Blanca, Ellingwood, Little Bear

I climbed the Blanca Group on Memorial Day 2002, and had great weather all the way around. We drove all night from Joplin, MO on Friday night and arrived at the start of Como Road at sunrise. We drove up, but we drove a 15 passenger 2wd van pulling a trailer, so we didn't make it far. We hiked up to Lake Como in 3 hours. That day, our group layed on the big rock on the side of the lake and sunbathed. The next morning, we did Little Bear Peak. The rock goes everywhere, and the group ahead of us knocked a couple of rocks. We acended and decended without the use of any ropes, and the campers at the lake told us that we were extreme. I never felt the need for any, and therefore don't think they had ever been up. The next day, we did Blanca and Ellingwood, and then came back down. When you get to the saddle, the other side is amazing. The summit of Blanca is large and open, and was great. We traversed to Ellingwood, and it was a lot of fun. The traverse was easy, until we got just below the summit, and I don't know if we went the wrong way, but we ended up on an outcropping that we had to go around akwardly, or up. The group split, half going up and half going around. Upon decent, we veered to far right, into the ravine. Dont go there. Once we got to Lake Como, we packed up and headed to the van, we were promised pizza and a hotel. We made it in 1 hour 44 min. It was awesome. I would do it again in a heartbeat!