Long, dumb story time.
I moved to CO in fall 2011 and caught the 14er bug in 2012. After wrapping those up in 2016, I started down the Centennial list in 2017 with fellow 14er enthusiast Rick Howell (macgyver) whom I met on Culebra in '16. We completed the Cents on Vestal's Wham Ridge in 2019 and also got to celebrate Troy Burke's (HikerGuy) Centennial finisher on Jagged during the same trip. Mike Henney was at the train stop to celebrate with us (he & I met on an Orizaba trip in 2018) and we've all been pals since. I think it's really stinking cool that all of our paths had crossed separately on different hiking trips (Troy and I met on Capitol in 2015), and I love how we have all remained friends over the years… even if these guys can spend hours talking about mf'n flashlights and other nerdery.
(Love you dudes!)While working through the Centennial list, my good friend Kevin Baker (met on the Helen-Father Dyer traverse in 2016) teased me about "cherry picking" peaks, and boooy was he right! I still just couldn't commit to the entire 13er list like he had (nor did I think I was capable), so in 2020, the weirdest year ever, I met Erik Tischner (Tisch) and we started rolling through the Bicents like it was our job. The highlight of that summer was a trip to Ruby Basin with Mark Thomas, who packed in 60lbs or so from Purg to Ruby in a single push, and some of that burly pack weight was due to a few full-sized/hard-backed books if I recall correctly. Haha. Anyways, somewhere along the way that year I think that I finally figured out that I may as well work towards the whole dang 13er list, and then in ~2022-23 I started thinking the unranked 13ers would be great to tack on too - and so the scope creep continued. 100 peaks had turned to 200, then 200 had turned to 583, and now 583 has turned to 788. Get a life already, sister!
Backtracking to fall 2020, I met peak-bagging superstars Ben Feinstein (supranihilest) and Whiley Hall (whileyh) on a climb of the Palisade with Kevin. When Ben reached the summit and started taking half (mostly?) naked pics of himself for a "tastefully" semi-nude calendar for a friend, I knew we were going to be great friends. Ben later introduced me to Vera (VeraUndertow) and our first outing together was an epic winter slog of Culebra in a whiteout in January 2022. I'm pretty positive that we were the only people to summit that day, and I subsequently learned that Vera is a dynamite partner to have for all of the hard things. We've had some grueling Wem-daddy days since then, but our collectively unhinged sense of humor makes the trips fly by with minimal perceived effort. We go Haulgh-wild!
In November 2020 I met Robin Lindsay when she joined Mike H and I on a hike of Keller Mountain. We had a few Wemi epics together as well, and after one of those trips in 2021 I also met Garrett Mitchell after we were finishing up separate trips from the Beartown trailhead. He suspected he had a broken rib and I had some beers, so we all sipped a few and talked mountains before starting the long drive back to Silverton. I didn't know at that point that Garrett was going to also become one of my most favoritest climbing partners, but I'm super glad our paths crossed and that we continue to get out together. Same goes for all of the folks mentioned in this thread and those not directly referenced - I truly cherish the experiences we've had together and am grateful for your parts in this journey. It wouldn't have been the same without any of you.
In summer of 2021 I also finally met Alex Henes (alexhenes) in person after we kept missing each other on 13er summits by a few days as evidenced by registers. It was kind of a running joke until we finally met up intentionally for a climb of Ripsaw, and after that we spent the next couple of summers blasting through some of our shared remaining peaks and listening to terrible (terribly AWESOME!) tunes. I had met Becky White (B_2) on White Mountain in 2020 and Mike Johnston (takeahikemike14er) on Orizaba in 2018, and it was always fun getting out with them for some of these same peaks + others as well. The Paco Pad Fondue Lounge was open for business!
A few other notable trips:
• Basically anything I've ever done with Amy Gray (blazintoes) - She's an absolute dynamo, and her stories about pranks she's played on her husband Marc have literally brought me to tears laughing (sorry, Marc!)
• An epic Rocky Mountain National Park sunrise smackdown with Nate O'Donnell on some peaks he had literally just hiked the week before or something. It's always a bonus when he posts a video about it on Insta with some of the most obscure Korean metal music you've ever heard
• A short, but brutally schwacky approach to "Kidney Stone Couloir" (dubbed as such by Vera since it was literally "pissin' rocks" down at us) on Corbett with Ben, Vera, and Patrick Murphy
• A smokin' fast repeat of Ripsaw with Patrick Gres (altitoots) where I actually got to hear the songs of his people (farts) in person #fueledbyfart
Most frequent 13er partners (estimated since I sucked at tracking this - includes URs + repeats and doesn’t include <30):
Alex H 102
Erik T 100
Ben F 92
Vera U 66
Garrett G 52
Robin L 41
Mike H 39
Rick H 37
Favorite 13ers:
I absolutely love the Elk Range with snow. I'm also a big "views" gal, so some highlights were the peaks around Buckskin BM, Siberia, Sleeping Sexton, etc.
Favorite San Juans trip in terms of views was the 6 pack around El Punto and the Heisshorn. Wetterhorn and Coxcomb are absolutely striking from some of these peaks. The Wemi is obviously amazing too.
Least favorite:
Yahoo Mtn. IYKYK
What's next?
NOT 12ers. I am not tackling another big hiking list. I'd like to bike ride through more national parks, finish the unranked 14ers list (cuz' it's small!), get less terrible at mountain biking, and join more friends on trips instead of always pushing my own agenda. Retirement is gonna rock.
Lessons learned:
Loose peaks are best climbed alone (IMO).
Chapstick with SPF rules (ain't nobody want lip cancer)
GPS is never accurate regarding ETAs on dirt/4WD roads
I've never regretted carrying an extra pair of socks on long days
The weather forecast isn't gospel; it's great to plan with, but also acknowledge that it can be exceptionally off at times
Have fun out there!
I clearly don’t post here much, haha. Thanks again, all!
