Elks 14ers by difficulty, your experiences

[dr_j]

The Elks still scare me. For those of you who have experience on that crappy rock, what would you do next (or what did you do) after Castle / Conundrum, which I summited last year?

[SoCool]

Considering your 14'er checklist so far, you will be fine on the Elk Range peaks. Go for Snowmass or North Maroon on a perfect forecast and have fun!

[JChitwood]

My order was Castle/Snowmass/Pyramid/Cap/North/Maroon. Loved Snowmass do it in June great not too steep snow climb. Pyramid I barely remember lots of steep climbing. Capitol never stop paying attention always be focusing. North Maroon I would never do again too much steep crumbly rock. Maroon looks worse than it is stay on the route and it all works out. Any Elk is a great accomplishment what a beautiful range.

[kaiman]

The Elks still scare me. For those of you who have experience on that crappy rock, what would you do next (or what did you do) after Castle / Conundrum, which I summited last year?

I actually climbed Snowmass first then Castle/Conundrum, Pyramid, Capitol, North Maroon and finished with Maroon Peak.

I would recommend climbing Snowmass next as it is a beautiful mountain and not too technical and then maybe Pyramid Peak. In my opinion, Pyramid is slightly less technical and has less exposure than North Maroon (it will also give you a good introduction to the rotten rock in that part of the range), but you could do them in any order you like.

Kai

[Phill the Thrill]

The Elks still scare me. For those of you who have experience on that crappy rock, what would you do next (or what did you do) after Castle / Conundrum, which I summited last year?

I went Castle/Conundrum, S Maroon, N Maroon (didn't do traverse), Snowmass, Pyramid and Capitol. My only recommendation is that you climb N Maroon to become familiar with the route before trying the S Maroon-N Maroon traverse, or climb with someone who is familiar with the route. Too many people have gotten lost descending N Maroon after completing the traverse. Those are all great peaks and among my favorites, especially the Maroon Bells.

EDIT: After looking at your list, I would recommend climbing Crestone Peak/Needle, Lindsey, Longs, and Chicago Basin 14ers first. You will gain valuable experience to apply to the Elks.

[Marmot96]

The Elks still scare me. For those of you who have experience on that crappy rock, what would you do next (or what did you do) after Castle / Conundrum, which I summited last year?

I did Pyramid, Maroon, Capitol, Castle/Conundrum, Snowmass, then North Maroon. The rock on Pyramid was excellent and routefinding wasn't hard so I would do that next.

Capitol also had decent rock, but is exposed so requires focus and confidence. North Maroon easily had the hardest crux and somewhat loose rock but wasn't too bad overall.

[sunny1]

The Elks still scare me. For those of you who have experience on that crappy rock, what would you do next (or what did you do) after Castle / Conundrum, which I summited last year?

I looked at your 14er list, I like Phil the Thrill's advice to climb some other summits to help you prepare for the Elks: the Crestone's, Longs, Lindsey, the Wilson group, Chicago Basin, etc.
You could mix some of these in between the Elk 14ers.

Additionally, it makes a huge difference to have a solid partner with either similar experience to yours, or more experience than you have. The harder the summit, the more important it is to be with a trusted partner, IMHO.
I personally do not solo above C3.

My peak order for the Elks: Pyramid (after several C3's), C & C, Capitol (followed the Chicago Basin 14ers), Snowmass (via Geneva Lake, S Ridge ascent), S Maroon and N Maroon (climbed separately, no traverse). S & N Maroon followed the Wilson group for me.

The Elks are tough, you are smart to take them seriously - on both Snowmass and N Maroon, there were fatalities during my attempts on both. Very sobering, to put it mildly. Needed to return later for N Maroon, was able to summit Snowmass.

Keep chipping away at it.

Hope that helps!

[jmanner]

I went: Castle with partner, solo'd Maroon, solo'd Snowmass(west face),(blasted off K2 by a 7 am thunderstorm in June), Solo'd Pyramid, (bailed on the knife edge ridge due to June slush snow at 7 am), North Maroon with two partners, Day trip of Cap with two partners, skied Conundrum with a hiker.

Difficulty:
Capital
Pyramid
North Maroon(scariest display of goats kicking rocks on partners)
Snowmass
Maroon
Conundrum
Castle

The Elks scared the hell out of me too and still give me a bit of pause when I think about soloing N Maroon and Capitol. I think a climb of Longs is definitly a good idea as a training climb. I am partial to early fall attempts, since the conga line on the Trough is way less busy. Personally, I found the crux move on North Maroon to be non event. I probably wouldn't have thought anything about it, if I hadn't read people worrying about it. I guess its technically the hardest move skill wise, but it has zero exposure.

[handonbroward]

The Elks were the first 14ers I ever climbed, for better or worse. Feet to the fire I suppose, but it got me hooked. My first few 14ers went like this:
North Maroon, Pyramid, Capitol, Castle, Maroon.

Capitol - By far the most difficult, physically and mentally. Like others said, you have to be "on" for such a continuous, extended period that it adds a lot to the challenge.

Pyramid - The route finding is tough once you reach the shoulder, and only gets more tedious as you get near the top. The over abundance of cairns near the summit can lead you around the back where it immediately becomes 700+ foot cliffs. Following the green band up as far as you can before it leads you to cliffs over the amphitheater is the best bet for someone who has not been up there before. Coming back down through the amphitheater sucks too. I wear trail shoes for everything but the mile+ of loose, soccer ball+ sized ankle turning and foot smashing fun of coming down the amphitheater is almost bad enough to make me wear boots on this one.

Maroon - It sucks. Hard. I will climb it again to do the traverse, but that is it. It is by far my least favorite 14er I have done. The grassy ledges suck. The loose gullies suck. Then you have to descend it. Not super dangerous overall, I just didn't enjoy any of it.

North Maroon - Personally, considering the reputation that this one has, I did not find it bad at all. Is it sketchy? Yea, but I feel like there is a lot of subjective viewpoint on this. Compared to a lot of other C4 climbs, North Maroon is not that bad. Lots of people on-mountain make it dangerous. And it is the Elks so it is loose. This was the first 14er I ever climbed, so maybe my perspective is skewed.

Castle - Not difficult, Conundrum probably the same.

Snowmass - Haven't climbed it yet.

[doggler]

The Elks still scare me. For those of you who have experience on that crappy rock, what would you do next (or what did you do) after Castle / Conundrum, which I summited last year?

The thing about crappy rock is that it isn't that crappy. As in, there are no signs that say "HI! I'm crappy loose gonna-kill-you Elk shale!" That can be both a good and a bad thing. Good in that you usually won't be on it saying "Holy cow this is terrible" as long as you exercise caution. Bad because it is possible to get lulled into a false sense of security.

Creating the habit of checking all holds at all times is important. If something is loose, it's not that it can't be used; you just need to be able to predict what will happen to a rock when you apply a directional force to it. There can be times - where you can - even need to - use an iffy hold as long as you say are pushing into it instead of pulling down on it or something.

This doesn't just apply to difficult maneuvers on the harder peaks. Even the process of walking through talus fields exercises this skill. Not just questions of if the next rock moves, but knowing what you will do next if and when it does.

Capitol's standard route probably involves the greatest amount of this decision-making process, but both Bells also require this. Snowmass moreso later in the summer and depending on route. OK, the west side routes up Snowmass require a ton of this thought process. I would venture to say that the overall danger level on Snowmass's west side (due to consequences of loose rock moving on you) is higher than many other peaks with higher overall difficulty.

[XterraRob]

OK, the west side routes up Snowmass require a ton of this thought process. I would venture to say that the overall danger level on Snowmass's west side (due to consequences of loose rock moving on you) is higher than many other peaks with higher overall difficulty.

I've never seen so much loose Talus as I have on the W side of Snowmass. You could literally surf down that mountain on coffee table sized rocks if you wanted.

[thurs]

I found the sketchiness of the rock to be greatly overstated on maroon bells and pyramid. I dont remember anyone in our party knocking any loose rocks down at all, either on the standard routes or on the bells traverse. There is an issue with goats and other people knocking junk down. If you concentrate and test your holds the danger is not nearly as high as some people state. Just make sure you know the route.