Great stuff, Will! Good to meet you and Justin in there, and congrats on the big day. Man, I do regret missing out on those BBQ sandwiches on the train. Best of luck on your remaining peaks!
As noted on another thread, Ken Nolan has almost 200 more 14er grid "slots" filled than me. Just incredible!
14erQuest- My Attempt to Summit All 59 14ers in Single Calendar Winter
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John Prater
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mountain_stoke
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Re: 14erQuest- My Attempt to Summit All 59 14ers in Single Calendar Winter
Thanks for the kind words guys.
And, thanks Homie- I stand corrected on my grid comment in the last post.
And, thanks Homie- I stand corrected on my grid comment in the last post.
They say, "mountaineering is the art of suffering". I don't think so. If you are suffering, you haven't prepared well enough. I think that mountaineering is the art of managing risk and fear.
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spiderman
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Re: 14erQuest- My Attempt to Summit All 59 14ers in Single Calendar Winter
Congratulations! This has been an amazing quest and you are one heck of a mountaineer. Doing so much in such adverse conditions is astonishing. Thank you very much for allowing the community to follow along. Best of luck on your next crazy mission.
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mountain_stoke
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Re: 14erQuest- My Attempt to Summit All 59 14ers in Single Calendar Winter
El Diente Peak, Solo, South Slopes From Kilpacker Trailhead, 14erQuest Summit 56/59, 12:30 PM 12/26/17: My 14ers (non-winter) Finisher
I went up El Diente yesterday, solo. This was my last 14er (non-winter list). Here are two summit photos. I plan to post a trip report for this in the next couple days. It was about 10.5 hrs round trip in ankle to boot-deep snow (no snowshoes) from the summer trailhead since Dunton Road was open (which is absolutely ridiculous, I know).
I went up El Diente yesterday, solo. This was my last 14er (non-winter list). Here are two summit photos. I plan to post a trip report for this in the next couple days. It was about 10.5 hrs round trip in ankle to boot-deep snow (no snowshoes) from the summer trailhead since Dunton Road was open (which is absolutely ridiculous, I know).
- IMG_0934.JPG (149.24 KiB) Viewed 3627 times
- IMG_0921.JPG (648.38 KiB) Viewed 3627 times
They say, "mountaineering is the art of suffering". I don't think so. If you are suffering, you haven't prepared well enough. I think that mountaineering is the art of managing risk and fear.
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mountain_stoke
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Re: 14erQuest- My Attempt to Summit All 59 14ers in Single Calendar Winter
N Massive, E Ridge From Fish Hatchery, 14erQuest summit 57/59, 3PM- 12/29/2017.
I did this one as a daytrip with my girlfriend, Chaondra. We skied the approach and then hiked from 12,100' since a continuous summit ski would have been impossible.
Somebody was out there I am guessing to do Massive E Ridge and we passed their camp. So unexpectedly there was a trench to where they turned off Highline and we only had to trench for a couple miles or so after that.
It was super windy so summitting was not so easy. It felt like Winter on this one. There is plenty of snow on the ground in the Mt Massive Wilderness and it was a very beautiful day in the Northern Sawatch.
N Massive From Approach:
A view from the top:
I did this one as a daytrip with my girlfriend, Chaondra. We skied the approach and then hiked from 12,100' since a continuous summit ski would have been impossible.
Somebody was out there I am guessing to do Massive E Ridge and we passed their camp. So unexpectedly there was a trench to where they turned off Highline and we only had to trench for a couple miles or so after that.
It was super windy so summitting was not so easy. It felt like Winter on this one. There is plenty of snow on the ground in the Mt Massive Wilderness and it was a very beautiful day in the Northern Sawatch.
N Massive From Approach:
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They say, "mountaineering is the art of suffering". I don't think so. If you are suffering, you haven't prepared well enough. I think that mountaineering is the art of managing risk and fear.
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Stratosfearsome
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Re: 14erQuest- My Attempt to Summit All 59 14ers in Single Calendar Winter
Good job man! Getting close. Take any pics of El Diente and Mt. Wilson from your approach / climb up?
Nobody climbs 14ers anymore, they’re too crowded.
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mountain_stoke
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Re: 14erQuest- My Attempt to Summit All 59 14ers in Single Calendar Winter
Thanks!Stratosfearsome wrote:Good job man! Getting close. Take any pics of El Diente and Mt. Wilson from your approach / climb up?
Yes, I have photos. I would like to post more when I have time in a few days (gotta resize them). If you PM with your email, I could send you a couple.
They say, "mountaineering is the art of suffering". I don't think so. If you are suffering, you haven't prepared well enough. I think that mountaineering is the art of managing risk and fear.
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mountain_stoke
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- Joined: 10/13/2016
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Re: 14erQuest- My Attempt to Summit All 59 14ers in Single Calendar Winter
Pyramid Peak via NW ridge from Maroon Creek Road Winter Closure- 14erQuest summit 58 of 59 - Yesterday, Jan 1, 2018 - with Jake Wiggins - 22 miles and 6000+ ft gain - 16 hrs RT
Starting the new year off right! This one of the finest days in the mountains I can recall.
We left Denver at 11:30PM New Years Eve and started up the groomed road on mountain bikes with sleds for our daypacks at 4 AM.
From Maroon Lake, there were no steps or any trench. We trenched out 10 to 12" from there all the way past Crater and to the Pyramid W Coulior turnoff. This took some time. I experienced periodic woomphing and cracking in the snowpack that really kept us on our gaurd.
Once starting up the W slopes, due to some snowpack collapsing on low angle stuff near treeline, we decided it best to avoid W Coulior completely and went up the windblown scree slopes to the N of the Coulior.
Keyhole Coulior was windblown mostly dry and the Class 5.0 headwall completely dry. I went up the headwall first, then Jake. No ropes since it was dry and we felt comfortable.
The bowl crossings had snow but not nearly as much as we expected. The recent high winds really stripped a lot from W Aspects high in the Elks. Had the bands of snow not had such solid rock separating them, we might have turned around. The snow quality was not so confidence inspiring, but the crossings were short, we were able to skirt some of it, and they didn't contain large masses of snow. JP sneak had some snow in it which added some spice.
Jake and I agreed that the real crux of this route was the super exposed, extremely loose, and tricky moves on the summit ridge just N of the top of the JP sneak. (Kicking ourselves for not taking pics of this- guess we were too gripped there...) It is straight up sketchy and dangerous. To me, this may be the most dangerous scrambling of all Winter 14ers. My girlfriend and I were there in Summer and she thought It was outrageous. It is also pretty much unprotectable since the blocks are so loose. Since nobody talks about this part of the route much in their reports and that summit ridge is so darn loose, we are guessing that maybe a chunk of the ridge fell off between last winter and last summer, changing the character of that section? I talked to SnowAlien about her experience there and she thought it was mellow class 3. Jake climbs 5.13 and thought that it was in no way class 3. If you attempt this route, exercise a LOT of caution there at the finish. Anyway, thoughts on this are welcome, again sorry for not having pics.
We summitted at 2:30pm, and the views of the Bells alone made this all worth it.
We downclimbed the tricky bits, rappelled the headwall after inspecting the webbing left there by last Winter's climbers and decided to use their stuff. A bit of a storm came in as we were descending the W slopes skree fields. We slogged back in our snowshoe trench and then hooted and hollered our way back down the hardpack maroon creek road on our bikes which took about 30 minutes.
This is one heck of a route. Definitely feels like mountaineer's route. If pursuing snowflakes, I definitely would say this is one of the most dangerous and difficult in Winter, despite the ease of the summer route. Save this one for the end, and make sure you have good snow eval skills and rope skills or are with someone who has them.
Happy New Year everybody!
PS having difficulty with photo upload on here on my phone. Sorry if there are multiples of photos.
Starting the new year off right! This one of the finest days in the mountains I can recall.
We left Denver at 11:30PM New Years Eve and started up the groomed road on mountain bikes with sleds for our daypacks at 4 AM.
From Maroon Lake, there were no steps or any trench. We trenched out 10 to 12" from there all the way past Crater and to the Pyramid W Coulior turnoff. This took some time. I experienced periodic woomphing and cracking in the snowpack that really kept us on our gaurd.
Once starting up the W slopes, due to some snowpack collapsing on low angle stuff near treeline, we decided it best to avoid W Coulior completely and went up the windblown scree slopes to the N of the Coulior.
Keyhole Coulior was windblown mostly dry and the Class 5.0 headwall completely dry. I went up the headwall first, then Jake. No ropes since it was dry and we felt comfortable.
The bowl crossings had snow but not nearly as much as we expected. The recent high winds really stripped a lot from W Aspects high in the Elks. Had the bands of snow not had such solid rock separating them, we might have turned around. The snow quality was not so confidence inspiring, but the crossings were short, we were able to skirt some of it, and they didn't contain large masses of snow. JP sneak had some snow in it which added some spice.
Jake and I agreed that the real crux of this route was the super exposed, extremely loose, and tricky moves on the summit ridge just N of the top of the JP sneak. (Kicking ourselves for not taking pics of this- guess we were too gripped there...) It is straight up sketchy and dangerous. To me, this may be the most dangerous scrambling of all Winter 14ers. My girlfriend and I were there in Summer and she thought It was outrageous. It is also pretty much unprotectable since the blocks are so loose. Since nobody talks about this part of the route much in their reports and that summit ridge is so darn loose, we are guessing that maybe a chunk of the ridge fell off between last winter and last summer, changing the character of that section? I talked to SnowAlien about her experience there and she thought it was mellow class 3. Jake climbs 5.13 and thought that it was in no way class 3. If you attempt this route, exercise a LOT of caution there at the finish. Anyway, thoughts on this are welcome, again sorry for not having pics.
We summitted at 2:30pm, and the views of the Bells alone made this all worth it.
We downclimbed the tricky bits, rappelled the headwall after inspecting the webbing left there by last Winter's climbers and decided to use their stuff. A bit of a storm came in as we were descending the W slopes skree fields. We slogged back in our snowshoe trench and then hooted and hollered our way back down the hardpack maroon creek road on our bikes which took about 30 minutes.
This is one heck of a route. Definitely feels like mountaineer's route. If pursuing snowflakes, I definitely would say this is one of the most dangerous and difficult in Winter, despite the ease of the summer route. Save this one for the end, and make sure you have good snow eval skills and rope skills or are with someone who has them.
Happy New Year everybody!
PS having difficulty with photo upload on here on my phone. Sorry if there are multiples of photos.
- IMG_1049.JPG (708.92 KiB) Viewed 3024 times
- IMG_1049.JPG (708.92 KiB) Viewed 3024 times
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- Attachments
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They say, "mountaineering is the art of suffering". I don't think so. If you are suffering, you haven't prepared well enough. I think that mountaineering is the art of managing risk and fear.
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seano
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Re: 14erQuest- My Attempt to Summit All 59 14ers in Single Calendar Winter
Nice work! That's a long slog with the road gated. I don't remember anything memorable on the final bit to the summit from when I did it last May, but maybe the snow made it easier. Here's (I think) a photo:
- South from Pyramid's summit
- pyramid - 1.jpg (714.17 KiB) Viewed 2999 times
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mountain_stoke
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Re: 14erQuest- My Attempt to Summit All 59 14ers in Single Calendar Winter
In May, you took the Winter Route? NW Ridge/ JP Sneak?seano wrote:Nice work! That's a long slog with the road gated. I don't remember anything memorable on the final bit to the summit from when I did it last May, but maybe the snow made it easier. Here's (I think) a photo:
pyramid - 1.jpg
They say, "mountaineering is the art of suffering". I don't think so. If you are suffering, you haven't prepared well enough. I think that mountaineering is the art of managing risk and fear.
Re: 14erQuest- My Attempt to Summit All 59 14ers in Single Calendar Winter
Maybe something broke off with Montoya? I don't recall anything of note along that final stretch in either winter or summer. Perhaps a single mantle around a block.
"The road to alpine climbing is pocked and poorly marked, ending at an unexpectedly closed gate 5 miles from the trailhead." - MP user Beckerich
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seano
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Re: 14erQuest- My Attempt to Summit All 59 14ers in Single Calendar Winter
I was actually doing the Pyramid Traverse south to north (trip report), and since several parts of that felt tougher than Pyramid, it didn't seem to be 5th class when I was there. I descended something like the NW ridge, because the current standard route felt like a wet slide waiting to happen. I seem to have walked right by the "JP Sneak":mountain_stoke wrote:In May, you took the Winter Route? NW Ridge/ JP Sneak?
- Descent from Pyramid
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