For not being a goal, the satisfaction I feel for just completing climbing all 54 Colorado mountains over 14,000′ is deep. As I posted last week, I went to southwest Colorado’s San Juan range to climb Windom Peak (14082′), Sunlight Peak (14059′), Mt. Eolus (14083′) and North Eolus (14039′). I was fortunate to have my regular partners, Patrick and Robert along and some new friends, Anne and Kevin plus John Little from Houston, Texas. There are new trip reports for all the climbs on my main site. Mt. Eolus and North Eolus Windom Peak Sunlight Peak The plan was to continue reading
Sometimes a goal is not a goal until you near the end. That is my story for climbing all of Colorado’s Mountains over 14,000 feet. My first 14er was Longs Peak in 1992, then a few more in 2002. I got serious after meeting Patrick Vall and Robert LeClair. They both wanted to climb all the 14ers and I needed the training for my Himalayan climbs throughout the decade. Thus one by one, we started climbing them all. This weekend I will travel to an area named the Chicago Basin and climb three of the ranked 14ers thus competing my continue reading
Colorado has 4 so-called Great Traverses: the Maroon Bells, Little Bear to Blanca, Crestone Needle to Peak and the ridge connecting El Diente to Mt. Wilson. With the Bells completed a few years ago, this summer, I added two more to my list. Traverses are special climbs in that you usually climb to the summit of one peak and take a more or less direct route across a connecting ridge to another high peak. In these cases all the peaks are above 14,000′ or a 14er in Colorado parlance. They usually involved more difficult climbing moving into the high class continue reading
Mt. Meeker is the poor cousin of mighty Longs Peak. Just missing out being a 14ers by a mere 9 feet, Meeker is the mountain you see from Denver, not Longs At 13,911′ is is one of the highest 13ers but is often passed by with climbers going for Longs, the highest in Rocky Mountain National Park, at 14,256′. I know this since I have passed it by while on my way to Longs on multiple occasions. So on this mid July day in 2010, I set out to pay homage to this peak, little did I know she would not make this a trivial “tag”.
Sometimes it is the little thing. I have climbed on Longs Peak perhaps 70 times in all kinds of weather by multiple routes. But one small goal has eluded me for years. You see, way back in the early days of Rocky Mountain National Park, an enterprising ranger named John Clark decided to help out his fellow climbers by painting an arrow directing climbers to the saddle between Longs Peak and Mt Meeker. The area is a rock filled gully and can be very confusing so some type of semi-permanent sign would have been useful. Of course today that would be illegal and considered graffiti!
Late June 2010, I teamed up with my regular 14er partners, Patrick and Robert to complete some unfinished business. The 14er combination of Castle, 14265′, and Conundrum, 14060′, stand outside of Aspen at the end of a long mining dirt road. I had completed both in 2009, (see the reports for last year’s Castle and Condundrum) while Patrick had climbed Castle with me and Robert had been thwarted twice for both peaks. So as a team, we took on the pair to check them both off once and for all. The early summer of 2010 had been hot with periods continue reading
There are 54 ‘official’ Colorado 14ers mountains rising above 14,000 feet and at least 300′ from an adjacent saddle. An estimated 500,000 people climb on 53 of the 14ers each year without fees or permits, today. Now, the U.S. Forest Service (NFS) is investigating charging for other 14ers starting with four highly popular 14ers in Southern Colorado. The primary issue land managers are struggling with is that many of the 14ers are being climbed so much that the trails are getting overused, scattered with trash, toilet paper and poop and all the other problems that comes with a lot of use.
Little Bear is known throughout Colorado as one tough class 4 climb. In the summer, people have been injured and even killed from rock fall. In the winter it is a tough and steep snow climb. I know, I have done both but only succeeded once. This late May, I made it to the summit on a perfect day. The snow conditions were right between too much and too little. With mild temps, blue skies and perfect snow, I left my camp at 4:00Am and 3 hours later stood on top.
Next to the highest peak in North America, Denali, the highest in the lower 48 may be the best known and sometimes coveted by aspiring and expert climbers alike. I have been working on my Colorado 14ers for several years in between remote climbs, but I got the idea to start working on the California 14ers earlier this year and set out to climb the highest, Mount Whitney, first. The plan worked.
It is spring time in Colorado as evidence by deep snowfall that melts away the next day. So it is time to finalize my plans for summer climbs. My priority is to compete the Colorado 14ers. But also, I want to grab a few California 14ers and perhaps something big in the Fall. I have climbed 48 of the 54 Colorado 14ers. But of course the list is actually 58 so I need to climb 58! Confused? Well here is the explanation from my 14ers page
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