Timeframe: 5 years exactly—my first summit was Mount Democrat on 9/1/2020; my last was San Luis on 8/31/2025
Great Traverses: 1–the Maroon Bells, from South to North Maroon
Non-standard routes: 10–the Sawtooth over to what is now Blue Sky (but was Evans when I summited), the traverse to North Maroon, the Northwest Slopes to Pikes, the East Ridge to Elbert, the Southwest Ridge to La Plata, the West Ridge to Missouri, the Northwest Ridge to Lindsey, the West Slope to Snowmass, the East Slopes to Handies, the South Ridge to San Luis
Drives up South Colony Lakes Road: 3
Favorite Peak: Longs; other favorites include Pyramid, Massive, Lindsey, and Crestone Needle
Least Favorite Peak: Snowmass
Best piece of gear: my ‘17 Toyota 4Runner, which took many of my friends and I to almost every trailhead
Favorite attributes from them all: the knife’s edge on Capitol; the red gully bacon strip on Crestone; the hourglass on Little Bear; the plaque on the summit of Challenger; the leap of faith on Pyramid; the views of Leadville, where I lived for 3 years, from Massive; the views from the summit of Sneffels; everything on the standard route of Longs (including the outhouses in the boulder field)
Other favorite memories: the wildflowers on Columbia (and what smelled like a forest of Christmas trees when I first walked into the Horn Fork Basin); summiting Capitol Peak 4.5 months after my joint tibia/fibula fracture; riding the train from Durango to Needleton and backpacking to the Chicago Basin; the countless pika squeaks and sightings; baby marmots playing with one another on Lindsey; my one and only sunrise summit on Bierstadt; only having to drive up Lake Como Road once…
…and—most memorable of all—all of the friends and climbing partners I met along this crazy, whirlwind of 5 years.
Bill, I hope to shake your hand and tell you how thankful I am for you and your work in person one day.
What’s next? Basking in the relief and sense of this accomplishment, reflecting on the lessons these mountains taught me about my physical and mental capabilities, and probably going to the beach. Who knows what will come after that: hopefully repeats, getting my first snowflake, 13ers, 12ers, alpine lake hikes, National Parks... What is certain is that I want to forgo another checklist (for a bit, at least).
Keep climbing, y’all. Cheers!
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)! And finishing on my own favorite fourteener! Now go enjoy hiking things because you actually want to hike them whether or not they’re on some checklist or another!