It's doable

Rex offers good advice for a winter climb of Elbert. The East ridge is the best way to do it in winter as there is little avy danger and the trail is at worst accessible to within 1 mile as long as CO-82 is open. I climbed it 2/4 and there is a base of about 3' of snow in the trees, but the trail was well traveled. Just make sure there hasn't been a big storm recently or it will turn into a long day of wallowing!