Quick trip out from D.C., the plan was to climb Mt. Elbert Thursday/Friday then head down to Taos, NM and summit Wheeler Peak Sunday - Arrived into DEN Thursday afternoon. We headed down to Leadville mid afternoon and picked up supplies for our night on the mountain and the summit attempt the next day. The plan was take the SE Mt. Elbert trail as that provides the least amount of avalanche danger. We drove our two-wheel drive rental car about as far past the summer trail head as possible. I think we made it about a quarter mile before we called it and parked. The plan was the conifer at around 11,500 feet for the night. It was cold and was getting colder. It was 17 degrees at 5:30 PM when we left the car with expectations of -4 overnight. We were tempted to skin in but from the reports we read the summit/ridge was wind blown and skiing wasn't going to go very well. We grabbed out snowshoes we rented at Sawatch Backcountry in Leadville and headed out. It took us a little over 3 hours to get up to the conifer. We were pleasantly surprised by our conditioning as we didn't struggle after coming from sea level. Nothing is better then waking up the AM with this amazing view over the valley and Leadville below. We didn't really have a wake up time as we knew we could get to the summit and down rather quickly from our high camp. We ended up leaving for the summit around 10 AM. Beautiful blue skies and it got real warm real quick. The night we spent at 11,500 feet really paid off as a minor headache was about the only issues we had from a elevation stand point. The last 1,000 feet were exhausting but we made it to the summit ridge and on to the summit around 1:30 PM. Some of the most beautiful views I've ever seen, the Rockies everywhere! No problems on the way down. We were back to the car by 5:45 PM and having a steak dinner in Leadville at 6:30. An absolutely amazing climb!