14ers.com

MaryinColorado wrote: ↑Wed Jun 11, 2025 1:00 pm

HikesInGeologicTime wrote: ↑Wed Jun 11, 2025 10:15 am

MaryinColorado wrote: ↑Tue Jun 10, 2025 5:57 pm Is there anything *not* magical about the Sangres?

You didn’t specify whether it’s good or evil magic…

Gasp! Nothing but good magic, of course! Except for the mosquitoes. UGH.

And all the private land issues. The Sangres are one of my least favorite ranges in Colorado for this reason.

Scott P wrote: ↑Wed Jun 11, 2025 1:42 pm

MaryinColorado wrote: ↑Wed Jun 11, 2025 1:00 pm

HikesInGeologicTime wrote: ↑Wed Jun 11, 2025 10:15 am

You didn’t specify whether it’s good or evil magic…

Gasp! Nothing but good magic, of course! Except for the mosquitoes. UGH.

And all the private land issues. The Sangres are one of my least favorite ranges in Colorado for this reason.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I don't mind the private land issues. They're such a microscopic drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of how much open access exists in Colorado, so it doesn't bother me. Sangres are definitely my favorite!

Scott P wrote: ↑Wed Jun 11, 2025 1:42 pm

MaryinColorado wrote: ↑Wed Jun 11, 2025 1:00 pm

HikesInGeologicTime wrote: ↑Wed Jun 11, 2025 10:15 am

You didn’t specify whether it’s good or evil magic…

Gasp! Nothing but good magic, of course! Except for the mosquitoes. UGH.

And all the private land issues. The Sangres are one of my least favorite ranges in Colorado for this reason.

And all the garbage rock. I know the Elks have a reputation, deservedly so, but I felt like it was more avoidable with careful route selection and -finding. Sounds like the alternate routes to get around, say, Challenger’s infamous gully or the first gully on Little Bear would require a far higher tolerance for exposure and other forms of suck (e.g., the shwacking at the start of LB’s SW Ridge) than I personally possess. So now that I think about it, I’m no longer sure whether the Elks or Sangres are my least favorite range. Sorry, Mary!

HikesInGeologicTime wrote: ↑Wed Jun 11, 2025 2:17 pm

Scott P wrote: ↑Wed Jun 11, 2025 1:42 pm

MaryinColorado wrote: ↑Wed Jun 11, 2025 1:00 pm

Gasp! Nothing but good magic, of course! Except for the mosquitoes. UGH.

And all the private land issues. The Sangres are one of my least favorite ranges in Colorado for this reason.

And all the garbage rock. I know the Elks have a reputation, deservedly so, but I felt like it was more avoidable with careful route selection and -finding. Sounds like the alternate routes to get around, say, Challenger’s infamous gully or the first gully on Little Bear would require a far higher tolerance for exposure and other forms of suck (e.g., the shwacking at the start of LB’s SW Ridge) than I personally possess. So now that I think about it, I’m no longer sure whether the Elks or Sangres are my least favorite range. Sorry, Mary!

My poor Sangres! The ATTACKS!! Hahaha. But the Elks are definitely your least favorite. I'm 99.99% sure! It can't be the Sangres. I won't allow it.

MaryinColorado wrote: ↑Wed Jun 11, 2025 2:23 pm But the Elks are definitely your least favorite. I'm 99.99% sure! It can't be the Sangres. I won't allow it.

Are they, though? I mean, yeah, there’s Pyramid, not to mention Maroon (sorry, Will E.!) and Crapitol, so that’s three on the Never Again list. But the Sangres have Little Bear, Challenger (and, by extension, Kit Carson), the Crestones, and Lindsey, and even the ones I kinda liked (Humboldt, Blanca, Ellingwood, Culebra) have something or another going on making them a bigger hassle to get to than some of the delightfully boring peaks in other ranges, so…

The non-14ers in the Sangres are pretty nice though

Chicago Transplant wrote: ↑Wed Jun 11, 2025 3:08 pm The non-14ers in the Sangres are pretty nice though

I do have a couple on my interest list! Although I have nothing but the highest praises for Buckskin Benchmark and the Four Pass Loop in the Elks, not to mention Highland Peak/Bowl if we're also throwing ski resorts into the mix, so those Sangre non-fourteeners already have some stiff competition.

"Garbage Rock?" Aside from the bowling alley on the Little Bear standard route, the Sangres have a well-deserved reputation for bomber rock. That's one reason I love the range: solid holds over some exposed positions. Mostly though, just how they rise so high above the valleys on either side. The Sangres boast some of the most interesting peaks in the state, in my opinion.

The entirety of Little Bear is pretty suspect. Blanca should have one of the most classic Nordwands of the State, but instead it's just crap people do to say that they have done it, but it's not some multi-pitch 5.7 destination climb. Same could be said for Ellingwood's NE Face. Gash Ridge wishes it was Keyhole Ridge, but you read trip reports of parts of it akin to "stacked dinner plates"

Lindsey isn't any better, it's just that we have only two routes to choose one: an awful gully and a slightly less awful ridge. The whole wall above Zapata lake should be killer, but it's not -- even the C2 couloir is a choss fest.

But that's all not that beautiful conglomerate of the Crestones which is pretty good for alpine standards, which is in a league of its own for the range. But get north of Fluted Peak and it kinda turns to mush again.

The Sangre are terrible, don't go. They're full of bandits and cults and chupacabras, and there's an evil baron guarding some mountains. There isn't even a ski resort with a Prada store. Tell all your friends to spare themselves the misery and stay away.