Tom Grundy's Colorado 14ers Page

last updated 01-010-2019

Originally the plan was to do all of the Colorado 14ers in the summer of 2016 with Sam and Raquel. As usual a plan rarely survives contact with the enemy - in this case the need to work and travel to and from that work. So it morphed into climbing most of the 14ers with them and trying to do the rest of them by myself or with others. So far I have gone with Sam, Raquel, Katie, Carrie, and Nalumon and I have met up with others like Nate and Sean on the peaks to climb together.

So what is a 14er? This is a peak with the summit over 14,000 feet above sea level and generally with a drop of at least 300 feet between it and any higher peaks. By that measure there are 53 in Colorado but there are a number of peaks that don't quite meet that criteria that most people consider 14ers anyway (marked with a * below). Maybe as many as 59. In any case I spent a lot of the summer working my way through them. There are all sorts of "rules" if you are trying to do a speed record or anything like that (they have all been done in 9 days!) but I am for the most part just starting at the trailheads I can get to that make sense and hiking up to the top and back. If I can do more than one on a hike or make a loop that is even better. Some of the trailheads are easier to get to than others and with a good 4wd vehicle you can get a lot higher on some peaks. In general it isn't a lot of fun hiking up loose 4wd roads while noisy smelly vehicles churn past you in a cloud of dust (it really isn't that bad and it can be nice to walk side by side, but I'd rather walk up a trail than a road). For some of the peaks I have hiked in and camped but most have been dayhike efforts.

There is nothing heroic or even all that difficult in doing all the 14ers other than getting the time and keeping at it and either getting a bit lucky with weather or just being persistent. As I mentioned they have all been done in 9 days and I think by a 6 year old and in the winter and skied and done via bike or hiked and so on. I read somewhere that there were 260,000 people climbing 14ers one year (or perhaps that was trailhead visits and maybe some people went to more than one trailhead). It does take a certain amount of effort to get up early and hike day after day though and I guess I didn't really do them all since I skipped Culebra.

I have finally finished the peak pages (Jan 2019 - it took a while).

Elk Range 14ers on the horizon from Mt of the Holy Cross
L-R are Castle/Conundrum, Pyramid, Maroon Bells, Snowmass, Capitol, and bonus 13er Sopris

Elk Range

standoff with a mountain goat on the summit of N Maroon

7 peaks, days actually doing peaks 7, total 14ers 7, elevation gain (and loss) 25,300ft, miles 72.5
Showers 0, lakes jumped into 2, tears 2

San Juan Range

The San Juan Range was beautiful and green with lots of flowers and wildlife and in retrospect not so many people. It also had rain and long drives on sometimes pretty poor roads to get to the trailheads. It was nice to have Nalumon at least with me to all the trailheads and company on all but a few of the 14ers.

mountain goats on the descent from Eolus

14 peaks - days 11 - total 14ers 21 - total days on 14ers 18, distance hiked 117.8 mi, elevation gain 42,600 ft.
Showers 0, surprise people we knew out there 1, Lakes Jumped into 3, tears 1 or 2

Then I went to SLC for the Outdoor Retailer show and a little break. I also got to shower and shave and otherwise pretend to be civilized for a bit. I even won a few Dominion games.

Back at it... peaks in the Front Range, Tenmile Range, and Sawatch

flag with a flag on Quandary Pk (Carrie took this pic)

4 peaks - days 4 (or maybe 3) - total 14ers 25 - total days on 14ers 22, distance 27.5 miles, elevation gain 12,650 ft.
Showers 0, Lakes Jumped into 0, tears 2, wanting to die 1, t-shirts worn 1, frosty mornings 1

Then we repaired to Carrie's place in Littleton for the weekend to rest, clean, recover, and generally pretend to be civilized. I also got pampered which is always nice (for a little while at least). We were going to be back at it Monday, but decided to try to rock climb instead, and then did laundry and caught up on things and generally didn't leave on time for that. Sometimes you just need to adjust the schedule to meet the conditions.

Back at it... the Mosquito Range, and getting into the Sawatch

hiding from the rain sitting in our Leki chairs cooking up quesadillas under a tarp

11 peaks - days 6 - total 14ers 36 - total days on 14ers 28, distance 63 miles, elevation gain 25,800 ft. (total 14er distance 280.3 miles and total elevation gain 106,350 ft.)
people lost while going to the bathroom 1, surprise people we knew out there 1, t-shirts worn 1, icy mornings 2, fresh snow on the peaks 1

Nalumon did the first 5 of these and Sam and Raquel joined in for the last 10 while Nalumon headed off to do Bierstadt with Carrie.

We were heading up to the trailhead for Harvard and Columbia when my truck radiator exploded (the plastic top part shattered with a boom and steam poured out all around the hood). The fan belt had broken thus stopping the water pump and alternator (the battery light had just come on too - obviously I should have stopped at that moment). We turned the truck around and got it off the road and spent the night there. The next morning the saga of fixing it began. I called all the auto parts places within about 50 miles but none had the radiator in stock. Then the sheriff stopped by to say we had to move. Evidently the homeowners association had complained to them (someone had driven by while I was poking under the hood and yelled "get a campsite"). Luckily I am white so nobody got shot. We decided to go with plan C or so and pushed and cajoled the truck into town (it was mostly downhill but still gave Sam and the PLC (the Peace Love Car) a bit of a workout). Then after a bunch more googling and planning and replanning decided to use one of Sam's supreme RV 100 mile tows to go to Denver (where the radiator was in stock). We needed to get about 6 miles closer though. Using the PLC as a pusher and mostly going downhill on mostly empty back roads we got another 3 miles closer and parked at a closed Cantina where we called for the tow. It took a lot longer for it to get there with the ETA pushed back an hour and then the actual arrival being 30 minutes after the last estimate. I wish we had known how long it would take from the outset. We started doing a restorative yoga session and that is when the tow showed up (there were a bunch of construction delays on the way).

exploded radiator

The truck was loaded and we drove to a Home Depot on the outskirts of Denver. I started removing the busted stuff and Sam went for the new parts. The whole operation took about 2.5 hours with only mild cursing and limited brute force required (the alternator really didn't want to move). Things went back together surprisingly easily and she started right up and hopefully will be good for another 100,000 miles. It was really nice to have Sam's great tool set available. I think I could have done it with what I had, but there would definitely have been more cursing and skinned knuckles. In fact Sam and Raquel's help both physically, mentally, and morally were instrumental in making a bad situation bearable. It would have been much more expensive and time consuming and frustrating had this happened when I was on my own, especially if it happened out of cell range near a trailhead.

Then we went on to Becky's for a much needed shower (both from the multiple long hiking days and the gravel in my hair from truck work...) and sleeping like a starfish without re-arranging my truck. Raquel said "if you really wanted a rest you could have just asked". The rest was welcome, but it is not how I would have chosen to take it - and all the contorted positions for the truck work made me sore in new ways (or maybe it was just the previous 6 days catching up to me). As an aside I took a little fitness test at the grocery store in Buena Vista and it said my weight was 159 and blood pressure 119/69 with heart rate of 63 which is all quite plausible but it said my bodyfat percentage was 18.4 which I don't think I even achieved at the peak of my post wrestling binge marathon (it was measured by conductivity) - or maybe all these 14ers are making me fat (it could be the delicious summit cookies - thanks Nalumon).

squeezing in 2 more before Wanderlust 108 in Ft Collins

view back towards Bierstadt from near the end of the traverse to the Sawtooth

2 peaks, Days 1, total peaks 38, total days on 14ers 29, distance 10.5 miles, elevation gain 3,900 ft. Total distance 290.55mi, total elevation gain 110,250ft.
Bonus 13ers 1, cold and snowy days 1, summit cookies remaining 0.

Then I had a nice interlude in Evergreen and taught slackline at the Wanderlust 108 in Ft Collins followed by a surprise meeting with Con (he saw my truck in a Wal-Mart parking lot while I was using their internet) and then heading back to the mountains a little cleaner and a little fresher.

Back to the Sawatch to finish things there

a snowy north slope of Mt Columbia
snow covered talus isn't much fun unless the snow is deep and consolidated (not the case here)

8 peaks, Days 6, total peaks 46, total days on 14ers 33, distance 68.25 miles, elevation gain 29,200 ft. Total distance 358.8mi, total elevation gain 139,450ft.
days with snow and/or ice 6, PB&J sandwiches made with love and given to me on the summit - 1, 4 wheel drive roads driven by mistake 1.

The weather for the Sawatch was less than perfect but it didn't actually stop me. The evening rain made cooking less fun and the fresh snow and ice on the summits slowed things down. It was pretty though. Hopefully it can get this out of its system before any technical peaks come up.

I had a nice break after the Sawatch peaks and went to Great Sand Dunes National Park and then visited Bert and Jess in La Veta. There I got to sleep in a most excellent moved and renovated barn hay loft as well as the always popular shower, laundry, real food and company etc.

the northern Sangre De Cristo 14ers

sunset over the upper South Colony Lake with Crestone Needle and Crestone Peak to the left

We started at the 2wd parking around 8800 ft and camped at S Colony Lakes to save multiple hikes in. There was some great weather and long days and tired slackers and even a few tears. 5 14ers and 4 bonus 13ers for a 14er total of 51. 4 days, total 14er days 37, distance 35 miles, elevation gain 13,950 feet for totals of 393.8 miles and 153,400 ft. These were some of the more difficult peaks so it was a treat to get good weather.

the southern Sangre De Cristo 14ers

from the summit of Blanca - things look pretty grim

One failed peak, one reclimbed peak, a lot of tears, the coldest one of us has ever been in her life, one airplane flyby, 4 14ers for a total of 55, 4 days, 41 total 14er days, 34.75 miles and 14,650 ft of elevation gained, 428.5 total miles and 168,050 total feet of elevation gained.

We hiked in to Lake Como (starting at 5:30 pm) and then the next morning got shut down on Ellingwood before climbing Blanca in pretty grim conditions. The next morning we were able to succeed on Ellingwood and Little Bear before the miserable hike out (that ended in the dark). That set us up for a 12:50 pm start for Lindsey the next day.

finishing up on the front range

I finished on top of Longs Peak with a little help from Sam and Raquel

There was too much driving but we managed Pikes Peak and Longs Peak before the weather turned again. One Ranger wake up and move along (nice enough), one summit with a donut/gift shop and lots of tourists via train and car, and one long day. 2 more 14ers for a total of 57. 2 days for a total of 43 14er days. 28.5 miles and 9,400 ft of elevation gained for a total of 457 miles and 177,450 feet of elevation gain.

Animals seen: moose, mountain goat, pika, marmot, weasel, porcupine, dog, coyote?, fox, bighorn sheep, deer, elk, osprey, eagles, hawks, falcons, raven, ptarmigan, and more.

There was some doubt in my mind, especially with the weather on Ellingwood and a forecast winter storm coming in near the end but I made my goal of all of the Colorado 14ers along with some of the * ones except for Culebra. I realized that the only real reason I'd be doing that one was so that I didn't have to explain that I didn't do it - which isn't worth the $150 per person peak fee as well as a bit of logistical pre-planning headaches. It is on private property so they get to set the rules. If they didn't allow people to climb it at all I'd have probably gone for "operation dark snake" with a sneak attempt at night, but since they do have a legitimate way of summiting I don't want to go rogue.

It was quite tiring and at times I just wanted to do other things, but if you do have the time and fitness it isn't a particularly difficult feat - you just need to be willing to head back up again if you get stopped by anything. A big early winter storm might have stopped me though. A few days after I finished I tweaked my "bad" knee going down a hill fast - but nothing I didn't do hundreds of times on the 14ers. That would have stopped me for a few weeks at least also. Fortunately I was done by then.

panorama of Snowmass Lake
Snowmass Mtn is the smaller bump almost dead center and to the right of Snowmass Pk and Hagerman Pk
(this is where Nalumon supervised the fish for a while)

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