The Colorado Trail is an awesome thru-hike route! But I noticed while hiking the CT, that much of the time that the best parts of an area you hike through just aren’t really showcased. The trail just weaves itself along a contour line below treeline, and you miss out on seeing most of the high Continue reading…
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My long-form trip report of my Mosquito-Tenmile Traverse is up on the Ultimate Direction blog. Grab a coffee and have a read: http://blog.ultimatedirection.com/knowing-when-to-just-go-for-it-the-mosquito-tenmile-range-traverse/
Learn more about the complete Mosquito/Tenmile Range Traverse The Mosquito/Tenmile range in Colorado runs south to north between Buena Vista and Frisco, CO. Inspired by Peter Bakwin’s nearly futuristic vision and attempts to traverse the entire ridgeline from Weston Pass (outside of Leadville, CO) to the Mount Royal trailhead, I awoke early Saturday morning from Continue reading…
I took my buddy Nolan up his first 14er, and he made this video of our trip. Enjoy!
Sometimes it’s seems that it’s hard to follow up something like the Tour of the Highest Hundred with the next project. It took years to get myself physically and mentally ready to take something like that on – save nothing for the financial burden of taking so much time off work and the burden of Continue reading…
Stats (approx.): 36.5 miles 12,815’ Starting Date: 9/2/17 Total time: 2 days, 11min Three Centennials Summited: Capitol Peak Snowmass Mountain Hagerman Peak After cruising through the Sawatch, I had to once again cross west over the Continental Divide – this time with an unruly bear canister in tow, to dash off the Elk Range. A Continue reading…
Stats (approx.): 32 miles 10,000’+ elevation Total time: 1 day, 2hr, 30min Three Centennials Summited: “Phoenix Peak” San Luis Stewart Peak I questioned framing this leg of my Tour of the Highest Hundred as a, “Fastpack from Hell”, as the numbers really don’t compare to the Crestones, Sierra Blanca – let alone the mighty Weminuche. Continue reading…
Stats (approx.): 81.4 Miles 34,847’+ elevation Total time: 5 days, 1hr, 44min Nine Centennials Summited: Pigeon Peak Turret Peak Jupiter Mountain Windom Peak Sunlight Peak North Eolus Mount Eolus Jagged Mountain Vestal Peak The Weminuche. This was the make-or-break section of my tour. A large project within an enormous project. Lots of terrain to cover, Continue reading…
Happy to announce a new talk covering my Highest Hundred trip in 2017 at Bent Gate in Golden, CO on the 28th of March. Come by and check it out! The event is free:
Before I completed my first self-powered Longs Peak Duathlon (after a few failures) from Arvada, I knew of only a few others I was certain had made the trip: Bill Wright, The Briggs Brothers, Stefan Griebel. I never thought about who the first people to complete the feat were – perhaps the names were lost Continue reading…
The Crestones! A highlight of my Highest Hundred trip – the mountains of this group are awesomely steep, the rock is solid, the scrambling: divine. This is truly a Fastpack from Hell-yeah! Stats: 36.1 Miles 15,200’+ elevation Total time: 1 day, 17hr, 28min Seven Centennials summited: Adams Challenger Kit Carson Columbia Point Humboldt Crestone Needle Continue reading…
Stats: 33.1 Miles 15,085’+ elevation Total time: 2 days 25min Six Centennials summited: Ellingwood Point Little Bear Peak Blanca Peak “Huerfano Peak” Mt. Lindsey California Peak To make the Tour of the Highest Hundred work, my general strategy was to keep the number of separate trailheads I needed to visit by bike as low as Continue reading…
Centennials Summited (11): Mt. Adams Kit Carson Peak Challenger Peak Columbia Point Humboldt Peak Crestone Needle Crestone Peak Phoenix Peak San Luis Peak Stewart Peak Rio Grande Pyramid Total Mileage: By foot: 85.4 miles, 29,916′ elevation gained By bike: 276.3 miles, 12,298′ elevation gained
Centennials Summited (9): Pikes Peak Culebra Peak Red Mountain Ellingwood Point Little Bear Blanca Peak “Huefrano Peak” Mt. Lindsey California Peak Total Mileage: By foot: 62.4 miles, 23,625′ elevation gained By bike: 362 miles, 21,242′ elevation gained
My time in Salida on tour soon came to an end, after a little time at the hostel with an honest to goodness shower. Time for me to travel north! Out of Salida, there’s some pretty awful highway riding to get directly to the next town, Buena Vista, and the day I set off saw Continue reading…
I took a ride out from Salida to Poncha Springs then onto Chaffee County 210 to the rarely visited (by 14er standards) Little Cochetopa Trailhead, which gives you access to Mt. Ouray, a Centennial peak @ 13,971′. The last few miles of the well-maintained road turned into a legitimate 4WD track, and it was a Continue reading…
I’m presently in the Salida area, enjoying the incredible weather, tough training, and reconning potential routes. Salida and its people are incredibly friendly, bike shops and bike people are everywhere, and the mountains are crazy-accessible. I rode here from Colorado Springs, having taken the bus from Boulder -> Denver -> Colorado Springs to save some Continue reading…
Part One 5:00pm on Friday. Time to set off towards Estes Park. Although I would have like to take a more dirt route off the bat, the day was getting long, and I had some exploratory tracks to travel, so I took the express-way down Highway 36; it’s traffic known somewhat for its rep of Continue reading…
No rest for the weary! My buddy David perhaps jokingly asked me if I wanted to go for Longs, via the Trough on Sunday (“Those Centennials ain’t gonna climb themselves!”) and I naturally went for the bait, on the condition that I’d probably be lagging behind given the climbing on my legs already for week, Continue reading…
Slowly, I roll to the gate. The Park ranger sees me from afar and returns to me only a tired stare. He himself walks slowly to the entrance booth, not resting his gaze. I now roll towards the booth even slower. Nervous. I feel as if I’m performing a border crossing, rather than just entering Continue reading…
Gerry Roach’s Longs Peak Radical Slam as described in his 14ers book: top out on 7 summits in the Longs Peak area: (Meeker, Longs, Pagoda, Storm, Mt. Lady Washington, Battle Mountain, Estes Cone), topped off with 50 push ups at the trailhead. I’m admittedly pretty terrible at push ups, and this has always been the Continue reading…
What a difference a few weeks makes. Last month, we seemed to have just flown through the window for a Winter conditions ascent of the Notch Couloir. Since then, the temps started rising precipitously. When I rode back to Longs Peak last weekend, most of the snow had already melted. Incredible. On this day, I Continue reading…
Date climbed: 5/28/16 I’ve long since seen, “mountaineering” as the ideal stage in which to set my practice of suffering in the outdoors. Although I’ve certainly danced around mountaineering, I’ve done so only on its periphery. I borrow its terminology with jealousy as the basis on how I explain the other disciplines I practice. For Continue reading…
I’m only in Allenspark, and the sun has already risen. I feel as if I’m very late to my own party. Allenspark is only seven miles away from the Longs Peak Trailhead – my riding destination, but as I summit the last punchy climb and await the downhill just beyond, I conclude that the downhill Continue reading…