Turret Ridge
Rabbit Ears
9854 in Hinsdale County
Others are probably lower than 10k.
6 Most Dangerous Colorado Mountains
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.
-
- Posts: 245
- Joined: 8/12/2012
- Trip Reports (0)
- LURE
- Posts: 1281
- Joined: 6/27/2011
- 14ers: 34
- 13ers: 10
- Trip Reports (0)
Re: 6 Most Dangerous Colorado Mountains
I know next to nothing about those mountains and have never been up there. However I just looked up the geologic map to see if there were any differing units around eolus and north eolus. On those mountains it's just the Eolus Granite which is a "massive" granite, meaning it would essentially look "fine grained" and could resemble a sand stone for those that don't know. But you can have a lot of local variation within a unit in terms of it's composition and texture - there is a lot of hydrothermal activity in the san juans which can drastically alter a rock. But I'm assuming by gecko you mean you felt like it gripped better? Hydrothermal activity would have the opposite effect.samjaffe wrote:Can any of you geologists on this thread identify the type of rock on North Eolus. It is noticably different from Eolus and it felt to me like I suddenly had gecko hands and feet. To my untrained eye, it appeared to be some form of sandstone. I would love to figure out what kind and why it feels and looks so completely different from another connected mountain that's only a few hundred feet away.
Anyone with a geologic eye been up there and looked at the rocks on the Eolus and North Eolus? Seeing it is the only way to know.
How is it noticeably different? Colors? Textures? Eolus should be pretty pinkish red, how did north eolus differ?
- spiderman
- Posts: 808
- Joined: 9/26/2011
- 14ers: 58 3
- 13ers: 27
- Trip Reports (1)
Re: 6 Most Dangerous Colorado Mountains
There are only a couple people in the state who could offer nearly as definitive of an answer. Might as well lock this thread...Teresa Gergen wrote:Turret Ridge
Rabbit Ears
9854 in Hinsdale County
Others are probably lower than 10k.
-
- Posts: 245
- Joined: 8/12/2012
- Trip Reports (0)
Re: 6 Most Dangerous Colorado Mountains
Pawnee Buttes
Actually, they're probably all lower than 10k.
Actually, they're probably all lower than 10k.
Re: 6 Most Dangerous Colorado Mountains
I don't know if Devils Thumb (the one by Delta and Montrose) would qualify as a mountain, but it would certainly be a dangerous summit. It's basically made of dirt (Mancos Shale).
The Sword of Democles is a very dangerous summit (dirt with a rock cap), but it wouldn't qualify as a mountain:
It's "protected" by nails hammered into the dirt:
The Sword of Democles is a very dangerous summit (dirt with a rock cap), but it wouldn't qualify as a mountain:
It's "protected" by nails hammered into the dirt:
I'm old, slow and fat. Unfortunately, those are my good qualities.
Re: 6 Most Dangerous Colorado Mountains
Would Pawnee Buttes qualify as dangerous? People can and have hiked a ladder on over to it, so I wouldn't exactly call it committing and the hazard unmanageable.
Yeah, I'd have a hard time calling Sword of Damocles and Bug Eyed Monster types "mountains" and I'm not even a 300-ft adherent.
Some of those unclimbed sandstone peaks out west - more tedious than dangerous once someone eventually throws in a bolt ladder or flies a drone over it? Those techniques might not work on say Turret Ridge.
Yeah, I'd have a hard time calling Sword of Damocles and Bug Eyed Monster types "mountains" and I'm not even a 300-ft adherent.
Some of those unclimbed sandstone peaks out west - more tedious than dangerous once someone eventually throws in a bolt ladder or flies a drone over it? Those techniques might not work on say Turret Ridge.
"The road to alpine climbing is pocked and poorly marked, ending at an unexpectedly closed gate 5 miles from the trailhead." - MP user Beckerich
Re: 6 Most Dangerous Colorado Mountains
A lot of them are too big to use a drone over them. I assume you mean the thin towers. 6799 (499' feet of prominence) for example, is a big bulky peak or butte. It has been attempted, but (at least as far as I know), no one has made the summit. The crew attempting it has successfully climbed Turret Ridge and Lizard Head.Some of those unclimbed sandstone peaks out west - more tedious than dangerous once someone eventually throws in a bolt ladder or flies a drone over it?
In April 2016, some 14ers.com members and I attempted 6140, just barely across the border, but I seriously underestimated the difficulty of the (presumably) crux pitch. Wishful thinking by me was that it would be low to mid-5th class, but it turned out to be much harder than that (we didn't make it). Tom has climbed Lizard Head, but I don't know if he has done Turret Ridge. The rock on 6140 is loose, but I don't think it would be extremely dangerous, just hard.
There are a lot of such peaks in Dinosaur National Monument, but I only know the difficulty ratings of the ones that have been climbed.
I'm old, slow and fat. Unfortunately, those are my good qualities.
- Brian C
- Posts: 1308
- Joined: 2/26/2008
- 14ers: 45 5
- 13ers: 19
- Trip Reports (25)
- Contact:
Re: 6 Most Dangerous Colorado Mountains
Yes they would. But count as a mountain in the sense of this type of list? Nope.Monster5 wrote:Would Pawnee Buttes qualify as dangerous? ...
-
- Posts: 857
- Joined: 7/29/2013
- 14ers: 35
- 13ers: 2
- Trip Reports (0)
Re: 6 Most Dangerous Colorado Mountains
+1. Funny that Teresa only has 130 posts and about one million climbs, whereas lots of people like me are just the opposite.spiderman wrote:There are only a couple people in the state who could offer nearly as definitive of an answer. Might as well lock this thread...Teresa Gergen wrote:Turret Ridge
Rabbit Ears
9854 in Hinsdale County
Others are probably lower than 10k.
"Thy righteousness is like the great mountains."
Psalm 36:6
Psalm 36:6