aglane wrote:Nobody's mentioning a flatlander's getting acclimated (sez this writer from Essex County, MA and more recently Iowa). Down around Pike's Peak is the nice short-day Sentinel Point 12,527. In RMNP Estes Cone is a quick walk, and Chasm Lake is nice as could be (if crowded I suppose on weekends at least). And if you're going west on I-70, why not drive Loveland Pass, take a couple of hours walking over to Sniktau and back? 11,990 at the pass to 13,234 gets the blood O2 tested a bit.
Of course Kristin may not need anything of the sort .... But there's no benefit in getting wrecked the first day out, and some benefit in planning a short day if arriving of a morning.

Very good point. If you're not used to altitude you might want to work around that.

If you like a good scramble, the Crestone peaks in the Sangres are great 14ers!! About 2 hours south of Colorado Springs.
The Sangres are a bit drier than northern colorado, and it will probably snow up high this week. Some of my Favs, are The Crestone needle (standard route) class 3 some exposure. The standard route on Crestone peak 3rd class, (long day). Probably one of the best scrambles in Colorado, or anywhere, is the north ridge of Kit carson 1000' of 4th class, exposed,on bomber rock!!! The crestone traverse 4th class one pitch is very airy!!! NW buttress Crestone peak 4th class AIRY!!! Another favorite scramble, is the west ridge of Ellingwood peak, in the Blanca group, of the Sangres.

Also try 14ers.com for more info. Have Fun!!

CSUMarmot wrote:

aglane wrote:Nobody's mentioning a flatlander's getting acclimated (sez this writer from Essex County, MA and more recently Iowa). Down around Pike's Peak is the nice short-day Sentinel Point 12,527. In RMNP Estes Cone is a quick walk, and Chasm Lake is nice as could be (if crowded I suppose on weekends at least). And if you're going west on I-70, why not drive Loveland Pass, take a couple of hours walking over to Sniktau and back? 11,990 at the pass to 13,234 gets the blood O2 tested a bit.
Of course Kristin may not need anything of the sort .... But there's no benefit in getting wrecked the first day out, and some benefit in planning a short day if arriving of a morning.

Very good point. If you're not used to altitude you might want to work around that.

Thanks for the very valid concern! I have done a few 14ers in other locations and I have Diamox in case it bothers me while trying to sleep:)

lcarreau wrote:So, you're flying to Colorado from Boston ???

Geez, I hope you get there faster than the server is moving on Summitpost right now.

All reliable sources indicate that you WILL.

NO KIDDING MAN! Its been a little rough with this sloggish server.

Legpowered wrote:

Lionel wrote:I share your sentiment, but I think only a few of them are crowded with out of state hikers ... I am still welcoming to people from out of state and willing to share!

Friend of mine is planning a trip to the San Juans in early summer of 2012. He wants to spend the night at Ridgway State Park, which is the gateway to the
San Jauns at nearly 7,000' in elevation.

What can he expect as far as vistas and trail conditions go? Will the place be relatively peaceful in early summer, or MUST he make early reservations ???

Legpowered wrote:

Lionel wrote:I share your sentiment, but I think only a few of them are crowded with out of state hikers. I encountered mostly Denver area and other front range people on peaks, if I encountered people at all. Elbert was the worst offender, but Pikes was crowded with train riders.

If you didn't encounter anyone on a fourteener you were very lucky. I have climbed quite a few and there has been basically a line of people on almost all of them. Lots of Front Rangers, but also people from all over the country. On mountains like Grays/Torreys, Bierstadt, Pikes, Longs, Massive and Elbert there were literally hundreds of people. Even on Capitol and Snowmass and others here in the Elk Range where I live it is hard to find a place to camp at the base of these climbs and the summits get packed with people as the day gets on. I think I will only climb fourteeners by non-standard routes or in winter and stick to 13ers during the summer. I'm not blaming anyone or any particular group, it's just the way things go in the backcountry in a world with more than 7 billion people. I am still welcoming to people from out of state and willing to share!

Back when I was still interested in the idea of the 14ers, I climbed about 25 of them, I think. For all but four, I had the summit to myself and saw very few others until I was back on maintained trails. Even Longs and Bierstadt and Evans. My trick was to start super-early and maintain a very fast pace, or to start around mid-afternoon when the weather was good. I also did many on weekdays, which is easy for a guy on a trip but might be harder for a resident who has to work.

The exceptions were Handies, Redcloud and Sunshine, and Belford. On Handies, I got a late start due to morning rain and wound up going on the day of some massive trail run. On Redcloud and Sunshine, there were a guy and his son camped in the basin below Redcloud, and they got an early start and I didn't catch them until the summit of Sunshine, arriving just steps behind. Belford was a similar story, with a very large group camped below Elkhead Pass.

I'm not counting Pikes!

Bob Sihler wrote:I'm not counting Pikes!

Except for the summit, I very rarely see anyone on Pikes (which I have climbed over 100 times in the last 10 years.) If you stay off Barr Trail, you rarely see more than a couple people in a day, especially on weekdays. If you also stay off the Crags trail, you will probably not see anyone even on weekends.