Ranking the difficulty of the long Class 2/3 days

[Briere]

I have a 2WD SUV vehicle and am not a fan of hiking my camping gear many miles so I try to do big days. I have done a few of the longer 14ers/combos in a day and I hope to do a few more this year. I was wondering from those who have completed them all, what would you have to say about this breakdown ranking on hardest overall?

(from hardest to easiest):
1. Snowmass
2. Wetterhorn+Uncompahgre
3. Kit Carson Peak+Challenger Point
4. Blanca Peak+Ellinwood Point starting at 8,000ft
5. Missouri+Belford+Oxford
6. Castle Peak+Conundrum Peak via lower TH
7. Harvard+Columbia
8. Mt Evans+Bierstadt via Sawtooth from Winter TH

I have done them all except #1 and #4 and did #2 recently from the 2WD TH in 10.5 hours but now I am feeling uncertain how brutal Snowmass will be in a day.

[jfm3]

The difficulty of Snowmass in a day depends greatly on when in the summer you go. Right now, the route is dry below ~12,500 feet and is just a really long hike, with easy snow climbing at the top of the mountain. Doing the climb in spring snow conditions is far harder, I think. I climbed Snowmass in a day in June this year (finally successful at the 1-day ascent after 3(!) failed attempts at a 1-day climb in the last 2 years) and it took 14 hours. It was a pretty hard day- I crossed the logjam in the dark, I had a heavy pack due to carrying all my snow gear and snow climbing never seems to be as fast as dry ground. But now, in mostly dry conditions, you could take a much lighter pack (no winter clothes, no boots, no crampons, probably just a helmet, spikes and a short ice axe) and go faster. Running the descent (or at least parts of it) also helps to chew up the miles at the end of the day.

Blanca and Ellingwood from the bottom is also a long, hard day. 6,300' of gain from the car to the top of Blanca is about as big a climb as you'll find anywhere in Colorado. I did this route in September 2020. For this one especially, running from Lake Como back to the car REALLY helped the day go faster. I've done the Lake Como descent twice and each time it took under 2 hours total (including stops and cursing the gods for the deplorable state of the road around the lower treeline) to go from the lake to the bottom. I think Blanca/Ellingwood is a harder combo than Kit Carson & Challenger. KCC has a much shorter approach and not quite as much vert.

I think 5-8 on your list are not really comparable to 1-4, and perhaps Wetterhorn/Uncompahgre could also be moved lower. All those routes have good trail (mostly- Castle/Conundrum is definitely more rugged without snow) and have much easier terrain on the upper mountain.

[CaptainSuburbia]

Snowmass would probably be 7th or 8th on that list if you did the S Ridge.

[Phill the Thrill]

I would probably go with 1. Snowmass (east ridge), 2. Blanca/Ellingwood, and 3. Carson/Challenger - but Capitol Peak is just as hard as a single day climb. The rest of your list doesn't compare, though Harvard/Columbia is a pretty long slog but no difficult climbing involved.

[scvaughn]

Don't leave out Crestone Peak from the lower trailhead on the Westcliffe side. That's a long day.

[Briere]

I would probably go with 1. Snowmass (east ridge), 2. Blanca/Ellingwood, and 3. Carson/Challenger - but Capitol Peak is just as hard as a single day climb. The rest of your list doesn't compare, though Harvard/Columbia is a pretty long slog but no difficult climbing involved.

What makes you not even rank Wetterhorn+Uncompahgre but #2 to Blanca/Ellingwood?

Snowmass would probably be 7th or 8th on that list if you did the S Ridge.

Sadly I will be doing it via East Slopes due to my vehicle.

[Briere]

The difficulty of Snowmass in a day depends greatly on when in the summer you go. Right now, the route is dry below ~12,500 feet and is just a really long hike, with easy snow climbing at the top of the mountain. Doing the climb in spring snow conditions is far harder, I think. I climbed Snowmass in a day in June this year (finally successful at the 1-day ascent after 3(!) failed attempts at a 1-day climb in the last 2 years) and it took 14 hours. It was a pretty hard day- I crossed the logjam in the dark, I had a heavy pack due to carrying all my snow gear and snow climbing never seems to be as fast as dry ground. But now, in mostly dry conditions, you could take a much lighter pack (no winter clothes, no boots, no crampons, probably just a helmet, spikes and a short ice axe) and go faster. Running the descent (or at least parts of it) also helps to chew up the miles at the end of the day.

Blanca and Ellingwood from the bottom is also a long, hard day. 6,300' of gain from the car to the top of Blanca is about as big a climb as you'll find anywhere in Colorado. I did this route in September 2020. For this one especially, running from Lake Como back to the car REALLY helped the day go faster. I've done the Lake Como descent twice and each time it took under 2 hours total (including stops and cursing the gods for the deplorable state of the road around the lower treeline) to go from the lake to the bottom. I think Blanca/Ellingwood is a harder combo than Kit Carson & Challenger. KCC has a much shorter approach and not quite as much vert.

I think 5-8 on your list are not really comparable to 1-4, and perhaps Wetterhorn/Uncompahgre could also be moved lower. All those routes have good trail (mostly- Castle/Conundrum is definitely more rugged without snow) and have much easier terrain on the upper mountain.

Snowmass I was originally planning to do mid-June but with the snow have moved it to mid-August so it sounds like that will help a bunch. For Blanca+Ellingwood it's not any easier from Zapata Creek, right? I figure the added difficulty of the couloir climb and re-summiting Ellingwood point negates the time from the shorter distance?

[Phill the Thrill]

I've done Wetterhorn/Uncompahgre in a single day, from Matterhorn Creek upper TH, and maybe I just had a good day but it didn't seem that difficult. It covers a lot of miles but seems to move quickly.

[Phill the Thrill]

For Blanca+Ellingwood it's not any easier from Zapata Creek, right? I figure the added difficulty of the couloir climb and re-summiting Ellingwood point negates the time from the shorter distance?

No, not easier from Zapata Creek. Been there, done that. Got back to my car after midnight.

[quinnwolf]

I really like this question. I also prefer long single day hikes with a lighter pack and have started doing more of those the last few years.

It seems like you are ignoring harder class 3/4 climbs like Capitol, Little Bear, and the Great Traverses.

#1 Snowmass from the east (it took me 2 days)
#2 Wetterhorn+Matterhorn+Uncompahgre (for some reason, this one was one of the hardest days I've ever had) (and the stats back it up: 19 miles, 7.3k vert)
#3 Blanca-Ellingwood from 8k (took me 2 days)
#4 KCC
#5 Harvard-Columbia (maybe I lost the trail, but there is a long off-trail portion that a lot of these others don't have)
#6 Barr Trail (not as hard as the stats indicate since it is a really good trail and there is a nice visitor center to have a comfy break)
#7 Missouri-Belford-Oxford
#8 Grays+Torreys from Loveland Pass (not a lot of mileage, but A LOT of vert, and not a great trail most of the way)
#9 Evans from Echo Lake (via Chicago Lakes)
#10 Castle-Conundrum from lower TH (I don't think this one is that hard, at this point, you should start including Princeton, Antero, Humboldt all from the lower TH and others too)

Crestone Peak from the lower TH on the Westcliffe side is a big day and would probably in the top 4, but I haven't done that.

You could talk about doing the 4 Chicago Basin 14ers in "a day" without the train, but that seems ridiculous, even for me.

You might also really like the 4-pass loop in a single day. Really great trail the whole way.

Fun question! Thanks for posting.

[Briere]

It seems like you are ignoring harder class 3/4 climbs like Capitol, Little Bear, and the Great Traverses.

Nice list!! I did that on purpose since I figured those would all be at the top so I put the max difficulty of Class 3. I do plan to hike in camping gear for the Chicago Basin 4 this year and do all 4 in a day from my campsite so it's a happy medium at least.

I will look into 4-pass loop for next year possibly! That easily looks like a top 3 at first glance from distance and elevation.

[jfm3]

I will look into 4-pass loop for next year possibly! That easily looks like a top 3 at first glance from distance and elevation.

Four Pass Loop is the best trail running in Colorado. It's 26 miles and 7,800 vertical feet. There are options to make it longer and taller- I added Buckskin Benchmark from Buckskin Pass when I ran it earlier this month. I've run the loop in a day 7 years in a row and it never gets boring. I think Eric Lee (thebeave7 on this forum) has done it 13 times, perhaps more. Running in a day also lets you avoid the camping reservation madness.