First mountains in Colorado?

Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
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SchralpTheGnar
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Re: First mountains in Colorado?

Post by SchralpTheGnar »

What route? D1? Smear of fear?
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OldTrad
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Re: First mountains in Colorado?

Post by OldTrad »

SchralpTheGnar wrote: Fri Jan 08, 2021 9:13 am What route? D1? Smear of fear?
Ha ha. Not quite. The Casual Route was a “step up” from the Boulder crags I had been focusing on up until then. I rode up to the ranger station on the back of my friend’s motorcycle. We had camping permits and bivy’ed at Chasm View, then rapped to Broadway in the morning. After the climb we descended via the cables, picked up our bivy gear and walked out. Not quite the speed style you see today, but this was ancient times (back before the invention of remote control, when people still communicated via cave paintings).
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Re: First mountains in Colorado?

Post by NathanRL »

14er: Huron (age 11, summer camp)
13er: Silverheels (age 10, summer camp)
sub-13k summit: Flagstaff or something in a baby carrier on my mom's back

Shoutout to Sanborn Western Camps for offering a ton of peakbagging trips. That's where I caught the bug! And my mom bought me a copy of Roach's book to take with me.
Molasses
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Re: First mountains in Colorado?

Post by Molasses »

My first summit was Bierstadt with my brother at age 63. It was only meant to be a bucket list thing, but I was immediately hooked. I'm 66 now, and clearly the slowest moving thing on the mountain. But I still have several summits "... and miles to go before I sleep." I'm planning to start the 2021 season with a snow climb summit up Bel/Ox in May if any other snails are interested. Thanks to Bill for this site, and all who post in the forum.
Last edited by Molasses on Fri Jan 08, 2021 2:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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aholle88
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Re: First mountains in Colorado?

Post by aholle88 »

rijaca wrote: Fri Jan 08, 2021 8:13 am Pikes Peak sometime during the summer of 1970. Mom dropped a buddy and myself at the Manitou Incline, which we rode up. Backpacked up to the A-frame. Climbed the Peak the next day, and backpacked down to the top of the Incline and rode down. Called Mom and she came and picked us up.
Very cool! The train must have been pretty neat, doing it how the OG mountain folks did Pikes back when Fred had his burro business up at the top of the cline. I still have it on my list to hike Pikes from Bear Creek, up Jones and the South ridge since that was one of the original routes up the mountain as well.

Pikes was also my first via Barr. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing, my buddy took the COG down and I hiked/jogged down with a guy we ran into on our way up. Certainly made the rest of the 14ers that summer seem easy in comparison, at least distance wise!
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SchralpTheGnar
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Re: First mountains in Colorado?

Post by SchralpTheGnar »

I don’t know what my first peak was, might have been decalinbrom or longs or Torrey’s, either way those were the first few
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Re: First mountains in Colorado?

Post by dr_j »

Byers with a friend of mine from WP.

Quandary was my first Colorado 14er, followed by Cameron and Lincoln.
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ekalina
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Re: First mountains in Colorado?

Post by ekalina »

South Boulder Peak was my first Colorado summit, back in 2010 when I was in the process of moving out here for grad school. It was June, and the number one thing that stood out to me was how lush everything was, with lots of flowing water and wildflowers. I soon came to realize that green is a mostly fleeting color in Colorado and had to adjust my expectations downward. Makes me appreciate a good rain though!

Grays and Torreys were my first 14ers, about a year later. I drove a low-clearance sedan up the Stevens Gulch road and am lucky that I got up and down without any significant problems. Since then I've gotten a little smarter (and purchased a better car).
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Re: First mountains in Colorado?

Post by RobLowe »

Holy Cross up standard route, down the Cross Couloir in skate shoes, shorts, and a t-shirt with no water in 2009. There have been lots of lessons learned because I appear to be particularly dense and slow to learn. :lol:
A man who has no imagination has no wings

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Hiking_TheRockies
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Re: First mountains in Colorado?

Post by Hiking_TheRockies »

Mt. Audubon. Still one of my favorite peaks today!
Hiking when possible
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Re: First mountains in Colorado?

Post by rgsaxman »

Wilson Peak in 2000 at age 13 with my experienced Uncle who was closing in on completing the 14ers.
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Jim Davies
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Re: First mountains in Colorado?

Post by Jim Davies »

Mount Cutler, 7200', two miles round-trip, with wife and two small kids soon after we moved here in summer of 1990. I think it took us about two hours to summit. We stopped for lunch under a tree thinking we still had a long way to go, then discovered we were about 100 easy yards from the summit. First 13er was West Spanish Peak in July 1994, first 14er Pikes Peak via Barr Trail with an overnight at Barr Camp, September 1994.
Climbing at altitude is like hitting your head against a brick wall — it's great when you stop. -- Chris Darwin
I'm pretty tired. I think I'll go home now. -- Forrest Gump
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