Ellingwood Pt. via South Zapata Creek (non-standard route)
To avoid the busy and rough Lake Como Road and the crowds at Lake Como camp-sites we followed an alternate route from South Zapata Lake. The route to summit was long, rocky, loose and cold on the shady side of the peak. We did get to see Big Horn Sheep...
Snowmass Mountain
A challenging mountain summited with son Brett Crandall in a nearly 19 hour day from dark to dark.
Twining Peak – A High Thirteener near Aspen
Twining Peak, 13,711’ near Aspen, Class 2 and dog-friendly. Also called Blue Peak, it is approached on a largely unmarked route that summits Blarney Peak first in order to access a saddle and ridge to Twining. Emme and Alfie, Australian Terriers made...
Handies Peak in the San Juans – Southwest Slope from American Basin
Starting in Lake City, a Colorado classic western town in the San Juan Range; Hiking, climbing from the American Basin, a caldera left over from the volcanic activity millions of years ago making for a picturesque and very snowy day.
Kit Carson Peak and Challenger Point: A Long Day
These were two great mountains in the Sangre de Cristos. This was a 15 hour day including backpacking out to the trailhead. At the Kit Carson summit, the Crestones (Peak and Needle) hovered behind us as if to say: “Try me, we get even more difficult”
Mt. Massive – Southwest Slopes
Mount Massive is the third highest peak in the lower 48 states framing Leadville, CO which is the highest city in the United States. Massive is a huge mountain with five summits over 14,000’ We climbed it from the North Halfmoon Creek trailhead.
We...
Mt. Belford (14,197’) and Mt. Oxford (14,153’) Climbed Under Full Moon
Mt. Belford and Mt. Oxford are two fourteeners in the Sawatch Range that includes the Collegiates near Buena Vista. We decided to climb these two peaks under the light of the first full moon of summer, called the “Super Moon” since it is when the...
Castle and Conundrum Peaks – Adventure on Rock and Snow
A solo attempt in 2009 redone in 2013 to nab both peaks. Castle and Conundrum are fourteeners visible from home. Unique among most mountain routes, snow fields are present well into the summer on the descent from this pair affording uphill trekking with...
Mt. Harvard and Mt. Columbia
Two fourteeners near Buena Vista in the Collegiates subset of the Sawatch Range. Mt. Harvard is a delight especially from campsite near tree line, but Columbia was as loose, steep and ugly as any fourteener.