Your First 14er

[greenonion]

Seems this must have been covered here prior but maybe a good time to update...

How/why did you choose your first 14er (any state)? And feel free to include a story of that first hike/climb. Photos from a first 14er hike would be cool too. Age if you want, what year, whatever inspires, or inspired you. Have fun!

(Thanks to a 14er buddy on the site who suggested we start this!)

[douglas]

My first was Windom. I suspect that’s a less common first timer. I went with a group of buddies on our first annual trip that became known as the mancation. I was woefully unprepared, both physically and mentally. I had no idea what I was getting into. I think I was about 40 years old. Windom was our first peak and about halfway up from the basin I decided to call it quits. I had a whole liter of water with me and ran out at that point. I was out of snacks and beat. Some nice people noted that I looked pretty wiped and gave me some snacks and a little water. I felt a little sick to my stomach but after a minute I felt much better and trudged to the top. My buddies went over and did Sunlight as I slowly went back down to camp. The next day I stayed at camp while they hiked Eolus and we hiked out. There are a lot of other stories from that trip, like my douchy friend (it was his first and last trip) Who threw rocks at the mountain goats then almost got killed when they later decided to kick rocks down on him from above. Goat karma is a term we still use when talking about him.

[hellmanm]

My first was Quandary. I hiked it in jeans too. I had moved to Breckenridge for the summer between freshman/sophomore year of college, and a person in my apartment complex gave me the idea. I went back and did the west ridge a few years later, and still have a soft spot for the tenmile range even now.

[9patrickmurphy]

Belford with a group from my dorm my Sophomore year at college. Hiked in jeans and old ratty tennis shoes. Spent the night before at a campsite along the road to the trailhead with the big group, slept in a Target sleeping bag straight on the ground, no tent, just every piece of clothing I owned on (it was mid September). Great night passing a guitar around a campfire with 20+ friends. Made my way up the thing the next day despite quite slowly. Was a really good way to do a first 14er since it was a somewhat formaized event meant for people who hadn't done a 14er before (Oxford was there for those who were feeling it) so there were a few people bouncing between groups making sure everyone had enough water and snacks. Once I got the peakbagging bug I started arranging these trips for the dorm. Great times.

[disentangled]

I had a very broken heart. Some of my hiking friends had done 14ers and I thought, "that looks hard! I want to do THAT!!" Being a nerd, I went to the public library and checked out two books, Roach's and another one by James Dziezynski. Roach's book was overwhelming. But Dziezynski gave me two choices: Sneffels and Yale. I immediately saw the answer: a paved road to the TH. And so off I went to Yale, happy to be out on my own, doing something spectacular.

Good topic, Onion!

[jwin17]

My first was Evans, in September of last year. I had just moved out this way, from Florida, back in May of the same year. Never having lived at elevation or ever being in the mountains at all, I was relatively ignorant about hiking and 14ers. I had slowly been trying to build my stamina for hiking, and set off on the trails at 6am with the plan to only make it out to the Chicago Lakes, which would have been one of my longest hikes at the time, around 12 miles round trip. Once I made it up the the upper lake, I had ran into another solo hiker who was aiming for Evans. Like I said, I was ignorant about 14ers, so I didn’t even really know Evans was in the vicinity and what it took to get there. But he convinced me to join him for the extra 2.5 miles up to the summit, and it was probably the best day of my life. On that day, I caught the bug, and have since crossed off 9 more peaks, and aim to eventually bag them all.

[docjohn]

Longs Peak!
Ascended using the real cables, north face, descended the "fried egg" route (as the keyhole route was known then). Was altitude sick on top, wore jeans, ran out of water and food, got back to the vehicle at 7:30 ( a twelve hour day).
From there it was off to the races, everything else became easier!

[greenonion]

Great stories so far! And just gotta say... docjohn’s signature quote really seems to be a representation of Tallgrass and highpilgrim’s relationship wherein you know who is the pilgrim and TG is the Dalai Lama.

[Bill G]

Whitney. Started out at Tolumne Meadows 3 weeks before hiking JMT. Got to Trail Crest and decided what the hell, it's only another mile.

I've only hiked CO mountains since, but a day hike just isn't the same as a 200 mile approach. Still more a bper than a 14er.

[headsizeburrito]

First was Mount Rainier as a teen, lived in WA at the time and the biggest peak I'd done before was Mt Adams. Went with my ski team and my dad, an experienced climber, guiding. Stayed at Camp Muir the first night, where we had a storm strong enough to destroy 2/4 tents, so our group condensed to 5 people in each 3 person tent. I got altitude sickness and went outside to puke in the storm, but then slept great the rest of the night while the others tossed and turned from the conditions. The next day I woke up feeling great and we practiced ropes, self arrest, etc. That night we were lucky enough to get space in the bunkhouse due to our tent situation. Alpine start the next morning up the DC route, had fantastic weather all day. One of our friends fell through a snow bridge, but the crevasse was only maybe 15' deep and he was pulled back out without injury. We could see all the way to Seattle from the summit, as well as the other major volcanoes. Back to the car in the afternoon, including a long butt glissade in a well established slide. Forgot to apply sunscreen for the entire day, my whole face ended up peeling and my friend that fell in the crevasse had blisters on his face from it. Oops. Easy to forget when starting in the dark but lesson learned. Overall quite an adventure.

Second 14er nearly 20 years later was also with my dad, a trip to CO in summer 2019 where in addition to RMNP and the Missouri Lakes/Fancy Pass Loop we did Huron based on a recommendation of it being both scenic and moderate. Nice hike, a little easier and smoother than my time on Rainier. Had a great time on the trip, which contributed to me moving to CO in fall 2020.

[justiner]

This was a prompt on the FB Group That Will Go Unmentioned. Mine was Elbert - here's the whole (old TR)

https://justinsimoni.com/2009/09/23/mt- ... -and-back/


My second was Massive I think, but I got a ride back from the TH. I do remember trying to do massive mania essentially, but I was too scared to do this one traverse - seemed super exposed. I've yet to figure out where that could have been, since everything seems super chill now. Ah, learning. I guess I rode up Mt. Evans a few years before, to get ready for a cross country tour, but it barely made a mention in my training journal:

https://justinsimoni.com/2007/06/29/my_ ... _saturday/

561266931_81e8c8e6fb.jpg (22.36 KiB) Viewed 3710 times

Kinda funny.

[CoHi591]

My first was Evans from Guanella Pass. Not the best choice for a first. What happened was, I asked a friend if he wanted to "go up to Mt Evans" on our day off. When I said it, I'd meant driving up for a chill scenic day. But my friend interpreted it as "let's hike mount Evans". When I realized that's where his mind was at, I thought why not give it a shot? I didn't think he had any idea what he was signing up for, but since I knew I wanted to hike my first one at some point that summer, we decided to hike it.
I don't think he'd ever hiked much before and I'm almost certain he's never hiked after. He was in jeans, we started around 9 am with printouts of the route descriptions on this site. Worst sunburn of my life. Willow nightmares for days. Made it though!