How many peaks in 1 day?

[Eph 2 5]

A few months ago there was a thread about how many 14ers could be climbed in day. It got me thinking about how many peaks above 13,000 could be climbed in a day, realistically, if the 3000' rule weren't followed. I wondered if I could, realistically, hike from Loveland Pass to Mt. Evans. That would be 8 peaks in the most direct line of travel - Cupid, Grizzly, Torreys, Grays, Edwards, Argentine, Square Top and Evans. I didn't calculate this very accurately, but I think that would be roughly 19 miles and 10,000 vertical feet. I figured I could ask someone to meet me at Guanella Pass in case I ran out of energy. I'll probably never try this because my knee has started giving me some slight issues for the first time in my life and I don't think it would be worth the risk of damaging it doing something like this. I enjoy thinking about it, though. Ignoring the knee problem and based on my hiking pace I think I could start at 3 a.m. on Loveland Pass and get to Evans by 5:00pm. It would need to be a day of perfect weather. A person in incredible shape might be able to add Sniktau, McClellan, Gray Wolf, Spalding, Sawtooth (the high point) Epaulie, Epaulet and Rosalie in a 24 hour period for a total of 16 peaks. Have any of you done or planned anything like this?

[Rich H]

Peter Bakwin just went from Weston Pk up towards Fletcher....not sure how many that was in a day.

[Jon Frohlich]

Maybe Doug Shaw will see this thread and respond. He's done Guanella Pass to Loveland Pass. They did not add Evans or Bierstadt if I recall.

[highpilgrim]

Not an answer to your question, but Jason Halliday did all of the northern Crestones in a 24 hour period a few years ago. I thought that was pretty cool.

Kit Carson via the prow, over to Challenger back over all the KC subpeaks to Crestone north couloir, across to the Needle on the traverse, down and over Broken Hand to Humboldt and I can't remember how they finished back on the west side. It was pretty impressive on those more demanding mountains...not exactly sure I'm right on all the details. There used to be a TR around somewhere.

[susanjoypaul]

Peter Bakwin did 21 peaks over 13K' in just 16.5 hours.
Here's the thread: http://www.14ers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=26197

For peaks of *any* elevation, I believe John Kirk and Steve Knapp hold the record over on LoJ, with 26 ranked peaks (plus 1 unranked peak) in a single day!

Have any of you done or planned anything like this?

Hell no.

[Presto]

by susanjoypaul » Tue Oct 19, 2010 3:54 pm

Have any of you done or planned anything like this?

Hell no.

[Sugar Madison]

Peter's route is probably the best way to get a lot of 13ers in one day. Weston Pass to Frisco was his intended route... that is a LOT of peaks.

Loveland to Evans looks pretty doable and not terribly complicated, other than the required car shuttle.

[Doug Shaw]

My friend Wes and I enjoy long ridge runs between car-accessible high passes. Our goal is not "as many peaks as possible" - neither of us are endurance runners or particularly "hardmen." We just find good, aesthetic ridge runs, come up with some vaguely creative name for them (usually), and go for it.

What's to plan? Pick a period of good, stable weather (September is a good choice), drop a car at or near the endpoint the night before (or arrange a pick-up), drive around to the starting point and sleep nearby, pack a lot of food and water (but not too much, you'll be carrying it a long way), hope for good weather, start early and be prepared to finish late.

As for the traverse between Loveland and Evans, I recall we determined it was something like 7300 or 7600 vertical gained along the way from Guanella to Loveland (starting from the lower trailhead). It took us 18 hours in October with snow on much of the route, but again we are not speed demons. Tack on the normal elevation gain for Bierstadt and the Sawtooth and Evans and 10K is probably a good ballpark number - you might even break it.

[Jim Davies]

Not an answer to your question, but Jason Halliday did all of the northern Crestones in a 24 hour period a few years ago. I thought that was pretty cool.

Kit Carson via the prow, over to Challenger back over all the KC subpeaks to Crestone north couloir, across to the Needle on the traverse, down and over Broken Hand to Humboldt and I can't remember how they finished back on the west side. It was pretty impressive on those more demanding mountains...not exactly sure I'm right on all the details. There used to be a TR around somewhere.

John Prater and Bill Wright did a loop that is vaguely like this: up Ellingwood Arete to the Needle, across the traverse to Crestone Peak, down the north couloir, up the Prow to Kit Carson (with side trip to Challenger), then back across the ridge to South Colony. Just over 15 hours car-to-car.
http://www.wwwright.com/climbing/tripre ... Linkup.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[JsinDeAZ]

If you're lookin' at 14ers, I'm pretty sure you could get the entire Tenmile/ Mosquito range all in a day. I did the DeCaLiBron + Quandary on a single day. I could have tossed in Sherman, but was underprepared (and didn't know how easy Sherman was).

[highpilgrim]

[John Prater and Bill Wright did a loop that is vaguely like this: up Ellingwood Arete to the Needle, across the traverse to Crestone Peak, down the north couloir, up the Prow to Kit Carson (with side trip to Challenger), then back across the ridge to South Colony. Just over 15 hours car-to-car.
http://www.wwwright.com/climbing/tripre ... Linkup.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for the link. I'm always in awe of the people that can cover that much difficult ground in such a short time. There have been times when I've been in pretty fair shape but even then I can't imagine covering that much ground that fast. I guess I'm just more cautious, and getting slower whether I like to admit it or not.

Good thing I'm not driven to try stuff like that. It leaves more time to sit by the fire with friends and a good cocktail... :D

If you're lookin' at 14ers, I'm pretty sure you could get the entire Tenmile/ Mosquito range all in a day. I did the DeCaLiBron + Quandary on a single day. I could have tossed in Sherman, but was underprepared (and didn't know how easy Sherman was).

I'm assuming that you did them by completing the decalibron and then going over to get Quandary? What they're talking about is a different beast. If you had done the decalibron and then traversed over Drift and Fletcher, both high 13ers, and then done the West ridge of Quandary, I'm thinking you would have found it a little more difficult. And that would only get you about halfway on what they're describing.

A serious undertaking.

[Furthermore]

Last year I did a long traverse requiring 2 car shuttles to get 12 ranked 13eeners in a day. I suppose if one wanted, they could add more "easier" 13eners at that point via 4WD roads near Silverton.


The 12 ranked 13eeners in a day.
http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepor ... m=tripuser" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

5 easy 13eeners near Silverton.
http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepor ... m=tripuser" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

8 Pack of 13eeners near Lake City.
http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepor ... m=tripuser" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think it would be VERY reasonable for someone to combine the Lake City 8 pack and the 5 in Silverton for 13 13eeners in a day. That has a nice ring. 13 13eeners.