CO's Great 14er Traverses

[Jorts]

Why are only 3 out of 4 of them described by this site? And why not Columbia - Harvard: the not quite great but good traverse?

If this has already been discussed and addressed, feel free to just plop down a link to the previous thread.

[nmjameswilson]

There are a lot of trip reports you can look up on H/C. I did it last year and it was an easy yet longer day.

[yaktoleft13]

I just don't think anyone's bothered to create a route on this site for the LB-Blanca traverse. Only two of the traverses (Crestones and Wilson-El-D) were written by Bill; the Bells was a user submitted route. It seems like Bill only submits routes when he has a good understanding of the details of the route, so maybe he hasn't done the route or doesn't yet have enough information compiled to put it into a route. There's a lot of beta in various trip reports though.

Or, maybe he's leaving one last opportunity for a little adventure on a 14er.... ‾\(O_o)/‾

[Jorts]

I realize there's plenty of beta out there. Just found it interesting.

[Verticality]

Some of the more dangerous traverses have been left out on many guide sites. LB-Blanca, Rabbit Ears, Satans Traverse...

The good thing is most of these traverses have been described in good detail on the internet, 14ers.com forums, and Youtube videos.

[CoHi591]

I always sort of assume the LB-Blanca traverse was left out because it is remarkably self explanatory. It's been a few years but I don't remember ever really wondering where to go, route finding is straight forward, there is less of a need for beta than there is on the other three. That is not to say that it's easy of course.

Or maybe it is because the more dangerous traverses and routes tend to get left off of sites like this.

I feel like one of those four "great traverses" is left out of Roach's book too. Correct me if I'm wrong but is it LB-B as well?

[justiner]

I found the Blanca - Crestone Needle traverse to be a bit long and involved. Same with the Sherman - Democrat traverse.

I think the Columbia-Harvard Traverse is a legit 14er ridge traverse (if one stays on the ridge), but it can be a little exposed, and the few moves of 5.7 to take it on directly will require some actual climbing technique. I would not want to fall.

I'd love to talk about 14er - Centennial traverses. The OK to Massive traverse is awesome.

[Marmot72]

"I found the Blanca - Crestone Needle traverse to be a bit long and involved."

Now you're just showing off.

Those of us who aren't up to attempting speed records tend to think of traverses as lying between adjacent peaks...not peaks several drainages over.

[Jorts]

I found the Blanca - Crestone Needle traverse to be a bit long and involved. Same with the Sherman - Democrat traverse.

I think the Columbia-Harvard Traverse is a legit 14er ridge traverse (if one stays on the ridge), but it can be a little exposed, and the few moves of 5.7 to take it on directly will require some actual climbing technique. I would not want to fall.

I'd love to talk about 14er - Centennial traverses. The OK to Massive traverse is awesome.

While we're on it, really wish the Eaglesnest-Buffalo traverse was on here as well. Maybe that trip report will pop up soon.

The 5.7 crack on rabbit ridge is about exposed as a McDonald's jungle gym and easier to circumvent than a pothole.

[justiner]

The 5.7 crack on rabbit ridge is about exposed as a McDonald's jungle gym and easier to circumvent than a pothole.

That wasn't my experience at all. I saw no sneak around - although I hear there is one, and the pitch is really at least one pitch up a nice dihedral. I found a legit crack in the corner with an awkward topout. Took me a little while to build up enough bravery to take it on. And I'm prancing around the flatirons on the reg. looking for stupid things to climb.

[Jorts]

That wasn't my experience at all. I saw no sneak around - although I hear there is one, and the pitch is really at least one pitch up a nice dihedral. I found a legit crack in the corner with an awkward topout. Took me a little while to build up enough bravery to take it on. And I'm prancing around the flatirons on the reg. looking for stupid things to climb.

Hmm. It’s possible I was looking up at a different problem and circumvented the 5.7 to the west later without even seeing it. I came across a wall obstructing the ridge that didn’t look to be more than 30ft tall with an obvious crack climb. Admittedly I didn’t take it on cause I didn’t want to downclimb it if necessary. There was a quick straightforward bypass to the east on grassy ledges and loose gullies.

[Jorts]

Am I the only one who thinks 5.6 TR is harder than LB > Ellingwood ridge direct? Justiner you are a much better climber than I am so I’m interested in what you have to say

Could be. Less protected you are, the harder any given climb feels. I’ll hang dog and fail repeatedly on the same crux move until I master it on top rope on an easy 5.12. I don’t feel comfortable leading much over a bolted 5.10a. And if I’m leading trad I don’t like to exceed 5.8. Exposed soloing?... much lower grade.