Winter 2018 14ers attempt

[Matt Sloan]

At the risk of being ineloquent, BALLS TO YOU, ANDREW! I will never try most of the things you do, but I learn from every story you share, which helps me achieve the things I want to do. Thank you for that!

[starsstuff]

Huge congratulations Andrew! It's been exciting following your progress and I can't think of a better person to achieve this. I look forward to your reports and tales. What are you going to do next year? Lol
- Marla

[painless4u2]

Amazing accomplishment! Congratulations to a remarkable achievement.

[glenmiz]

Sooo, I think it comes out to 84d13h57m ?
Way to go Andrew!

Who going to do them all in one calendar Spring???

Here's the final spreadsheet. My calculations are 84.63 days (84 days, 15 hours, 8 minutes); please check my math.

It was a pleasure to hike with Andrew, Andrea and the rest of the "hangers on" yesterday. The weather, although far from bluebird, wasn't too bad (except when we tried to get a group summit photo).

Andrew, thanks for the inspiration, excitement and, most importantly, your ability to connect with all of us, whether we are accomplished mountaineers or slightly out of shape wannabees, like me. Some day, I'll tell you that story that I couldn't find enough oxygen to support as we were climbing the ridge. Your ability carry on a conversation as if sitting on the couch while the person you're talking to is gasping to reply "uh huh" is a testament how fit someone can be. Thanks for the ride.

AndrewFinal.JPG

[TomPierce]

Andrew,

Congrats! Very impressive, now go get some well deserved sleep!

-Tom

[andrewhamilton]

Hey everyone! I've gotten a little behind on this thread after the last couple of days. But I did just want to say thanks to everyone for following along and just being interested in this stuff. You know most of the people that I meet, if they hear what I've been up to, would probably say something like "you climbed 58 peaks this winter? That's nice. How about those eagles!!!" I'd say "yeah, their quarterback can really throw that ball! They should pay him 100 million, guaranteed!"

So just the fact that you are on here means you probably have an inkling of what I've been up to this winter. I've poured a ton of my heart and soul into this and it is really satisfying to reflect on it and be able to say..."Mission Accomplished!"...and then "what's next?"

Thanks to everyone who showed up yesterday for Quandary (a surprising turnout given the weather forecast). It was really enjoyable hiking with and meeting you all! And then a few of you even made it out to the brewery. Thanks!

I owe a big thanks to a few people for hooking me up with ski gear. Rob (lodgling), very early on lent me a nice telemark setup. Later Tom Pierce gave me a nice pair of AT skis and Joel Kuenning let me borrow some dynafit boots since I was tricked by the boot guys into buying boots that were too small for my feet! You know how ski boot salesman always say it's ok for your toes to touch the front of your boots? Because when you bend your knees for your ski stance they pull back a little? Well I now have a Toma-toe. No! You don't want your toe smashed into the front of your boots for 40 miles of backcountry skiing. Sorry. Anyway I digress. Thanks guys for loaning/giving me all that gear!

Also thanks to everyone who helped with route ideas. John Prater, Justin Becker, and Will Seeber were particularly helpful for this.

I did most of the peaks by myself, but it was nice to have some company. Thanks to Will, Justin, Robert Barlow, Andrea, and John Balciar for joining me on some hikes this year!

And of course thanks to Andrea for so much...worrying about me, rescuing me, driving me around, and so much more. This is as much her accomplishment as mine!

Anyway I'm sure I'm forgetting people to thank...like
Glen for keeping up the stats...and others...sorry if I did. I am really grateful to everyone who was a part of this!

[illusion7il]

Congratulations! This was an amazing adventure to follow and I am already looking forward to following your next adventure whatever that may be. Your Elks linkup was most impressive. I just don't see how you can stay motivated to keep going (suffering) in the winter on such demanding peaks. I must admit that I lost a little sleep watching your tracker the night you topped out on Snowmass. I mean here you are: in the dark, in the cold, in the wind, in dangerous avalanche conditions, probably already exhausted from Capitol, and on no sleep climbing one of the most difficult peaks. Will Seeber could not have said it better earlier in this thread "Andrew is redefining possible" I would really like to hear more of your stories.

[JtheChemE]

Andrew, congratulations on pulling this off. It was great to get out with you this winter on a handful of the peaks. Last fall when you were boucing winter ideas off Will and I on the Apostles, I suspected you'd be gunning for the winter single season! Then came the first day of Winter in Chicago Basin where you Will and I daytripped the group, and I saw just how ridiculous your tolerance for suffering was. I knew that this year would be the best shot in recent memory for a single season winter, and if you tackled the project I figured you'd be the guy to pull it off!

It was especially interesting to join you for Pikes and say "Why not Sherman", then after the hellacious sunset summit winds on Sherman "Why not DeCaLiBro?" the next day. Funny thing is, that was kidstuff compared to all of your other linkups, which were just ridiculous. I'll look forward to seeing you out there again on sunnier days, in the meantime enjoy some hotsprings and fireplace time with Andrea!

Congratulations again, and I'm glad to see that mother nature cooperated just enough for you to pull this off.

[pbakwin]

I hate to pick nits but do appreciate accuracy. Is glen’s final time off by an hour due to not accounting for the time change? If Andrew started at 22:52 and finished at 14:00 that’s 84d14h8m once you subtract the time change hour. Yes? We don’t want the next guy thinking he’s got an extra hour!!!

[glenmiz]

I let excel calculate it for me and am surprised that yields the wrong answer.

1 hour from 11pm to midnight plus 8 minutes
14 hours to get from 0000 yesterday to 2pm
Spring forward subtracts an hour
That's 14 hours 8 minutes
Add 84 full days.

That seems to make sense.

[koeffling]

Huge congrats on a truly amazing accomplishment! So fun to watch and follow. Your drive and ability to suffer is incredible! Looking forward to some photos and write ups.

[spong0949]

Yes...Amazing accomplishment Andrew! Congrats!