1st Solo Female 14er Finisher?

[WildWanderer]

Does anyone know of a female who’s summited all 58 of Colorado’s 14ers solo (and can/wants to prove it?)

I’ve been researching for over a year and can’t find a single woman who’s summited all 58 14ers solo.

I have done so and I have documentation. I have a platform where I can positively influence women and girls all over the world, and I’d like to use my solo 14er summit experience to do so.

This week I’ve intensified my efforts to see if anyone else comes forward. If so, I’ll be the first to congratulate them and swap stories because it’s an insane journey. If not, I’d like to claim the title. (It’s totally ok if I’m not the first because I still have awesome and empowering stories to tell).

Also, I know a mountain can’t be shut down so you’re the only person on it. In this sense solo means I did my own research, I drove myself to and from the trailhead. I hiked by myself and did my own route finding. I hiked up and down the mountain without physical assistance from anyone else and purposely stayed away from other hikers either by starting extremely late/early to be the first on the trail, stopping and giving others plenty of time to get far ahead of me, or passing them so I could do my own route finding.

I’m still waiting for the CMC to return my calls…

[Monster5]

Paging Tallgrass.

[oldschoolczar]

Paging Dr Jon Kedrowski...

[pfiore1]

Does anyone know of a female who’s summited all 58 of Colorado’s 14ers solo (and can/wants to prove it?)

Yup and nope. I have two close lady friends who have summited all those hills on their own many years ago but do not care to prophesize, announce or "prove" their accomplishments. Not to mention hearsay from friends of friends I cannot personally confirm. Still a great accomplishment though for you and any future endeavors, well done and something to be very proud of, however not the first, sorry. Although, don't let not being the first take anything away from the success. Your climbing curve was quite exponential. These days there are not many more "firsts" to be had in Colorado unless someone gets really creative.

Be safe, Pat

Also, to reply to your comment about not finding any public announcements of other women who have done similar things...the vast vast majority of climbers, at least that I know of, do not make public announcements or use social media platforms. When I climbed all the peaks above 14k almost two decades ago (except for that meddling Culebra), there weren't any computer screens with info like this site. We just climbed without much easily available info nor providing info to the public about what we did. Still though, great achievement.

[JQDivide]

Does anyone know of a female who’s summited all 58 of Colorado’s 14ers solo (and can/wants to prove it?)

Yup and nope. I have two close lady friends who have summited all those hills on their own many years ago but do not care to prophesize, announce or "prove" their accomplishments. Not to mention hearsay from friends of friends I cannot personally confirm. Still a great accomplishment though for you and any future endeavors, well done and something to be very proud of, however not the first, sorry.

Any chance you can connect Laura with your friends? Would be good for her to hear their accomplishments from them.

[bergsteigen]

Does anyone know of a female who’s summited all 58 of Colorado’s 14ers solo (and can/wants to prove it?)

Yup and nope. I have two close lady friends who have summited all those hills on their own many years ago but do not care to prophesize, announce or "prove" their accomplishments. Not to mention hearsay from friends of friends I cannot personally confirm. Still a great accomplishment though for you and any future endeavors, well done and something to be very proud of, however not the first, sorry.

Any chance you can connect Laura with your friends? Would be good for her to hear their accomplishments from them.

Especially as the “firsts” were likely done before the hordes of people now on the 14ers. Even when I started almost 2 decades ago, soloing was a completely different story than it is now. Trails are more obvious now, and so is the plethora of information to prepare for the hikes. Only time frame where soloing on a 14er is really solo, is winter or early spring. Then I see no one else!

Since I was recently asked, I’ve soloed 64% or 235 of the 13ers I’ve done so far. Most of these days, I saw no one else all day long. So soloing as a female is quite an interesting scene.

[pfiore1]

Any chance you can connect Laura with your friends? Would be good for her to hear their accomplishments from them.

No and why? They are just not concerned with that kind of stuff and neither am I. Like I said to Laura, it doesn't matter whether the accomplishment was the first or last of anything, the fact it was done should be good enough as is. Pride is for self, not for comparison to others' accomplishments or lack of in the past.

Agree with Bergsteigen, the times have changed and will continue to change.

Congratulations Laura, AKA WildWanderer.

[WildWanderer]

Any chance you can connect Laura with your friends? Would be good for her to hear their accomplishments from them.

No and why? They are just not concerned with that kind of stuff and neither am I. Like I said to Laura, it doesn't matter whether the accomplishment was the first or last of anything, the fact it was done should be good enough as is. Pride is for self, not for comparison to others' accomplishments or lack of in the past.

Agree with Bergsteigen, the times have changed and will continue to change.

Congratulations Laura, AKA WildWanderer.

No Worries! Most likely I've already talked with them, as I've been researching and contacting people for a year now. I agree with you: I know in my heart I climbed them all solo, and that's what really matters.

[rpdawes]

Does anyone know of a female who’s summited all 58 of Colorado’s 14ers solo (and can/wants to prove it?)

I’ve been researching for over a year and can’t find a single woman who’s summited all 58 14ers solo.

I have done so and I have documentation. I have a platform where I can positively influence women and girls all over the world, and I’d like to use my solo 14er summit experience to do so.

This week I’ve intensified my efforts to see if anyone else comes forward. If so, I’ll be the first to congratulate them and swap stories because it’s an insane journey. If not, I’d like to claim the title. (It’s totally ok if I’m not the first because I still have awesome and empowering stories to tell).

Also, I know a mountain can’t be shut down so you’re the only person on it. In this sense solo means I did my own research, I drove myself to and from the trailhead. I hiked by myself and did my own route finding. I hiked up and down the mountain without physical assistance from anyone else and purposely stayed away from other hikers either by starting extremely late/early to be the first on the trail, stopping and giving others plenty of time to get far ahead of me, or passing them so I could do my own route finding.

I’m still waiting for the CMC to return my calls…

I suggest that you read https://14ers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=44828

According to this website, the total of the 14er finishers is 806. You would have to contact each of those finishers to find out any lady who had done the same. A few years ago, someone claimed that there were over 3,000 finishers. So I am certain, by the law of statistics, that a few ladies who had done such a feat that you did yesterday. Be content with what you have accomplished personally.

[justiner]

Some nominees who I would at least guess have probably done it that you could contact:

Alyson Kirk

Lisa Foster

Danelle Ballengee

They could be a wealth of info for ya.

[justiner]

Great job with all the TRs you do! That's quite a feat of documentation!

[cedica]

There was a thread on this forum couple of years ago (summer 2016, maybe '15?) from lady that had done them all in one summer, or pretty close to that. Not sure that she was solo 100% of the time, but at least most of the time. Sounded like someone of modest means, slept in the car at trailheads and along the way, poached Culebra and caught a lot of flak from the heads of state here. I believe that she was linking her blog in the posts.
And congrats to you!