Regional discussion and conditions reports for the U.S. Rocky Mountains. Please post partners requests and trip plans in the Colorado Climbing Partners section.
Way too much driving IMHO. I agree with pyerger about the Crestones and Kit Carson: they're super-fun scrambles, much better than Grays, Torreys, and Sneffels. Between Alamosa and Ouray, you could tag Engineer or Snowdon, the former because it's a landmark, the latter for its view of the Needles and Grenadiers. Between Georgetown and Denver, if you're comfortable soloing 5.easy, you could head up to Boulder and play on the Flatirons.
Back in Denmark for a few days now after my CO roundtrip. I think CO just made it to the top of the list of the 26 US states I have visited so far. Weather was great on most days, so I ended up more or less following my pre-planned program:
Day 1: Sundance Mtn. in Rocky Mtn NP (just a 30 min hike from the road) Day 2: Otis (east ridge) + Hallett + Flattop Day 3: Longs Peak + Storm Peak + Battle Mtn. Day 4-6: Conference Day 7: Pikes Peak (first 4.000+ m mtn I have "climbed" in a Ford Focus...), High Dune in Great Sand dunes NP Day 8: Two unnamed 11.000+ feet peaks near Wolf Creek Pass Day 9: Mt. Sneffels (SW ridge) + Black Canyon NP Day 10: Crag Crest loop on Grand Mesa + Colorado Nat. Monument Day 11: Torrey (Kelso ridge) + Grays Day 12: Mt. Spalding + Mt. Ewans + Sawtooth from Guanella pass. Ran out of time, so had to skip Sawtooth ridge + Bierstadt.
It ended up being 1.200 miles of driving, but that was ok, since I got to see a lot of CO. Longs Peak from Keyhole to summit was the most fun scramble, while Sneffels and Crag Crest provided the best views.
Thanks for the suggestions. CO could definitely call for a second visit.