Let’s see. Where is that peak on this list? This range, nope. Here it is. Ok. Let me just click this button, add the date I climbed it, and save. Oh good! My checklist is updated.
You have either been there, are there, know someone that is there, or you are planning to be there in the future. It is the coveted fourteener checklist. How many 14,000 foot mountains in Colorado have you climbed? How many are left to finish? You may have even attended one or more fourteener finisher parties. Let me say this early, there is nothing wrong with fourteeners. Climbing fourteeners in Colorado is fun, challenging to finish, and a great way to spend your free time in the alpine. BUT, fourteeners are NOT the only outdoor adventure in the Colorado Rockies.
I made my first trip to Colorado when I was about ten or eleven months old, and I spent at least a week or two in this state every other year through high school. My family alternated between Christmas one visit, and summer the next visit. I loathed those vacations. My brother and my cousin Andy always found a way to bully the fun out of Colorado. As an adult, I came back on my own to discover the great wide open of this state. I really had no idea what I was missing after years of seeing Colorado from the back seat of a suburban.
I moved to the Colorado from the East Coast in 2013. I was excited to leave behind the fast pace life of D.C. No more monkey suits, and happy hours schmoozing all the who’s who in my industry. I got a job with great vacation hours and slow days in the summer that made it easy to slip away unnoticed for some free time. I started dating a guy that was heavily involved in the fourteener’s community. He was only a few summits away from finishing. I got to go to his fourteener finisher. I thought he was so cool. In some ways, it’s like looking back at childhood and thinking, “If I knew then what I know now.” At the time, I thought fourteeners were the absolute coolest and hardest thing to do in Colorado. Oh boy, was I wrong!
I started rock climbing, and that definitely opened my eyes up to more fun across the state. Everything is great about a cragging weekend at Shelf. Running routes from sun-up to lunch, and again in the cooler evenings. Hanging out with friends around a campfire. Discovering places like Devil’s Head, more of 11 Mile, Clear Creek, Boulder and another little secret gem that I selfishly will not share. Sport climbing plays to my split brain. Mixing the left and right centered processing, sport climbing is like doing a puzzle and a dance all at the same time. Enter traditional climbing. I am less graceful at trad climbing as I fumble through two or three cams before I find the right fit, but this will only improve with time and good friends.
Now the Colorado Rockies really open up for adventure. You can actually rock climb and summit mountains, wait for it…at the same time! With some solid trad experience under your belt, the mountains become a haven for the outdoor soul drained from a long work week in the city. Suddenly, you learn more about thirteeners, and this other little thing called twelvers. Better yet, you hear this story about them being free of crowds, and it turns out to be true. Now the Fourteener book by Gerry Roach is collecting dust, while his Thirteener book lives in your vehicle for weekend adventures.
Now that you are less focused on slogging up all the fourteeners every summer, and your mind is open to new opportunities, you begin to seek the alpine year round. If you are lucky (in my opinion), you will discover ice climbing. Ice climbing will become so addicting that you are seeking out places to climb with tools year ‘round. Enter mixed climbing. This is when you are wearing your crampons and alpine boots in the middle of ‘not winter.’ Hanging precariously from an ice pick, a friend yells, “Engage the core! Use your six pack!” in which I would respond with, “I only have two.” Thank goodness for top rope in that moment. Everyone should make time to watch a good mixed climber. If Denver is lucky, they will snag a spot on the UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup tour again next year. It is an opportunity to watch world class climbers scratch and dangle above Civic Center Park, defying what seems to be the odds of gravity.
So you are afraid of heights, and a majority of this piece now has your palms sweating…its ok. Take a breath. Dry your hands. There are plenty of activities in Colorado that just require one foot in front of the other, both feet on the ground. Trails, trails and more trails. If you build up some orienteering skills, all you need is a map, compass, and your ten essentials to set off into the backcountry on a wild adventure. I once stood on the top of the K in the Pike National Forrest Quad map. No real reason, other than, just because. I would like to see my bully brother and cousin find me now. My flatlander brother might actually be able to. He’s not bad in the backcountry, but the altitude would have him in a second. Honestly though, if he wanted to come with me, I would carry the extra weight to make it happen.
I believe everyone should have the opportunity to experience the great wide open that is Colorado. This is why the shuttle up Pike’s Peak does not bother me, or the road to Mt. Evans. Some people do not have the abilities I do, but they still deserve to at least get a glimpse at what I get to see.
Other activities not included in my above diatribe: mountain biking, road biking, rafting, kayaking, fishing, thru-hiking, alpine lakes, festivals, birding, urban graffiti art, museums, off-roading, hunting, skiing, snowboarding, outdoor movies, road-tripping, breweries, water skiing, boating, mine tours, good old fashion walking, outdoor concerts, rodeos...
Do you get the point yet? Try not to be the person that limits your adventures to only fourteeners. Colorado has so much more to offer.
Left to Right from the top: Lake Dillon Kayaking, Cairn Tree on Twin Sisters Peak trail, UIAA Ice Climbing, Redrocks - Shins Concert, Fun with photos at Western Stock Show, Trad climbing in Buena Vista, Lake City 4th of July parade, Lake City Stick Horse Show and Rodeo, Trad rack for the 1st Flatiron.