the ridge on the south side. The ridge first climbs
to a local summit, then drops to a notch, before rising via several smaller
summits to its highest point about 2.5 km west of Ellingwood Point and
almost straight north of Lake Como.
We descended to a point west of Blue Lake, this route was characterized
by loose rocks and a cliff band, not at all pleasant. Comments:
This mountain has a "soft" rank. Both the summit and the
lowest connecting saddle with Ellingwood point has been
interpolated from the map. The lowest contour that does not
go through this saddle is 12800 feet, the highest contour that
circles the summit is at 13080 feet. With 40 feet contours, the
primary factor can be anywhere between 240 feet and 320 feet, with
280 feet (85 meter) being the interpolated value.
There is a lower summit further east on the ridge with a cairn, however
there was no cairn on this (highest) summit. We built a small cairn
before leaving, a Colorado first ascent?