Declassifying a 14er: What It Takes

[Salient]

So, I know the 300' rule has been a debated and controversial topic in the past and obviously has cases where it gets ignored. However, I believe we should take note that Challenger Point (which is one of the most hated 14ers) may actually not meet this requirement. Officially it has a prominence of 301' but this measurement is disputed and I'm curious about something. Does anyone think it may be below 300' or have reasonable evidence to support or oppose such a claim? Also, would you still climb said peak regardless of ranked/unranked status?

[-wren-]

sooo fun fact! With new LiDar technology, we are getting much more reliable info on elevation and prominence. A new extremely difficult ranked 12er, lots of ranked peaks below 14k getting classified or declassified. Challenger might not be ranked, bross still is you can look at new info here: https://listsofjohn.com/lidar/lidar.php ... rYJU19ztFU

[CaptainSuburbia]

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[timisimaginary]

Declassifying a 14er: What It Takes

[Tornadoman]

The standard route on KC goes over Challenger Point, so for most people it won't really change anything. I guess it being unranked could spur more people to go via the East Ridge from Columbia Point.

[d_baker]

I didn't know Challenger was one of the most hated.

[CaptainSuburbia]

I didn't know Challenger was one of the most hated.

It's not.

[BillMiddlebrook]

The standard route on KC goes over Challenger Point, so for most people it won't really change anything. I guess it being unranked could spur more people to go via the East Ridge from Columbia Point.

I doubt it will force many more people to do the East Ridge route to Kit Carson since that increases the difficulty a lot.

I’m a Challenger lover, not hater, but it would take me just a couple of minutes to demote it on the site and go from 53/58 to 52/58

[Scott P]

Officially it has a prominence of 301' but this measurement is disputed and I'm curious about something. Does anyone think it may be below 300' or have reasonable evidence to support or oppose such a claim?

The 301' is not a measurement. It is an interpolation. Using contour lines, the prominence is 281-321 feet. 301 is only an average of the two numbers.

As far as the second question goes has, it has always been known that Challenger may or may not be ranked. There has always been a 45% chance that peaks with marked summit elevations, with calculated prominence of 301 feet, and with interpolated of saddles using 40 foot contours aren't ranked so of course it might not be ranked even of new measurement methods weren't available. For those who know what prominence is, it is easy to calculate the chances that a peak is or isn't ranked, but I guess there could be a slight disagreement on rounding, which would only change the chances by a few percentage points.

[speth]

I didn't know Challenger was one of the most hated.

It's not.

[Tornadoman]

The standard route on KC goes over Challenger Point, so for most people it won't really change anything. I guess it being unranked could spur more people to go via the East Ridge from Columbia Point.

I doubt it will force many more people to do the East Ridge route to Kit Carson since that increases the difficulty a lot.

I’m a Challenger lover, not hater, but it would take me just a couple of minutes to demote it on the site and go from 53/58 to 52/58

Personally I don't really hate Challenger that much either, and visiting Willow Lake is certainly worthwhile as well.

Curiosity question Bill, what are your plans for updating lists as this Lidar data comes out? You mention that Challenger could be changed very quickly, but there are a fair amount of changes to the 13er list.... Are you planning to wait until all the peaks have Lidar data analyzed, and then do one big 13er list update?

[Mtnman200]

The standard route on KC goes over Challenger Point, so for most people it won't really change anything. I guess it being unranked could spur more people to go via the East Ridge from Columbia Point.

Kit Carson via Columbia Point used to be the standard route. Based on personal experience, I'd say that climbing Kit Carson via Challenger is much easier than climbing it via Columbia Point.