Route Climbed: Northwest Ridge Date Climbed: October 10, 2004
My final 14er and it turned out to be quite a fun trip. We drove down Friday night and camped by the gate to the ranch. It was pretty cold that night and the sounds of cows and coyotes kept me awake almost all night. Summited Culebra with a large group of hikers from Aspen and then went over to Red mountain. Thanks to the new Ranch owners for allowing access to their land.
Route Climbed: Northwest Ridge Date Climbed: October 2, 2004
Never thought I would set foot on top of this peak. Climbed with a group of 22 people under cold, windy, and cloudy conditions. Everyone but 2 made the summit of Culebra. Took 8 hours to do both Red and Culebra from a parking spot just over 11,000 feet (.5 mile below Fourway).
A gorgeous area and I'm very happy I made the trip to do it along with Red. We all had a great experience on the mountains.
Route Climbed: Northwest Ridge Date Climbed: September 11, 2004
Finally done with the 14ers! I acquired permission to climb Culebra from the new owners, and I brought along a few friends. All told, four of us were completing the 14ers. We made the traverse to Red Mountain and back before returning to the ranch HQ.
I waslucky to decide to do this when the price went from 25 to 40 bucks, thinking then that it'd be possible that one day it'd be closed entirely. Which it is....
Route Climbed: Standard Date Climbed: August 23, 2003
For better or worse, my wife and I were part of the annual CMC sponsored hike. We too met at the Catholic Church at 5:30am and began the parade to the Taylor Ranch. After being lectured we began the hike from 9200 ft. A short distance in, our CMC leader took a wrong turn. She led us left instead of right. She corrected the error and we continued. We reached the end of the road at 11,700 ft. Error number 2 occurred here. We should have continued up the shallow drainage toward the ridge. Instead, our CMC leader led us further south along the faint road. We made up for the navigational error by contouring up to the ridge at 13,200 ft. The weather was hideous today. It was a non-typical monsoon day. The clouds never broke and it snowed on us on the upper ridge. Calls were made to turn around, but no one was answering the call today. The whole group summitted over a period of 2 hours. The group was fragmented and segmented and everybody just kind of did their own thing. It was an amusing day!
Route Climbed: Only Route - Northwest Ridge - 5k vertical, 14 miles Date Climbed: August 25, 2002
I drove to San Luis Saturday night and stayed in the only hotel in town. We all had to meet the leader at 5:30am at the Catholic Church. It wasn’t the easiest church to find and I was running a little behind. I got there right a 5:30 and everyone was ready to leave. If I had been about 5 minutes late I would have missed the group. We all drove our cars to Taylor Ranch and got a welcome talk from the ranch staff.
The first three miles of the hike were on a road to the upper parking lot that is now restricted to drive on. From the upper parking lot we then headed up to the ridge. That was the hardest part of the day. There wasn’t much of a trail and we couldn’t see the summit yet. At about 13,400 feet we reached a point on the ridge and could see the summit from there. At this point there was also the biggest cairn I have ever seen. It was at least ten feet tall and about 5 foot in diameter.
The last 800 feet to the summit was pretty easy, and I was one of the first to it. With a group as large as the one that day people were really spread out. For seven of the people that day this was there last fourteener so it was pretty eventful day for them. The views were great and the hike was really pretty easy except for the number of miles involved. It would have been a long day if I would have done this peak by myself. But with all the people it turned out to be even a longer day. Back at the trailhead I didn’t say much and just wanted to get out of their, and get home.
xskier77 - Oct 10, 2004 9:19 pm
Route Climbed: Northwest Ridge Date Climbed: October 10, 2004My final 14er and it turned out to be quite a fun trip. We drove down Friday night and camped by the gate to the ranch. It was pretty cold that night and the sounds of cows and coyotes kept me awake almost all night. Summited Culebra with a large group of hikers from Aspen and then went over to Red mountain. Thanks to the new Ranch owners for allowing access to their land.
jrf - Oct 3, 2004 5:38 pm
Route Climbed: Northwest Ridge Date Climbed: October 2, 2004Never thought I would set foot on top of this peak. Climbed with a group of 22 people under cold, windy, and cloudy conditions. Everyone but 2 made the summit of Culebra. Took 8 hours to do both Red and Culebra from a parking spot just over 11,000 feet (.5 mile below Fourway).
A gorgeous area and I'm very happy I made the trip to do it along with Red. We all had a great experience on the mountains.
RyanS - Sep 14, 2004 1:14 am
Route Climbed: Northwest Ridge Date Climbed: September 11, 2004Finally done with the 14ers! I acquired permission to climb Culebra from the new owners, and I brought along a few friends. All told, four of us were completing the 14ers. We made the traverse to Red Mountain and back before returning to the ranch HQ.
John Maki - Aug 30, 2004 12:48 pm
Route Climbed: Taylor Ranch Date Climbed: August 28, 2004CMC trip, we were able to start from Fourway. One more 14er to go (Capitol), glad I didn't have to finish with a group hike of Culebra.
climbcolorado - Aug 30, 2004 10:50 am
Route Climbed: Taylor Ranch Date Climbed: 8/29/04Nice hike with 25 CMC members! The last of my 54 Colorado 14ers!
DaveC - May 20, 2004 9:29 pm
Route Climbed: s face Date Climbed: june 98I waslucky to decide to do this when the price went from 25 to 40 bucks, thinking then that it'd be possible that one day it'd be closed entirely. Which it is....
Larry V - Apr 8, 2004 11:26 pm
Route Climbed: Standard, Taylor Ranch Date Climbed: June 1996Climbed with two daughters (7 and 12) and nephew. See photo. I'm glad we got to climb this mountain before it was closed.
rmjwinters - Aug 25, 2003 2:45 pm
Route Climbed: Standard Date Climbed: August 23, 2003For better or worse, my wife and I were part of the annual CMC sponsored hike. We too met at the Catholic Church at 5:30am and began the parade to the Taylor Ranch. After being lectured we began the hike from 9200 ft. A short distance in, our CMC leader took a wrong turn. She led us left instead of right. She corrected the error and we continued. We reached the end of the road at 11,700 ft. Error number 2 occurred here. We should have continued up the shallow drainage toward the ridge. Instead, our CMC leader led us further south along the faint road. We made up for the navigational error by contouring up to the ridge at 13,200 ft. The weather was hideous today. It was a non-typical monsoon day. The clouds never broke and it snowed on us on the upper ridge. Calls were made to turn around, but no one was answering the call today. The whole group summitted over a period of 2 hours. The group was fragmented and segmented and everybody just kind of did their own thing. It was an amusing day!
Grant - Jul 31, 2003 10:49 pm
Route Climbed: Only Route - Northwest Ridge - 5k vertical, 14 miles Date Climbed: August 25, 2002I drove to San Luis Saturday night and stayed in the only hotel in town. We all had to meet the leader at 5:30am at the Catholic Church. It wasn’t the easiest church to find and I was running a little behind. I got there right a 5:30 and everyone was ready to leave. If I had been about 5 minutes late I would have missed the group. We all drove our cars to Taylor Ranch and got a welcome talk from the ranch staff.
The first three miles of the hike were on a road to the upper parking lot that is now restricted to drive on. From the upper parking lot we then headed up to the ridge. That was the hardest part of the day. There wasn’t much of a trail and we couldn’t see the summit yet. At about 13,400 feet we reached a point on the ridge and could see the summit from there. At this point there was also the biggest cairn I have ever seen. It was at least ten feet tall and about 5 foot in diameter.
The last 800 feet to the summit was pretty easy, and I was one of the first to it. With a group as large as the one that day people were really spread out. For seven of the people that day this was there last fourteener so it was pretty eventful day for them. The views were great and the hike was really pretty easy except for the number of miles involved. It would have been a long day if I would have done this peak by myself. But with all the people it turned out to be even a longer day. Back at the trailhead I didn’t say much and just wanted to get out of their, and get home.