Milner Pass to Berthoud Pass along the crest of the Continental Divide
~75 miles, Class 2 – low 5th Class
August 2020, ~3 days 17 hours Solo + Unsupported, First Known Traverse
The mountains along the Continental Divide provide the backdrop to the city I live in: Boulder, CO.
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The mountains along the Continental Divide provide the backdrop to the city I live in: Boulder, CO. From town, nothing can be seen beyond their sheer, rocky, glacier-choked east faces and the ridgeline itself invites one to come explore their craggy features, beacoup exposure, and long expanses of carpeted-in-tundra plateaus.
From Milner Pass located in Rocky Mountain National Park, and Berthoud Pass closer to I-70, one will find over 50 named points and peaks. These passes are about 45 miles apart as the crow flies. No other paved roads are found between these two passes and no other roads – paved or otherwise, can be crossed via motor vehicles. The rest is mostly National Park and Designated Wilderness. The wandering ridge, if followed exactly at its apex, is around 75-80 miles long.
I was surprised to find in my research that there hasn’t been a recorded report of anyone traversing this section of ridge proper by foot. This seems extremely hard to believe, as the concentration of runners, backpackers, mountaineers, and world-class climbers in the area is very high, and the line itself is obvious. It takes a special blend of ultra-running fitness and technical climbing skill to be able to safely traverse the ridge.
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July 2019, ~6 days, 10 hours; Solo + Unsupported
The Sangre de Cristo Range is a long chain of mountains starting (going South to North) between La Veta Pass near Fort Garland, CO to Poncha Pass, near Salida, CO.
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Unrealized
With Longs Peak being of close-enough proximity to Boulder to ride to by bike and back, the mountain has been a long-term focus of mine in the realm of Longs Peak duathlons.
Summiting Longs Peak every month of the year in succession by a different route is the Longs Peak Project.
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2011 (scratch near Silver City), 2012 finish in ~23 days
The Tour Divide was a seminal trip for me. Officially, it was my first (then second) mountain bike race. I thought nothing of buying my first mountain bike a few months before the race, and lining up in Banff, Alberta, Canada, pointing the bike South to the Mexican border.
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Summer, 2018. Solo + Unsupported. Unrepeated.
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 my bivy underneath a tree at Trout Creek Pass, 30+ miles to the south to start on, “The Line”.
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July 2017 – September 2017. Solo + Self-Supported. Unrepeated.
The Hundred Highest Colorado Peaks, ridden to by bike; summited on foot, completely Self-Powered and Self-Supported: in 60 days or less
Weaving a path of singletrack, 4×4 tracks, country and dirt roads, the Tour of the Highest Hundred project takes the path less pedaled to gain the base of ALL the Colorado Centennial Mountains by bike, then summit those peaks by foot in one enormous self-powered, peak bagging Grand Tour.
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Put the canoe in the water, and people will start paddling.
Update: Justin Simoni finished the Tour 14er in 34 Days, 12 hours!
This page is about my own Tour of the Colorado 14ers self-supported self-powered FKT in 2014.
I am currently writing a guide to help others do a trip like mine.
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