Trip Reports in Colorado (On Map)

Purple Paddle - Successful climb/canyon non winter & non technical Blue Paddle - Successful peak climb in winter months (December - April) Green Starred Paddle - Successful technical ascent Red Stop Paddle - Worthy, but unsuccessful attempt Hiker - Hiking trip

 Trip Reports in Colorado (List)

September 7th 2008 Mount Evans, Mount Spalding Front Range
October 4th 2008 Mount Bierstadt from Guanella Pass Front Range
August 30th 2009 Mount Powell Attempt Gore Range
September 6th 2009 Drift Peak Villa Ridge Tenmile Range
September 12th 2009 Iowa Peak North Slopes and West Ridge Sawatch Range
September 20th 2009 Dyer Mountain, Mount Sherman from Iowa Gulch Mosquito Range
October 3rd 2009 Point 13,618, Hunky Dory Lake Sawatch Range
January 3rd 2010 Mount Parnassus, Bard Peak Front Range
January 5th 2010 Cupid, Grizzly Peak D, Mount Sniktau Front Range
August 28th 2010 Gold Dust Peak South Face Sawatch Range
August 29th 2010 Notch Mountain Sawatch Range
September 5th 2010 Mount Powell, Gore Range Traverse Gore Range
September 16th 2010 Quandary Peak East Ridge Tenmile Range
September 18th 2010 Atlantic Peak, Pacific Peak from Mohawk Lakes Tenmile Range
September 26th 2010 Mount Jackson Sawatch Range
October 15-17th 2010 Maroon Bells Four Pass Loop Hike Elk Range
May 4th 2011 James Peak Front Range
May 5th 2011 Mount Belford Sawatch Range
May 29th 2011 Mount Silverheels Front Range
June 4th 2011 Blanca Peak, Ellingwood Point Sangre de Cristo Range
June 5th 2011 Mount Shavano, Tabeguache Peak Sawatch Range
June 12th 2011 Challenger Point Sangre de Cristo Range
June 13th 2011 Mount Sneffels Lavender Couloir San Juan Range
June 25th 2011 Uncompahgre Peak, Matterhorn Peak San Juan Range
June 26th 2011 Redcloud Peak, Sunshine Peak San Juan Range
June 27th 2011 San Luis Peak from Equity Mine San Juan Range
June 29th 2011 Mount Antero, Cronin Peak Sawatch Range
June 30th 2011 Twining Peak, Point 13,500 Sawatch Range
August 27th 2011 Grays Peak, Torreys Peak Front Range
September 3rd 2011 Mount Adams Southeast Face Sangre de Cristo Range
September 15th 2011 Clark Peak Medicine Bow Range*
September 17th 2011 Mount Massive Southwest Slopes Sawatch Range
September 18th 2011 Castle Peak Northeast Ridge, Conundrum Peak Elk Range
September 20th 2011 Crystal Peak, Peak 10 Tenmile Range
September 25th 2011 Vermilion Peak, Fuller Peak San Juan Range
September 29th 2011 Fletcher Mountain Tenmile Range
October 2nd 2011 Casco Peak North Ridge from Lackawanna Gulch Sawatch Range
October 20th 2011 Mount Edwards East Slopes Front Range*
October 23rd 2011 Snowmass Mountain East Face Elk Range
November 27th 2011 The DeCaLiBron Mosquito Range
December 11th 2011 Mount Huron Northwest Slopes Sawatch Range
December 25th 2011 Mount Elbert East Ridge Sawatch Range
January 4th 2012 Mount Belford, Mount Oxford from Missouri Gulch Sawatch Range
January 10th 2012 Mount Hope East Ridge from Sheep Gulch Sawatch Range
January 13th 2012 Mount Yale East Ridge Sawatch Range
January 15th 2012 Lackawanna Peak South Slopes Sawatch Range
February 4th 2012 Mount Columbia Southeast Ridge Sawatch Range
February 7th 2012 Loveland Mountain Mosquito Range
February 11th 2012 La Plata Peak Northwest Ridge Sawatch Range
February 26th 2012 Rinker Peak, Twin Peaks Northeast Ridge Sawatch Range
March 3rd 2012 Spread Eagle Peak East Ridge Sangre de Cristo Range
March 9th 2012 Bull Hill Sawatch Range
March 10th 2012 Mount Princeton Sawatch Range
March 23rd 2012 Mount Flora, Colorado Mines Peak Front Range
March 24th 2012 Missouri Mountain Sawatch Range
March 25th 2012 Longs Peak Keyhole Route Front Range
April 6th 2012 Mosquito Traverse (Ten Peaks) Mosquito Range
April 7th 2012 Mount Oklahoma Sawatch Range
April 10th 2012 Mount Arkansas East Face Mosquito Range
April 21st 2012 French Mountain East Face Sawatch Range
April 22nd 2012 Clinton, Traver, McNamee Peaks Mosquito Range
May 4th 2012 Humboldt Peak, Obstruction Peak, Columbia Point Sangre de Cristo Range
May 5th 2012 Mount Ouray West Ridge Sawatch Range
May 15th 2012 Grizzly Peak A East Ridge, Garfield Peak Sawatch Range
May 18th 2012 Mount Harvard South Slopes Sawatch Range
May 20th 2012 Cathedral Peak East Gully/South Ridge Elk Range
May 21st 2012 Square Top Mountain East Ridge Front Range
May 28th 2012 North Apostle West Slopes Sawatch Range
May 30th 2012 Ice Mountain Apostle Couloir, West Apostle Sawatch Range
June 1st 2012 Mount Lindsey Northwest Ridge, Huerfano Peak Sangre de Cristo Range
June 3rd 2012 South Maroon Peak South Ridge Elk Range
June 7th 2012 Stewart Peak East Ridge, Baldy Alto San Juan Range
June 8th 2012 Thunder Pyramid West Face Elk Range
June 9th 2012 Pyramid Peak Northeast Ridge Elk Range
June 10th 2012 Niagara Peak, Jones Mountain, American Peak San Juan Range
June 11th 2012 Handies Peak San Juan Range
June 12th 2012 Wetterhorn Peak San Juan Range
June 16th 2012 Peak C West Ridge Gore Range
June 17th 2012 Eagles Nest South Ridge Gore Range
June 20th 2012 Wilson Peak West Ridge, Gladstone Peak North Ridge San Juan Range
June 21st 2012 El Diente to Mount Wilson Traverse San Juan Range
June 24th 2012 Arrow Peak Northeast Face San Juan Range
June 27th 2012 Mount Sneffels Southwest Ridge San Juan Range
June 29th 2012 North Maroon Peak Elk Range
July 1st 2012 Capitol Peak Northeast Ridge, Mount Daly South Ridge Elk Range
August 16th 2012 Jagged Mountain North Face, Leviathan Peak San Juan Range
August 18th 2012 Mount Eolus, Sunlight Peak, Windom Peak, Jupiter Mountain San Juan Range
December 29th 2012 Little Bear Peak Southwest Ridge Sangre de Cristo Range
June 8th 2013 Crestone Needle Ellingwood Arete 5.7 Sangre de Cristo Range
June 10th 2013 Petit Grepon South Face 5.8 Front Range
September 29 2013 Teakettle Mountain Southeast Ridge San Juan Range
January 14th 2014 Avocado Gully and The Drool Colorado Ice
January 15th 2014 Hidden Falls Colorado Ice
May 18th 2014 Mount Meeker Dreamweaver Couloir Front Range
September 1st 2014 Dallas Peak San Juan Range
September 26th 2014 Independence Monument Otto's Route 5.9 Colorado National Monument
September 28th 2014 Malemute Peak Elk Range
September 27th 2015 Vestal Peak Wham Ridge, Greystone Peak San Juan Range
January 2nd 2016 North Star Mountain Greater Park Range
November 12th 2018 Santa Fe Peak Front Range
May 5th 2019 California Peak Sangre de Cristo Range
September 14th 2019 Crestone Peak North Buttress Sangre de Cristo Range
October 12th 2019 Emerald Peak Sawatch Range
June 13th 2020 Organ Mountain San Juan Range
June 14th 2020 Phoenix Peak San Juan Range
June 20th 2020 Operation Dark Snake Sangre de Cristo Range
June 25th 2020 The Citadel and Pettingel Peak Front Range
June 27th 2020 Peak X Greater Park Range
June 28th 2020 Holy Cross, Holy Cross Ridge Sawatch Range
July 5th 2020 Half Peak NE Ridge San Juan Range
July 6th 2020 Point 13832 and Point 13811 San Juan Range
July 8th 2020 Wheeler Mountain Greater Park Range
August 22nd 2020 Kit Carson Mountain The Prow 5.8 Sangre de Cristo Range
September 20th 2020 Hagerman Peak Elk Range
October 2nd 2020 Golden Horn San Juan Range
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Sawatch Range
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Sunlight Spire and Windom Peak
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Sunset over Mount Princeton
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Sunrise over Vermilion Peak and Golden Horn
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Little Bear Peak in Winter
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The Grenadier Range
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Aspen foliage at Winfield
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Capitol Peak Northeast Ridge
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Cathedral Peak Spires
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Descending Rinker Peak
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Fall over Chimney Rock

Overview

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Sunrise in Rocky Mountain National Park in the Front Range
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Mount of the Holy Cross in the Sawatch Range - Photo by Jack B
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Crestone Needle from S Colony Lakes in the Sangres
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The Maroon Bells in the Elk Range
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Peak C in the Gore Range - Part of the Greater Park Range
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Arrow and Vestal Peaks in the San Juan Range
Colorado is a state that revolves around the outdoors. Many world class climbers and mountaineers call this place home and for a good reason. Colorado makes a great training ground due to the often sunny weather and great ice and rock climbing crags. The cold and windy winters offer great cold weather, big mountain training and the high altitude requires one to be in great shape. Colorado has it all however some key features are lacking. Colorado doesn't have any glaciers which is a huge problem for those looking for crevasse rescue training. Despite this, Colorado is a great place to live and offers 300 sunny days a year. The main hub is Denver and in many ways is dangerously similar to Seattle, the main hub for the state of Washington. Colorado can easily be divided into sections based on the sub-ranges that are distinguished by geology and geography. 

Front Range

The Front Range is the closest to Denver and stretches from Rocky Mountain National Park capped by the infamous Longs Peak in the north, to Pikes Peak in the south which towers above Colorado Springs. Between lies the Indian Peaks Wilderness, Lost Creek Wilderness, Vasquez Peak Wilderness and the I-70 range. Most of the high Front Range is noted to be pretty gentle with many 13,000 foot peaks being large hills with simple routes up many faces. There are hidden gems however in the Indian Peaks Wilderness and around Longs Peak. Many of the east facing aspects were heavily scoured by glaciers and although the glaciers are now gone, dramatic cliffs and deep couloirs can be found on east aspects throughout the Front Range. The Arapaho Peaks are a good example. Interstate 70 cuts right across the range passing through Idaho Springs and Georgetown which are Front Range mountain towns. The Eisenhower Tunnel at just over 11,000 feet crosses under the continental divide along the crest of the range. This tunnel is the highest elevation of any US Interstate. Lower elevation areas in The Front Range is there all the true gems are hidden. World class climbing areas such as Eldorado Canyon and the Flatirons near Boulder, as well as Shelf Road and Garden of the Gods by Colorado Springs are located on the flanks of this mighty range. 

Sawatch Range

The Sawatch Range is likely the best range for hiking mountains. Nearly the entire range is gentle and good for hiking. The range is very long stretching from Vail to the north all the way to Salida and Buena Vista in the south. Between lie 15 of Colorado's 53 ranked fourteeners and an additional 12 centennial thirteeners, meaning over a quarter of the highest 100 in Colorado lie in the Sawatch! Although the range is classified as being very gentle, good mountaineering routes like the Refrigerator Couloir on Ice Mountain, the Cross Couloir on Holy Cross and the Grizzly Couloir on Grizzly Peak are found. There are however few, if any good rock climbing routes in the Sawatch. The most rugged part of the range is probably the Holy Cross Wilderness at the northern end. Oddly enough this is also the most remote despite the close proximity to I-70. To the south, Mount Elbert and Mount Massive, the two highest peaks in Colorado are found towering above Leadville which is the highest incorporated city in North America. The National Mining Museum is found in Leadville. Many other 14ers are found in the central and southern end of the range.

Sangre de Cristo Range

The Sangres are a long and thin fault block range similar to the Grand Tetons which rose 6000 feet above the Wet Mountain and San Luis Valleys without any foothills. No paved roads penetrate the spine of this range and it must be driven around. There are two main groups in this range which are the Crestone group and the Blanca Group. All the highest peaks are found in these groups. The Crestones are two of the best peaks in Colorado and offer many great routes while Little Bear in the Blanca group is possible the hardest and most dangerous 14er. The Sangres demand respect or you might pay the ultimate price. Westcliffe is the primary launching point from the Wet Mountain valley to the east while Alamosa is the largest town in the San Luis valley to the west. Further to the south, only 15 miles north of New Mexico lies Culebra Peak which lies entirely on private property and the owners require a $100 fee to climb it. Although there are ways around this it is best to pay it if you desire to climb all the 14ers in Colorado. Many lower 13ers lie between the main peaks in the Sangres composed of mainly red colored sandstone.

Elk Range

The Elk Range is Colorado's most picturesque range and home to some of the worlds most famous mountains known as the Maroon Bells. The town of Aspen sites in the heart of the Elks and is world famous for its skiing and beauty. The Elks can easily be divided into two obvious sections based on geology. The eastern half of the Elks are characterized but the red colored Maroon Formation sedimentary rock which gives the Maroon Bells its deep red color. This rock is known to be of poor quality and climbing on it can be very dangerous. Pyramid Peak sits right across the Maroon Bells and is another one of the hardest 14ers. This area is also home to Castle Peak, the highest in the range. Further west is the granitic core of the Elks characterized by mainly good quality granite. This area is home to Capitol Peak which is usually referred as the most difficult 14er and has the only required knife edge crossing of any 14er. One of Colorado's best alpine basins, the Pierre Lakes Basin, sits below Capitol and Snowmass  and offers on of the most remote places to camp in Colorado!

Greater Park Range

This range is Colorado's longest range as it stretches from Laramie, Wyoming all the way south to Buena Vista. However it is broken out into a number of sections based on geography. Geologically speaking however this entire range is the same. In the northern part of the Park Range lies the Medicine Bow and Park Mountains surrounding Grand Lake and Steamboat Springs. Mount Zirkel is the highest peak in the Park mountains at 12,180 feet elevation. Clark Peak is the highest in the Medicine Bows at 12,951 feet. Further south lies the Gore Range which starts at Eagles Nest just west of Kremmling and extends south to Jacque Peak which Copper Mountain resides on. The Gores are distinguished by having many of its prominent peaks named for the letters of the alphabet starting at "Peak A" in the north and ending at "Peak Z" further south. Tenmile Canyon, a deep cut which I-70 follows shortly to the west of Silverthorne divides the Gore Range to the west and the Tenmile Range to the east. Really these ranges are the same but have different names simply because there is a big canyon and an interstate between them. Peak One starts the Tenmile Range in the north and extends to the south to the continental divide at Wheeler Mountain at which point the Mosquito Range begins and extends south to the Buffalo Peaks just above Buena Vista. The boundaries for all these ranges in the Greater Park Range are all arbitrary based on geographic features however if you can remember they are all geologically the same you're good. 

San Juan Range

The San Juans are undoubtedly Colorado's finest range with unsurpassed beauty and enough peaks, lakes and open meadows to feed your mountain climbing, backpacking and photography desires. In fact, the San Juans are the best place in Colorado to embark on long treks involving many consecutive days of cross country travel. There are 12 of Colorado's 53 ranked 14ers in the San Juans with an additional two, El Diente and North Eolus that often make climbers' lists due to their beauty and overall difficulty to ascend despite not quite having 300 feet of prominence. The highest peak in the San Juans goes to Uncompahgre Peak at 14,309 feet in elevation. Although there are 14 beautiful 14ers in the range, it is the 13ers that make the San Juans so special. With 314 rugged peaks between 13,000 and 13,999 feet the San Juans include an astonishing 43 percent of all the 13ers in the state. The only three centennial 13ers in Colorado that require class 5 traveling are found in the San Juans and offer a monumental capstone trio for many Colorado climbers working towards the Centennials. In total there are sixteen centennial 13ers in the San Juans, added on to the twelve 14ers, to provide you an incredible list of peaks to climb! The San Juans are remote, rugged and wild.

The Colorado Centennials


Peak Name Elevation Rank Range Difficulty (YDS)
Mount Elbert 14,433' 1 Sawatch class 1
Mount Massive 14,421' 2 Sawatch class 2
Mount Harvard 14,420' 3 Sawatch class 2
Blanca Peak 14,345' 4 Sangre De Cristo class 2
La Plata 14,336' 5 Sawatch class 2
Uncompahgre Peak 14,309' 6 San Juan class 2
Crestone Peak 14,294' 7 Sangre De Cristo class 3
Mount Lincoln 14,286' 8 Mosquito Range class 2
Grays Peak 14,270' 9 Front Range class 1
Mount Antero 14,269' 10 Sawatch class 2
Torreys Peak 14,267' 11 Front Range class 2
Castle Peak 14,265' 12 Elk Range class 2+
Quandary Peak 14,265' 13 Tenmile Range class 1
Mount Evans 14,264' 14 Front Range class 1
Longs Peak 14,255' 15 Front Range class 3
Mount Wilson 14,246' 16 San Juan Range class 4
Mount Shavano 14,229' 17 Sawatch class 2
Mount Princeton 14,197' 18 Sawatch class 2
Mount Belford 14,197 19 Sawatch class 1
Crestone Needle 14,197 20 Sangre De Cristo class 3
Mount Yale 14,196' 21 Sawatch class 2
Mount Bross 14,172' 22 Mosquito class 2
Kit Carson Peak 14,165' 23 Sangre De Cristo class 3
Maroon Peak 14,156' 24 Elk Range class 3
Tabeguache Peak 14,155' 25 Sawatch class 2
Mount Oxford 14,153' 26 Sawatch class 2
Mount Sneffels 14,150' 27 San Juan class 2
Mount Democrat 14,148' 28 Mosquito class 2
Capitol Peak 14,130' 29 Elk class 4
Pikes Peak 14,110 30 Front Range class 1
Snowmass Mountain 14,092' 31 Elk class 3
Windom Peak 14,087' 32 San Juan class 2+
Mount Eolus 14,084' 33 San Juan class 3
Challenger Point 14,081' 34 Sangre De Cristo class 2+
Mount Columbia 14,073' 35 Sawatch class 2
Missouri Mountain 14,067' 36 Sawatch class 2+
Humboldt Peak 14,064' 37 Sangre De Cristo class 2
Mount Bierstadt 14,060' 38 Front Range class 2
Sunlight Peak 14,059' 39 San Juan class 4
Handies Peak 14,048' 40 San Juan class 1
Culebra Peak 14,047' 41 Sangre De Cristo class 2
Mount Lindsey 14,042' 42 Sangre De Cristo class 2+
Ellingwood Point 14,042' 43 Sangre De Cristo class 2
Little Bear 14,037' 44 Sangre De Cristo class 4
Mount Sherman 14,036' 45 Mosquito Range class 2
Redcloud Peak 14,034' 46 San Juan class 2
Pyramid Peak 14,018' 47 Elk Range class 4
Wilson Peak 14,017' 48 San Juan class 3
Wetterhorn 14,015' 49 San Juan class 3
San Luis Peak 14,014' 50 San Juan class 1
Mount of the Holy Cross 14,005' 51 Elk Range class 2
Huron Peak 14,003' 52 Sawatch class 1
Sunshine Peak 14,001' 53 San Juan class 2
Grizzly Peak 13,988' 54 Sawatch class 2
Stewart Peak 13,983' 55 San Juan class 1
Columbia Point 13,980' 56 Sangre De Cristo class 2+
Pigeon Peak 13,972' 57 San Juan class 4
Mount Ouray 13,971' 58 Sawatch class 2
Fletcher Mountain 13,951 59 Tenmile Range  class 2
Ice Mountain 13,951 60 Sawatch class 3
Pacific Peak 13,950' 61 Tenmile Range  class 2
Cathedral Peak 13,943 62 Elk Range class 3
French Mountain 13,940' 63 Sawatch class 2
Mount Hope 13,933' 64 Sawatch class 2
"Thunder Pyramid" 13,932' 65 Elk Range class 3
Mount Adams 13,931 66 Sangre De Cristo class 2+
Gladstone Peak 13,913' 67 San Juan class 3
Mount Meeker 13,911' 68 Front Range class 3
Casco Peak 13,908' 69 Sawatch class 2
Red Mountain 13,908 70 Sangre De Cristo class 2
Emerald Peak 13,904' 71 Sawatch class 2
Horseshoe Mountain 13,898' 72 Tenmile Range class 1
"Phoenix Peak" 13,895' 73 San Juan class 1
Vermilion Peak 13,894' 74 San Juan class 2
Cronin Peak 13,870' 75 Sawatch class 2
Mount Buckskin 13,865' 76 Tenmmile Range class 2
Vestal Peak 13,864' 77 San Juan class 2+
Jones Mountain 13,860' 78 San Juan class 2
North Apostle 13,860' 79 Sawatch class 2
Clinton Peak 13,857' 80 Tenmile Range class 2
Dyer Mountain 13,855' 81 Tenmile Range class 2
Crystal Peak 13,852 82 Tenmile Range class 2
Mount Edwards 13,850' 83 Front Range class 1
California Peak 13,849' 84 Sangre De Cristo class 1
Mount Oklahoma 13,845' 85 Sawatch class 2
"Atlantic Peak" 13,841' 86 Tenmile Range class 2
Hagerman Peak 13,841 87 Elk Range class 2+
Half Peak 13,841 88 San Juan class 2
Turret Peak 13,835' 89 San Juan class 2+
Point 13,832 13,832' 90 San Juan class 2
Holy Cross Ridge 13,831' 91 San Juan class 2
Jupiter Mountain 13,830' 92 San Juan class 2+
"Huerfano Peak" 13,828' 93 Sangre De Cristo class 2
Jagged Mountain 13,824' 94 San Juan class 5.2
"Lackawanna Peak" 13,823' 95 Sawatch class 2
Mount Silverheels 13,822' 96 Tenmile Range class 1
Rio Grande Pyramid 13,821' 97 San Juan class 2
Teakettle Mountain 13,829' 98 San Juan class 5.3
Point 13,811 13,811' 99 San Juan class 1
Dallas Peak 13,809' 100 San Juan class 5.3