Estimated 14ers traffic
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.
- Oman
- Posts: 1029
- Joined: 10/4/2006
- 14ers: 57
- Trip Reports (0)
- Contact:
Estimated 14ers traffic
New study via Lloyd Athearn of the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative estimates 260,000 hiker days a year on Colorado 14ers.
Most traffic is on Grays, Torreys, Bierstadt, and Elbert, with up to 25,000 per peak per year.
Least visited, with less than 1,000 hikers per year, are Wilsons, El Diente, Eolus, Maroon, Capitol, Snowmass, Pyramid, Culebra, and Little Bear.
Chart here:http://www.14ers.org/wp-content/uploads ... 9.2016.jpg
Most traffic is on Grays, Torreys, Bierstadt, and Elbert, with up to 25,000 per peak per year.
Least visited, with less than 1,000 hikers per year, are Wilsons, El Diente, Eolus, Maroon, Capitol, Snowmass, Pyramid, Culebra, and Little Bear.
Chart here:http://www.14ers.org/wp-content/uploads ... 9.2016.jpg
- denvermikey
- Posts: 529
- Joined: 8/9/2007
- 14ers: 51
- 13ers: 166
- Trip Reports (12)
Re: Estimated 14ers traffic
I was just on Torrey's a couple weeks back. Are you sure that's not 20,000-25,000 per day?
"Every man dies, not every man really lives" - William Wallace
"Because it's there" - George Mallory
"In the end it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years" - Abraham Lincoln
"You only live once but if you do it right, once is enough" - Mae West
"Climb mountains not so the world can see you, but so you can see the world." - David McCullough Jr.
"Because it's there" - George Mallory
"In the end it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years" - Abraham Lincoln
"You only live once but if you do it right, once is enough" - Mae West
"Climb mountains not so the world can see you, but so you can see the world." - David McCullough Jr.
- Monte Meals
- Posts: 408
- Joined: 5/16/2011
- Trip Reports (0)
Re: Estimated 14ers traffic
What ????
Where is the LOVE for Sunlite Spire ????
Where is the LOVE for Sunlite Spire ????
- bdloftin77
- Posts: 1090
- Joined: 9/23/2013
- 14ers: 58 1
- 13ers: 58
- Trip Reports (2)
Re: Estimated 14ers traffic
Thanks, that's really interesting!
- gjohnston89
- Posts: 44
- Joined: 5/19/2014
- 14ers: 15
- Trip Reports (1)
Re: Estimated 14ers traffic
Surprised quandary and sherman arent on that list also. I must have seen at least 200 almost a few weeks ago on quandary.
Re: Estimated 14ers traffic
Quandary is in the 15,000-20,000 category and Sherman is in the 10,000-15,000 category. We have solid counts from two seasons on Quandary, but began our first year of monitoring on Sherman this summer. To get into the highest category (20,000-25,000) you generally have to have Saturday traffic of 500+ and sustained mid-week numbers of 125+. Given the really short season--mid-June to mid-August--it takes a lot of people to rack up the big numbers. We doubled counters this year (from 10 to 20), so will have even more accurate counts to disseminate next year. Stay tuned.gjohnston89 wrote:Surprised quandary and sherman arent on that list also. I must have seen at least 200 almost a few weeks ago on quandary.
Re: Estimated 14ers traffic
Nice stats and very interesting.yardman wrote:Given the really short season--mid-June to mid-August--gjohnston89 wrote:Surprised quandary and sherman arent on that list also. I must have seen at least 200 almost a few weeks ago on quandary.
I do have on question though. Why stop in mid August? The send two weeks of August typically get more traffic than in June, at least on most 14ers.
Crowds don't really start to dissipate until after Labor Day.
July 4th weekend through Labor Day weekend is the most popular two month (approximately) period on the Colorado 14ers.
I'm old, slow and fat. Unfortunately, those are my good qualities.
- MountainHiker
- Posts: 2588
- Joined: 5/17/2007
- 14ers: 58 2
- 13ers: 109
- Trip Reports (7)
- Contact:
Re: Estimated 14ers traffic
I could see the early (relative to some other places) school year impacting numbers, especially on week days. The school schedule certainly impacts the drive to work in the city.Scott P wrote:Nice stats and very interesting.yardman wrote:Given the really short season--mid-June to mid-August--gjohnston89 wrote:Surprised quandary and sherman arent on that list also. I must have seen at least 200 almost a few weeks ago on quandary.
I do have on question though. Why stop in mid August? The send two weeks of August typically get more traffic than in June, at least on most 14ers.
Crowds don't really start to dissipate until after Labor Day.
July 4th weekend through Labor Day weekend is the most popular two month (approximately) period on the Colorado 14ers.
Red, Rugged, and Rotten: The Elk Range - Borneman & Lampert
Re: Estimated 14ers traffic
You are correct about the school schedule, but August is still more popular than June. School creates a drop-off of visitors in late August, but snow also keep less people around in June.I could see the early (relative to some other places) school year impacting numbers, especially on week days. The school schedule certainly impacts the drive to work in the city.
Dividing the months into 1/4's, these are the (estimated off SP logs) most popular quarters of the month in order of climbers, at least on Elbert:
1. 4th quarter of July
2. 1st quarter of July
3. 3rd quarter of July
4. 1st quarter of September
5. 1st quarter of August
6. 2nd quarter of July
7. 2nd quarter of August
8. 3rd quarter of August
9. 4th quarter of August
10. 4th quarter in June
11. 2nd quarter in September
12. 3rd quarter in June
13. 2nd quarter in June
14. 1st quarter in June
15. 3rd quarter in September
16. 4th quarter in September
Note, for quarters I used the following criteria:
1st Quarter: 1-8
2nd Quarter: 9-16
3rd Quarter: 17-24
4th Quarter: 25-31
Just for the heck of it, here are the approximate least popular monthly quarters in a year:
33. 1st Quarter of February
34. 1st Quarter of January
35. 4th Quarter of February
36. 4th Quarter of April
37. 3rd Quarter of April
38. 1st Quarter of December
39. 2nd Quarter of April
40. 2nd Quarter of December
41. 1st Quarter of April
42. 3rd Quarter of December
43. 1st Quarter of November
44. 2nd Quarter of November
45. 4th Quarter of January
46. 3rd Quarter of January
47. 2nd Quarter of January
48. 3rd Quarter of November
The above is for Mt Elbert and probably similar for other popular peaks class 2 and below. The popularity of March is curious. One would expect that numbers in April drop because people can no longer count a calendar winter ascent, but the last quarter of March is outside calendar winter and still sees more ascents than any quarter in April.
For peaks such as Longs Peak, I would assume that September actually has more ascents than June, since Longs is usually in "technical status" during all June, but isn't always in September.
Last edited by Scott P on Sun Jul 31, 2016 11:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I'm old, slow and fat. Unfortunately, those are my good qualities.
-
- Posts: 588
- Joined: 7/27/2012
- 14ers: 58 1
- Trip Reports (0)
Re: Estimated 14ers traffic
<<<<Least visited, with less than 1,000 hikers per year, are Wilsons, El Diente, Eolus, Maroon, Capitol, Snowmass, Pyramid, Culebra, and Little Bear<<<<
Hmmm, I wonder why. LOL
Hmmm, I wonder why. LOL
-
- Posts: 588
- Joined: 7/27/2012
- 14ers: 58 1
- Trip Reports (0)
Re: Estimated 14ers traffic
I've always wondered what the success rates were on various 14ers. I can't tell you how many times I'm back down at the 12,000 foot by 11-12 pm and see a ton of people just on their way up. How many of them make it??? I have absolutely no clue.
- GeezerClimber
- Posts: 567
- Joined: 8/9/2011
- 14ers: 58
- 13ers: 24
- Trip Reports (0)
Re: Estimated 14ers traffic
I suspect early Sept. is popular only because of Labor Day. I have found the mountains get pretty quiet right after that.
I also suspect success rates are lower on the easy "tourist" peaks or Longs than on the tougher peaks which generally see only experienced climbers.
Dave
I also suspect success rates are lower on the easy "tourist" peaks or Longs than on the tougher peaks which generally see only experienced climbers.
Dave