Paul - Climbing Colorados Mountains

Susan Joy Paul has hiked, climbed, snowshoed, rappelled, and at timeswhen the winds above 14,000' were screamingcrawled across the state of Colorado, reaching the summits of more than 600 mountains along the way. She has climbed all the ranked 14,000' peaks in the state, and is the only woman to have summited all the ranked peaks in Teller County and in El Paso County. In her first book, Touring Colorado Hot Springs, Susan took a break to relax and revitalize at 32 of the states hot springs, and in Hiking Waterfalls in Colorado she hit the trail, visiting 150 of the states waterfalls. Now, in Climbing Colorados Mountains, Susan returns to the peaks, and is happy to present this compilation of her mountaineering experience and researchalong with descriptions, maps, and photographs of 100 Colorado mountain adventuresto anyone who loves the mountains as much as she does. Susan lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

To the men who loved the mountains, and made me love them, too:

Avrim Cantor (July 20, 1948August 29, 2010),
Bill Boyle (February 20, 1950June 2, 2014),
Bill Brown, Bob Mouner, Dan Anderson,
Doug Hatfield, Eric Hunter, Greg Long, Kevin Baker,
Patrick Niedringhaus (May 5, 1987December 22, 2005),
Spencer Swanger (May 15, 1940July 20, 2010),
and Stewart Green;

and to those who climbed ahead and still owe me a peak:

Jim DiNapoli (November 9, 1954March 28, 2014),
Steve Gladbach (June 6, 1961June 23, 2013),
Adam Helman (July 12, 1960January 9, 2015),
and Terry Mathews (September 20, 1974July 13, 2013).

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ISBN 978-0-7627-8495-0 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-4930-1436-1 (e-book)

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The author and Rowman & Littlefield assume no liability for accidents happening to, or injuries sustained by, readers who engage in the activities described in this book.

This book was written with the support and kindness of friends and strangers on and off the peaks. Many thanks to Stewart Green and Doug Hatfield for climbing a lot of peaks with me over the years. To steal a phrase from Cathy McKeen: Id hike to hell and back with you guys.

Muchos gracias to Bill Middlebrook, John Kirk, Stewart Green, Kevin Baker, Doug Hatfield, Brian Miller, Erik Packard, David Goldstein, Teresa Gergen, Sarah Meiser, and Kiefer Thomas for providing peak photographs and beta, and for proofing some of the chapters in this book; to Mike Rodenak for proofing many chapters in this book and providing generous feedback; to Chris Rudnick for proofreading the mountain geology information and providing feedback; and to Morgan Kiger, James McNally, Kait Orme, and Trevor Smith for giving me free copies of my notes and maps whenever my printer ran out of ink. Thanks, Eric Hunter, for that great lead on the Third Flatiron; thank you, Ian Green, for letting me pitch my tent in your backyard; and thank you, Jeff and Keith Huck, for hauling me out of the snow on Michigan Creek Road.

Thank you to my acquisitions editor, Katie Benoit; production editor, Lauren Brancato; map manager, Melissa Baker; copy editor, Elissa Curcio; layout artist, Sue Murray; and publisher, FalconGuides / Globe Pequot / Rowman & Littlefield, for all your hard work and support.

Thanks for being such great company on some peaks in this book, intentionally or incidentally: Lisa Heckel, David Dietz, Eric Hunter, Chris Gilsdorf, Uwe Sartori, Darin Baker, Scott Patterson, Alberto Pizzato, William Clint Cochrane, Jill Cunningham, Nela Lewis, Erica Burgon, the Old Brown Hermit, and Kim and Fred DeVore.

Oodles of gratitude to the fine people who always have a kind word to outweigh the harsh ones: Timothy Best, Cindi Carter, Ben Conners, Kathleen Cook, Jay Dahl, Jim Davies, Catie Deines, Valerie Deneau, Matt Ellis, Scott Farish, Greg Fisching, Stephen Gallagher, Tall Grass, Kristi Harshbarger, Mindy Carson Hatcher, Doug Hempel, Andy Hixson, Beauvais Jeanmard, Barry Johnson, Britt Jones, Sally Krenz, Ryan Kushner, Kent Loar, Ian MacDonald, Mike McElhaney, Doug Melton, Darlene Michaelis, Shae Noble, Doug Norris, Bill Nosko, Mark Obmascik, Cassie Olson, Julie Peters, Stephanie Pugh, Senad Rizvanovic, Robin Robinson, Ryan Schilling, Tyree Terry, Brent Thompson, Tory Wells, and Jared Workman.

And a big hug to my divine family of women, for raising me up: Jane Clifford, Priscilla Paul, Carolyn McNeil, Alison Milligan, Melissa Clifford, Janina Botchis, Diane Castillo, Michelle Leon, Elaine Duchaineau, Mary Castillo, and Kimberly Flack; and to my sons, Joshua Levesque and Garrett Schaller, for never letting me down.

Mountains define our Colorado landscape. Theyre as familiar to us as the sun, the moon, and the stars above them, and the foothills, forests, and prairies below, all members of our natural family on this earthly place that we call home. For the Colorado mountain climber, theyre a destination and a calling, each one named, numbered, and categorized, and there are as many reasons to climb them as there are mountaineers. Colorado has the highest mean elevation, at 6,800', and the highest low point, at 3,315', of any state in the country. It has more land mass above 10,000' and more mountains with summits above 14,000'including 53 ranked 14ersthan any other state. Its the only state that lies entirely above 1,000 meters (3,281'). About 40 percent of Colorado is public land, including much of the higher elevations, allowing for mostly free and unfettered access to the states multitude of peaks. This dynamic and legally accessible topography provides a wondrous land of climbing adventure for the Colorado mountaineer.

The hikes and climbs in this book lead to more than 100 of Colorados summits and represent a cross section of elevations, prominence, distances, terrain, geography, and technical difficulty. Most of the hikes have a path from the trailhead to the top, or most of the way to the top. Each peak falls into one of three categories:

The legally accessible highpoints of every major mountain range and subrange, major hills, mesas, plateaus, and sand dunes are represented, totaling 58 highpoints and comprising the first category.

In the second category, major mountain passes are represented, with high trailheads and short approaches to the surrounding peaks. Some of Colorados mountain passes lie on roadways that connect cities and mountain towns and lead to Colorados ski resorts. They are plowed and open all year, with only occasional closures during winter storms, giving you access to the nearby peaks. With consideration for road safety, wind, weather, snowpack, and avalanche conditions, passes allow the Colorado mountaineer to climb year-round. After you have climbed a peak from a pass in this book, you can do more research and climb the rest of the peaks at that pass. Note that there are many