Summits with nice granite for a wedding ring

Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
Forum rules
  • This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
  • Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
  • Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
  • Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
    For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
User avatar
sunny1
Posts: 1101
Joined: 9/13/2008
14ers: 58  4 
13ers: 225 8
Trip Reports (3)
 

Re: Summits with nice granite for a wedding ring

Post by sunny1 »

Wow, Barry, that's an awesome pic!
Last edited by sunny1 on Fri Aug 26, 2011 9:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The older you get, the better you get, unless you're a banana.
User avatar
Dave B
Posts: 2390
Joined: 6/14/2010
Trip Reports (9)
 

Re: Summits with nice granite for a wedding ring

Post by Dave B »

Gahugafuga wrote:...
That's awesome! I mean hypothetically at least :-"
Barry Raven wrote:Would definitely be challenging in the winter. There is a technical route on the west face of Knife Point shown here.
:shock: Ooooooooooohhhhh I like that Barry! I'm gonna have to look into that one!
Make wilderness less accessible.
User avatar
Dave B
Posts: 2390
Joined: 6/14/2010
Trip Reports (9)
 

Re: Summits with nice granite for a wedding ring

Post by Dave B »

Sadly my San Juans ignorance is going to show here, but are the Needles accessible in winter without a serious expedition approach?

Although even if it did take a couple days that would be an amazing trip nevertheless.

Barry, I think I might owe you a beer :D
Make wilderness less accessible.
User avatar
Scott P
Posts: 9438
Joined: 5/4/2005
14ers: 58  16 
13ers: 50 13
Trip Reports (16)
 
Contact:

Re: Summits with nice granite for a wedding ring

Post by Scott P »

The Sawtooth Range (the Colorado one) is made of very hard metamorphic rock (garnet-biotite gneiss?) that is quite nice looking.

Image

The area north of Grand Junction/Fruita has some very nice hard dark black and pink granite. Same with Unaweep Canyon and Black Canyon of the Gunnison, though you can't collect it in the NPS lands.
I'm old, slow and fat. Unfortunately, those are my good qualities.
User avatar
The_Godfather
Posts: 111
Joined: 5/23/2011
14ers: 18 
13ers: 1
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Summits with nice granite for a wedding ring

Post by The_Godfather »

Unique and interesting idea. Congrats btw.

I do wonder though, how this falls into LNT. I mean if the 14ers.com community jumps all over people for leaving things, what about taking things? Now I know that I have collected interesting rocks or items on hikes from all over the world, but I also like LNT. Hmm....well anyway, I'd love to see the rings when complete. I think it will be very cool. Good luck with the wedding, maybe a summit?
User avatar
Brian C
Posts: 1308
Joined: 2/26/2008
14ers: 45  5 
13ers: 19
Trip Reports (25)
 
Contact:

Re: Summits with nice granite for a wedding ring

Post by Brian C »

The_Godfather wrote:Unique and interesting idea. Congrats btw.
I agree and congrats. This is a very cool idea. Please post photos when the rings are done. Wish I could give you ideas for where to go but I'm not sure. Snowmass has fabulous rock but winter access would be tricky. Good luck!
Brian in the Wild
Lists of John
"Nature never did betray the heart that loved her." - Wordsworth
User avatar
wineguy
Posts: 342
Joined: 7/12/2009
14ers: 58  3 
13ers: 143
Trip Reports (7)
 

Re: Summits with nice granite for a wedding ring

Post by wineguy »

If you are not insisting that your stone come from a summit, consider the boulder field in the amphitheatre on the route to Pyramid. This area has the most interesting and diverse collection of rocks that I've seen on any 14er. Just pondering how all these different rocks ended up in one place stirs a sense of wonder. The boulder field is around 12,000 ft, the biggest boulders are in the center, but the most interesting rocks are toward the edges of the field.
"Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters." - Norman Maclean
User avatar
Dave B
Posts: 2390
Joined: 6/14/2010
Trip Reports (9)
 

Re: Summits with nice granite for a wedding ring

Post by Dave B »

The_Godfather wrote: I do wonder though, how this falls into LNT.
That's a good point, and one we considered as well. However, our justification is that the production of diamonds requires heavy disturbance to the land to remove and, while on private land, definitely violates LNT. We feel that in comparison to the mining involved in removing diamonds combined with some touchy political and humanitarian reasons, this decision would actually be lower impact.

See it's easy to justify decisions :D
Make wilderness less accessible.
User avatar
The_Godfather
Posts: 111
Joined: 5/23/2011
14ers: 18 
13ers: 1
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Summits with nice granite for a wedding ring

Post by The_Godfather »

davey_rocket wrote:
The_Godfather wrote: I do wonder though, how this falls into LNT.
That's a good point, and one we considered as well. However, our justification is that the production of diamonds requires heavy disturbance to the land to remove and, while on private land, definitely violates LNT. We feel that in comparison to the mining involved in removing diamonds combined with some touchy political and humanitarian reasons, this decision would actually be lower impact.

See it's easy to justify decisions :D
I can support that :D
User avatar
MUni Rider
Posts: 901
Joined: 7/31/2007
14ers: 51 
13ers: 7
Trip Reports (20)
 
Contact:

Re: Summits with nice granite for a wedding ring

Post by MUni Rider »

It's been a few years, but I seem to remember Shavano of having some very white rock on the final stretch up the summit mound.
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy course; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat." (Theodore Roosevelt)

"Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit." (Edward Abbey)
User avatar
Jim Davies
Posts: 7638
Joined: 6/8/2006
14ers: 58  1 
13ers: 67
Trip Reports (5)
 

Re: Summits with nice granite for a wedding ring

Post by Jim Davies »

Here's part of the talus field on the way to the Fletcher-Quandary saddle. This is somewhere near upper Blue Lake; I'm not even sure why I took this picture, there must be a pika in there somewhere. :)
fletcherrocks.jpg
fletcherrocks.jpg (157.92 KiB) Viewed 813 times
Climbing at altitude is like hitting your head against a brick wall — it's great when you stop. -- Chris Darwin
I'm pretty tired. I think I'll go home now. -- Forrest Gump
User avatar
MtHurd
Posts: 2925
Joined: 8/17/2006
14ers: 57  4 
13ers: 29
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Summits with nice granite for a wedding ring

Post by MtHurd »

I am not sure about expedition approach, but it would be a long one. You're basically looking at 10 miles to Needleton from Purgatory, about 2.5 miles along the Animas, then another 5 miles up Noname Basin to the peak. I wouldn't even attempt it in the dead of winter, but perhaps in early November if the snow has been minimal so far.

Here are a couple of pics I took last September.

Knife Point Closeup

NoName Basin with Knife Point

Very lage pic of Knife Point

You also might PM iceisnice on SP. He knows all about the technical routes in the Needles and Grenadiers.
Post Reply