Tuesday, June 30, 1970. A nine-year old boy made an attempt to summit his first 13er, Mummy Mountain (13,425'), from a campsite at Lawn Lake. He had just gotten his left arm out of a cast (due to a misadventure involving repeatedly jumping off the roof of a friend's garage) and therefore hadn't been swimming or running for nearly two months. Having just arrived in Rocky Mountain National Park the prior day from Texas, he ran out of gas at about 12,000' -- a failed attempt. His dad continued to Mummy's summit and was the seventh person of 1970 to sign the summit register.

Wednesday, July 1, 1970. Fairchild Mountain (13,502') was today's goal, and this time both father and son reached the summit, where a RMNP map served as a makeshift summit register. This was the boy's first 13er and, although he didn't know it at the time, also was his first tricentennial peak.

Yes, I was that nine-year old boy who was unknowingly embarking on a journey to climb the 300 highest Colorado peaks - the "tricentennials." A little over 49 years later...

Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2019. Randy and I drove 22 miles south of Silverton to the Purgatory ski area and then 15.3 miles on progressively worse roads to the end of Forest Service Road 579. I underestimated how long the drive would take, so it was almost dark when we set up camp after backpacking a couple of miles to a lake at 11,560' about a mile SE of Grizzly Peak B (13,738'). Our goal for tomorrow: V 10 (13,475').

Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019. After bypassing a swampy area, Randy and I headed north, staying far above Cascade Creek in an ultimately fruitless effort to avoid the dense willows. At least the willows were dry, but progress was slow. Eventually, we angled NNW up the grassy slopes toward a couple of small tarns just above 11,800'.

We headed WSW into the upper basin east of V 10, aided by hiking up four or five snowfields in the drainage that made for better footing than the abundant loose rock.

A steep climb toward V 10's east ridge brought us to where we might be able to climb to the ridge, but the steepness and exceedingly loose rock (think Elk Range, only worse) caused us to back off and look for a better way up. A bit further to our left (east), we found a weakness that others had exploited to gain the ridge.

Obstacles between us and the summit could be bypassed on the south (left) side of the ridge, but extreme care was needed. Did I mention that the rock was loose?

Hail began falling as we maneuvered along the ridge, but we were not going to be denied and soon were on V 10's summit where we found a CMC summit register placed by Roger Linfield on 9/16/2014. A celebratory summit photo followed.

We returned along the ridge and descended the seemingly endless loose rock to the basin.

Rain began as we headed toward Cascade Creek, and the miserable willow bashing of this morning was even more miserable this afternoon as the willows got wet.

After returning to our campsite, we backpacked to the trailhead, having decided to climb Grizzly Peak B another time. Still, the rain (and willows) didn't dampen our enthusiasm for reaching a seldom-visited summit, and V 10 seemed like the perfect peak for completion of the tricentennial peaks.

Kudos/acknowledgement to the following:

My dad, Larry Mack, who taught me the love of the outdoors and was my climbing partner on all 100 centennials, 190 of the bicentennials, and 209 of the 300 highest Colorado peaks;

My son, Randy Mack, who accompanied me on 17 tricentennial peaks, including my final four, over the past two years. He also took all of the photos for our trip last week;

My son, David Mack, who climbed 87 centennials with Randy and me and is an NCS Level II Climbing Instructor who sets up the most bulletproof belay/rappel anchors imaginable;

Bob Martin, who always responded to my letters with crucial encouragement and remains an inspiration to AARP-eligible climbers like me;

Dave "CarpeDM" Mattingly, Natalie "SnowAlien" Moran, and Amy "blazintoes" Gray-Smith, who climbed Peak Fifteen with Randy and me;

Derek "Furthermore" Wolfe, whose trip reports on obscure 13ers have been quite helpful;

Tim Cooney, who reached out to me a few years ago and became a friend and also runs a very nice website (www.climb13ers.com) with great beta on the 13ers;

Bill Middlebrook, who provides this website to climbers at no cost. TYBM!;

John Kirk, who runs an incredibly comprehensive mountaineering website (www.listsofjohn.com);

Vic Ketchman, who provided an appropriate title for this trip report; and

My wife and best friend, Judy Mack, who has selflessly supported my mountaineering adventures over the past 27 years. Thank you!