LiDAR: Colorado 13ers and 14ers Completed

[Scott P]

But there have been some pretty big map errors.

Turkey Monster doesn't show up on the map at all and has close to 300' rise. It's possible that it might be ranked.

https://listsofjohn.com/mobile/peak/213518

It's the summit with the most rise I know of that doesn't even show up at all on the topo map.

[bdloftin77]

But there have been some pretty big map errors.

Turkey Monster doesn't show up on the map at all and has close to 300' rise. It's possible that it might be ranked.

https://listsofjohn.com/mobile/peak/213518

It's the summit with the most rise I know of that doesn't even show up at all on the topo map.

Joe and I'll take a look.

[Scott P]

But there have been some pretty big map errors.

Turkey Monster doesn't show up on the map at all and has close to 300' rise. It's possible that it might be ranked.

https://listsofjohn.com/mobile/peak/213518

It's the summit with the most rise I know of that doesn't even show up at all on the topo map.

Joe and I'll take a look.

I don't know how it got missed on the topo maps. They should have at least something marked. It wasn't on ListsofJohn either until I pointed it out sometime in the past.

I do wonder how well Lidar will pick it up though with all the trees around and since it's a narrow tower and is narrower at the base with trees growing under the overhang?



It would be an interesting analysis for sure.

[Candace66]

But there have been some pretty big map errors...

I’m looking forward to the Sierra Nevada lidar being available for download sometime in mid 2024 (their estimate).

The Castles East is my favorite! Strange that no one noticed it was ranked, though the actual rise is 452' Or was it being studiously ignored?

I also look forward to analysis of the Sierras--and a final determination regarding Mt Barnard. More important to me, hopefully someone will do the rest of SoCal and southern Nevada (i.e. the desert peaks).

[Scott P]

The Castles East is my favorite! Strange that no one noticed it was ranked, though the actual rise is 452' Or was it being studiously ignored?

Rock towers almost never (or more likely never rather than almost never) have accurate contour lines on the topo maps.

Sometimes (such as in the photo in the post before yours), they don't even show up at all on the topo maps. Besides that one I know of a lot of ones that don't show up on the maps at all and I know of no rock towers at all with accurate contour lines.

[Candace66]

The Castles East is my favorite! Strange that no one noticed it was ranked, though the actual rise is 452' Or was it being studiously ignored?

Rock towers almost never (or more likely never rather than almost never) have accurate contour lines on the topo maps.

Sometimes (such as in the photo in the post before yours), they don't even show up at all on the topo maps. Besides that one I know of a lot of ones that don't show up on the maps at all and I know of no rock towers at all with accurate contour lines.

By "noticed", I was not referring to reading the map contours. It should have been obvious to anyone actually looking at it that it had more than 300' rise. Thus my comment about it being studiously ignored.

[Teresa Gergen]

A little presumptuous...the people who have history with this peak are old enough that they may not visit this site.

[zinj]

To be on the safe side, I'm going back through any 13ers with known summit structures (towers, buildings, ruins, tall poles) to make sure the structures were excluded. Can anyone think of any others I could look at? So far I've checked the ones below:

Quail Mountain (cabin ruins)
Fairview Peak (fire lookout tower)
Horseshoe Mountain (old building)
Mt Eva (radio tower)
Tower Mountain (radio tower)
Kuss Peak (building/radio tower)
Peak 8 (small radio tower)
Peak 10 (large pole)
Clinton Peak (large pole)

Lol... there *IS* a pole on Clinton. Forgot about that.

[Boggy B]

A little presumptuous...the people who have history with this peak are old enough that they may not visit this site.

Prior to the LiDAR update, this was the note on the Castles East at LoJ. The analysis is interesting.

Notes: Based on images comparing east to west summits, the East Castle summit is probably 30' lower than the West Castle summit. Here is a detailed analysis run by John Kirk using Geopix (Geopix software developed by Edward Earl).

[HikerGuy]

This question may have been answered way back, but I can't remember if it was addressed. Was the elevation of the point 13,568 checked? It lies between 13,587(13,581) and 13,573(13,580). It had a Mike Garrett register on it and the height seems close to 13,573.

On a related note, what criteria determines when an unranked peak is designated? For example, this peak does not garner an unranked marker, but some other lesser unranked points make the unranked list.

13587-13573.jpg (213.85 KiB) Viewed 2615 times

[-wren-]

.

On a related note, what criteria determines when an unranked peak is designated? For example, this peak does not garner an unranked marker, but some other lesser unranked points make the unranked list.


13587-13573.jpg

It seems very arbitrary. I’m not sure if there’s really any criteria beyond “someone wanted to give that one a name”… I’ve been working on a huge caltopo atlas of all the CO high peaks and their routes/logistics in my free time (not yet finished but eventually I’ll make it public) and in the process I’ve been noting all the 13k+ unrecognized points. there are a lot of them.

[Boggy B]

If you mean "designated on LoJ" then the qualification seems to be that the point was named in a written/published work.
That includes the unofficial Roach names, which is mainly the list used on this site. Roach assigned (arguably terrible) names to mostly unnamed ranked or (pre-LiDAR) soft-ranked points.
LoJ pulls unofficial designations from many sources, of which the largest contributor in western CO seems to be the 1932 SJM Mountaineers' Guide. Lavender and cohorts were rabid for technical ascents of largely insignificant towers and pillars, hence most of the unofficial designations from that volume (technically never published) are of technical summits with very little prominence.