I may have been slow to warm up to the idea, but I know for a fact that some of Colorado’s finest mountains are not 14,000 ft. In an effort to find some good peaks near Denver, I did some research on the Indian Peaks Wilderness a.k.a. the IPW. Our first trip to the IPW was on Memorial Day. I had lofty plans of doing a snow climb on Mt. Neva. Like most of the Colorado Rockies, the IPW got slammed with snow during the 2010/11 winter and the trailhead sign was almost completely covered. Needless to say, route finding was a challenge. We never made it to Mt. Neva, but we still had a fun day.

In August we decided to return and climb Mt. Neva’s North ridge. The trail starts from the Fourth of July trailhead outside Nederland, CO. On Friday, we followed the Arapahoe Pass Trail for about 2 miles and setup camp 1/4 mile shy of the old mine. Saturday morning we were up early for our summit attempt.

A creek along the Arapahoe Pass Trail. Hiking poles were helpful.

Mt. Neva coming into view over Lauren’s shoulder.

From camp, the hike up to Arapahoe Pass wasn’t too bad. (Side note: going to Arapahoe Pass would be an excellent day hike)

Early morning light hits Mt. Neva

From the pass, we gained Mt. Neva’s North ridge. The ridge is considered class 3 with a couple class 4 sections.

Lauren along one section of the ridge.

The route starts on the right of this photo and works to the high point on the left.

The ridge was super fun and had stunning views of the surrounding IPW, James Peak Wilderness, and some RMNP. The descent was a bit sketchy (loose rock). We were also glad that we packed our ice axes…we were still able to descend a few hundred vertical feet on snow.

Something tells me that this lake isn’t melting out completely this summer.

Looking up after descending.

I know it was a long day for Lauren, but she handled the mileage well. Once back at camp, we packed up and headed out.

In the summer of 2010, my friend Kyle, his friend Jake, and I took a trip to the Sangre De Cristos in southern Colorado to climb Crestone Needle. We had an incredible time (even though I never found time to blog about it) and decided to take another dude trip this summer.

Crestone Needle in the background

After some research, we turned our eyes towards Chicago Basin in southwestern Colorado (near Durango). Chicago Basin is a fairly remote wilderness area home to three of Colorado’s 14,000 ft. mountains.

Just getting to the Needleton trailhead requires a fun train ride via the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad or a long backpack in. If you want to save money or just have the time, I suppose the backpack option could be fun. We all felt the train added to the experience and was well worth the money.

Lauren took the train with us and waved bye as we got dropped off at the Needleton trailhead. She enjoyed a weekend exploring Silverton, Mesa Verde, Durango, etc.

Bye Lauren!

Lauren @ Mesa Verde

From the Needleton trailhead we made the fairly arduous hike (3,000 ft elevation gain, 6 miles, 3 hours) to Chicago Basin.

The basin was quite beautiful!

We expected to see a lot of mountain goats based on our information, and they were literally everywhere.

We only had one full day for climbing. We hoped to climb all three 14ers, but Sunlight and Windom were enough to wear us out pretty well. Eolus would have to wait until another trip. We could have potentially climbed Eolus before hiking out to meet the train, but we didn’t feel like taking the risk of missing our only ride. Most people that climb all three in a day (props to you) start with Eolus and then end with the Sunlight/Windom combo. Sunlight was our main objective, so we opted to start there.

Nearing the summit of Sunlight

I was the only one in our group dumb enough to climb up the block on top of Sunlight. I’ve seen it described as the single hardest move on any 14er. Really its just a bit awkward and nerve-racking (sorry mom!).

Kyle part way up Sunlight’s summit block.

Me perched awkwardly on the Sunlight’s summit block.

Kyle making a quick descent of Windom.

Chicago Basin really is a special place…no wonder why it is so popular.

Take aways:

• Give yourself 4 days in the basin (1 hike in, 2 climbing, 1 hike out)
• Start really really early if you want to climb all 3 peaks in a day
• If you go over a holiday weekend (July 4th in our case) expect plenty of friends
• Hang everything and leave nothing in your tent. Lots of marmots and goats that would love to eat your stuff.
• Take Jake with you. He’ll make you laugh.
• For more tips on Chicago Basin, check out this post on 14ers.com

In June, we went camping with our friends, the Lanzens, on Guanella Pass. It’s really beautiful up there, and it’s not too far from Denver. Everything was going well until we realized that “someone” forgot to pack our tent poles. Luckily, I am a good sport and didn’t complain about sleeping under this makeshift tarp-tent that Joel and Scott created for us. It was better than sleeping under the stars I guess.

In the morning, we headed to Mt. Bierstadt. Yes, this is the Mt. Bierstadt we climbed when my parents came out with us in 2009 and I got altitude sickness. And yes, this is the Mt. Bierstadt that we attempted last winter in the snow when we did not have appropriate gear. And finally, yes, this is the Mt. Bierstadt that is considered to be perhaps the “easiest” of the 14ers, and it took me 3 tries to reach the summit! So, here we are.

I would think that it’s understandable that I was tired when we reached the top. It’s a mountain. However, Mr. Mountain Energy was ready for more. Joel then crossed the Sawtooth ridge and summitted Mt. Evans before beginning a grueling descent. Here he is at the top of Mt. Evans (and yes, this is the same Mt. Evans that you can drive to the top of).

Here’s a view of Mt. Bierstadt (right), the Sawtooth (center), and Mt. Evans (left).

When it was time to go, the Lanzen girls couldn’t handle it. I mean, we are not that exciting, but it was flattering. This was taken while they were holding on to our hands so we couldn’t leave!

Mountaineering, you know…the real deal with ice axes and crampons has always intrigued me. Back in April, Lauren was at the beach with some friends, and I “somehow” ended up at the REI garage sale. I didn’t really need anything, but it didn’t hurt to wander through the deals. And there they were, a couple pairs of old rental crampons for $30 a pair. Sold!

When Lauren returned from the beach, I tried to tell her that the crampons were part of her birthday present. That went over well.

Even though she wasn’t super excited about the idea, Lauren graciously agreed to climb Cristo Couloir with me. Cristo Couloir is a snow climb on Quandary Peak (Lauren’s first 14er when we moved here). We had record or near record snowfall this winter, so there was still plenty of snow, even on June 17th. We tried for a super early start to avoid soft snow conditions once the sun was on the route. Fog, rain, and snow prevented a really early start. With partly cloudy skies, we got started around 6:30 AM. The conditions were great, and we made it up in just under four hours.

Lauren motoring ahead of me. I’m the one that runs and she was kicking my butt!

Excellent views! Still looked like winter up there.

On top! 4 hours up and 1 hour down. Glissading down was a rush. Check out this video (not us in the video) if you don’t know what glissading is.

Just as we were finishing, we saw this fox! Look closely and you’ll see that it started snowing again. We had a perfect weather window.