In your opinion, what is the hardest 14er?

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ltlFish99
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Re: In your opinion, what is the hardest 14er?

Post by ltlFish99 »

We hiked little bear from blanca basin, so I have no hourglass experience. We went to slb, then over to lb. I thought it was great and had a wonderful time.
Capitol for me was a lot of fun. of course, when you are much younger than I am now 27 on Capitol exposure equals fun excitement. The gentleman that led the trip for the CMC, it was his 500th 14er summit.
Everyone had a great time. my opinion of its its difficulty us biased due to my youth and inexperience as Capitol was my 2nd 14er.
Mt. Wilson north slopes was great.
Longs is my favorite, so I have always enjoyed that mountain.
Of the ones I have left, pyramid, crestone needle, and north maroon are the ones I am a little nervous about.
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Re: In your opinion, what is the hardest 14er?

Post by CheapCigarMan »

GeezerClimber wrote: Tue Mar 23, 2021 6:27 pm There used to be a difficulty ranking on this site based on rankings made by climbers here. Capitol was always number 1 and Little Bear 2. This is by the standard routes. I agree with the rating but won't argue with those who give #1 to Little Bear. In any event, these two are in a class of their own IMO. No others are close. In my experience, N. Maroon was easier than expected. Crestone Pk., Mt. Wilson (from the north) and Snowmass were harder.

Dave
Here is that difficulty ranking by members list. In order from hardest to easiest.
I snagged it before Bill took it down.
The ask was to rank them in order of difficulty by standard route only.

Rank Peak Route Class RT Gain Exposure
1 Capitol Peak Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake 4 17 5,300 4
2 Little Bear Peak West Ridge and Southwest Face 4 14 6,200 4
3 Pyramid Peak Northeast Ridge 4 8.25 4,500 4
4 North Maroon Peak Northeast Ridge 4 9.25 4,500 4
5 Mt. Wilson North Slopes 4 16 5,100 4
6 Crestone Needle South Face 3 12 4,400 4
7 Sunlight Peak South Face 4 5 6,000 5
8 Maroon Peak South Ridge 3 11.5 4,800 4
9 Crestone Peak South Face 3 14 5,700 3
10 Mt. Eolus Northeast Ridge 3 5 6,100 4
11 Snowmass Mountain East Slope 3 22 5,800 3
12 El Diente Peak North Slopes 3 15 5,000 3
13 Wilson Peak Southwest Ridge 3 10 5,000 4
14 Longs Peak Keyhole Route 3 14.5 5,100 3
15 Wetterhorn Peak Southeast Ridge 3 7 3,300 4
16 Kit Carson Peak From Challenger Point -3 14.5 6,250 3
17 Mt. Lindsey North Face 2+ 8.25 3,500 2
18 North Eolus South Ridge 3 0.2 200 3
19 Blanca Peak Northwest Ridge 2+ 17 6,500 3
20 Mt. Sneffels From Yankee Boy Basin 2+ 6 2,900 3
21 Castle Peak Northeast Ridge 2+ 13.5 4,600 3
22 Ellingwood Point South Face 2+ 17 6,200 2
23 Challenger Point North Slope 2+ 12.5 5,400 2
24 Windom Peak West Ridge 2+ 5 6,000 3
25 Mt. Harvard South Slopes 2 14 4,600 2
26 Uncompahgre Peak South Ridge from Nellie Creek 2 7.5 3,000 2
27 La Plata Peak Northwest Ridge 2 9.25 4,500 2
28 Mt. of the Holy Cross North Ridge 2 12 5,600 2
29 Mt. Massive East Slopes 2 14.5 4,500 2
30 Mt. Yale Southwest Slopes 2 9.5 4,300 2
31 Missouri Mountain Northwest Ridge from Missouri Gulch 2 10.5 4,500 3
32 Mt. Antero West Slopes 2 16 5,200 2
33 Tabeguache Peak. Via Mt. Shavano 2 11.25 5,600 2
34 Mt. Shavano East Slopes 2 9.25 4,600 2
35 Mt. Columbia West Slopes 2 11.5 4,250 2
36 Humboldt Peak West Ridge 2 11 4,200 2
37 Conundrum Peak. Castle and Conundrum 2+
38 Mt. Oxford From Mt. Belford 2 11 5,800 2
39 Mt. Belford Northwest Ridge 2 8 4,500 1
40 Mt. Princeton East Slopes 2 6.5 3,200 2
41 Mt. Evans West Ridge via Mt. Spalding 2 5.5 2,000 2
42 Sunshine Peak From Redcloud Peak 2 12.25 4,800 2
43 Redcloud Peak Northeast Ridge 2 9 3,700 2
44 Culebra Peak Northwest Ridge 2 5 2,700 2
45 Mt. Lincoln West Ridge 2 6 2,600 1
46 Torreys Peak South Slopes 2 8 3,000 1
47 Mt. Elbert Northeast Ridge 1 9 4,700 1
48 Huron Peak Northwest Slopes 2 6.5 3,500 2
49 Pikes Peak East Slope 1 26 7,500 0
50 Mt. Bierstadt West Slopes 2 7 2,850 1
51 Mt. Democrat East Slopes 2 4 2,150 1
52 Mt. Cameron Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross 2 4.75 2,250 1
53 Quandary Peak East Ridge 1 6.75 3,450 1
54 Grays Peak East Slopes 1 8 3,000 1
55 San Luis Peak Northeast Ridge 1 13.5 3,600 0
56 Handies Peak Southwest Slopes 1 5.75 2,500 1
57 Mt. Bross East Slopes from Mineral Park Mine 1 9 2,900 1
58 Mt. Sherman Southwest Ridge from Fourmile Creek 2 5.25 2,100 2
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Re: In your opinion, what is the hardest 14er?

Post by highpilgrim »

CheapCigarMan wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 2:21 pm The ask was to rank them in order of difficulty by standard route only.

Rank Peak Route Class RT Gain Exposure
1 Capitol Peak Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake 4 17 5,300 4
2 Little Bear Peak West Ridge and Southwest Face 4 14 6,200 4
3 Pyramid Peak Northeast Ridge 4 8.25 4,500 4
It's hard to quibble with 1 or 2. Opinions vary with conditions and personal likes/dislikes for what hard means.

But I don't put Pyramid anywhere near 3 on the list. I thought it overrated, starting with the "Leap of Faith". It was fun throughout, the exception being gaining the ridgeline initially. That was crappy. The rest was fun. I had a hard time seeing any of it at class 4.

Certainly it's not 3rd on my list.
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Re: In your opinion, what is the hardest 14er?

Post by painless4u2 »

Blanca from the Huerfano Valley to Winchell Lakes with a full backpack. Beautiful but tough. Ties with Little Bear SW Ridge: cactus, heat, exposed knife edge, long and no water for most of it. Not on my repeat list.
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Re: In your opinion, what is the hardest 14er?

Post by bdloftin77 »

CheapCigarMan wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 2:21 pm Here is that difficulty ranking by members list. In order from hardest to easiest.
I snagged it before Bill took it down.
I think I missed it.. Did Bill say why he took it down? I'd thought that ranking list was cool, though maybe a bit subjective.
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Re: In your opinion, what is the hardest 14er?

Post by CheapCigarMan »

bdloftin77 wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 3:07 pm
CheapCigarMan wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 2:21 pm Here is that difficulty ranking by members list. In order from hardest to easiest.
I snagged it before Bill took it down.
I think I missed it.. Did Bill say why he took it down? I'd thought that ranking list was cool, though maybe a bit subjective.
It's been a while now. To think back I think he took it down because it was so subjective and it was focused on standard routes only for each peak. That would be a very limited amount of people to actually do that. Probably thought it didn't add much value because of that and he replaced it with the Routes by Difficulty page where he ranks them first by Class then by difficulty, still only by standard routes. Seems like it was something along those lines anyway.

Bill, correct me if I'm wrong.
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Re: In your opinion, what is the hardest 14er?

Post by XterraRob »

By standard routes & being all encompassing, I would say Capitol given the distance you have to travel to get to the peak, the exposure & terrain, class rating, etc.
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Re: In your opinion, what is the hardest 14er?

Post by Dayute »

Odd opinion here but I found Maroon Peak surprisingly hard. The Green Monster or whatever its called goes forever and the routefinding above it is very tedious. Theres plenty of loose rock there too. By comparison I thought the routefinding on LB was a non-issue and I kind of giggled to myself in the choke point at how much easier it was than I thought it would be. The loose rock right above the hourglass was tricky but I didnt think it was that much worse than the final push up Kit Carson from the Challenger traverse. Havent done Capitol yet.
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Re: In your opinion, what is the hardest 14er?

Post by JChitwood »

Dayute wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 4:27 pm Odd opinion here but I found Maroon Peak surprisingly hard. The Green Monster or whatever its called goes forever and the routefinding above it is very tedious. Theres plenty of loose rock there too. By comparison I thought the routefinding on LB was a non-issue and I kind of giggled to myself in the choke point at how much easier it was than I thought it would be. The loose rock right above the hourglass was tricky but I didnt think it was that much worse than the final push up Kit Carson from the Challenger traverse. Havent done Capitol yet.
Can’t remember a Green Monster on Maroon. Maybe talking about the Green Wall on Pyramid? I found Maroon difficult too the rock was horrid and the thousands of vertical up and down the Slope of Suck from the valley were brutal. Even with hiking poles I fell three times on the trail going down Maroon it’s high on the list of mountains I will never do again. In fact I may never climb a peak in that valley again the parking difficulties suck as bad as the rock.
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Re: In your opinion, what is the hardest 14er?

Post by Salient »

My opinion isn’t very valid as I have never been higher than ~6650’ but I do like how Bill phrased the notice for Capitol Peak. “This is the most-difficult of the standard 14er routes; It's long, tedious and dangerous.”
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Re: In your opinion, what is the hardest 14er?

Post by Dayute »

JChitwood wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 4:56 pm
Dayute wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 4:27 pm Odd opinion here but I found Maroon Peak surprisingly hard. The Green Monster or whatever its called goes forever and the routefinding above it is very tedious. Theres plenty of loose rock there too. By comparison I thought the routefinding on LB was a non-issue and I kind of giggled to myself in the choke point at how much easier it was than I thought it would be. The loose rock right above the hourglass was tricky but I didnt think it was that much worse than the final push up Kit Carson from the Challenger traverse. Havent done Capitol yet.
Can’t remember a Green Monster on Maroon. Maybe talking about the Green Wall on Pyramid? I found Maroon difficult too the rock was horrid and the thousands of vertical up and down the Slope of Suck from the valley were brutal. Even with hiking poles I fell three times on the trail going down Maroon it’s high on the list of mountains I will never do again. In fact I may never climb a peak in that valley again the parking difficulties suck as bad as the rock.
I guess I was talking about the Slope of Suck, whatever it was I dont look forward to doing it again for the traverse.
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Re: In your opinion, what is the hardest 14er?

Post by Wish I lived in CO »

Someone once posted a wayback interntet link to it and somehow I made an excel file for it. Here it is:
14 list part A.jpg
14 list part A.jpg (146.15 KiB) Viewed 2315 times
14 list part B.jpg
14 list part B.jpg (129.6 KiB) Viewed 2315 times
14 list part C.jpg
14 list part C.jpg (44.1 KiB) Viewed 2315 times
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