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I am writing this report to bring in a different perspective on the usual trip reports seen on this site. I have read hundreds of trip reports and very few of them discuss the true difficulty of certain peaks. My perspective is a beginner's to most of you. I have been hiking all over Colorado all of my life. I live in Grand Junction and have since I was born. I hike quite a bit (usually around 5,000' elv) so I wouldn't consider myself in bad hiking shape, but I am not in great shape at all either. I have only hiked Handies Peak before this, so that is my only peak to make my comparisons to. Let me just straighten this up for all hiking/fourteener newbies considering Quandry to be your first 14er because many people say it is "the easiest" or "one of the best first 14ers".
-> Quandry Peak, is NOT an easy fourteener. (I know it is said all over this site, and by Gerry Roach many times) There is no such thing as an easy fourteener!
Again I only have Handies to compare it to...but in comparison, Quandary is MUCH more difficult than Handies Peak.
We camped at Dillon Reservour and left camp just after 5am, we hit the trailhead at 5:35ish. The upper trailhead was full but there were plenty of parking spots along the dirt road. Many people just parked in the lower trailhead, but that wasnt the only option that early.
Right from the get go in the pines, the hike is steep. We started hiking at 5:45am right as the sun was rising. Plenty of light to hike without headlamps, but still not bright yet. Beautiful pines.
The sunrise through the trees was stunning, but the trail even from the beginning was not easy. It was steep, but not horrible. As the trees thinned, the slope became a bit more gradual so it was less steep and super tolerable for a while. Stunning Sunrise
Then we hit the rocks. More and more hikers starting to pile up.
It got steeper again, and with the added "rougher terrain" the hiking speed slowed and the hike itself became tougher. Everyone (save all you amazing folk who are in great shape, hike 14ers all the time and actually find this hike easy) picked up the cadence of hike for a couple hundred yards:stop to breathe. I think we leapfrogged the same groups of people for the entire bottom 2/3 portion of the hike. This part of the hike was not easy, (still much harder than Handies) but it was manageable.
At the top of this section we reached a mostly flat ridge that seemed to say "you best stop and get your second wind, because here comes the fun part". The mostly flat ridge before the long haul towards the summit
Just after the "flat" ridge where we saw this guy One of our many goat friends.
The trail shoots straight up and you look to the top of the next section before you and see all the tiny ants up there and think to yourself "you have to be kidding me!". The steep long haul up. It doesn't look that steep in the picture, but it is.
But we head up, and continue up, and keep going up, and up and up and up, and unbelievably the summit doesn't seem to get any nearer. Perspective on the incline, that's my mother in the bright green
This section of the trail was very congested. The whole hike was busy with people, but on this steep slow part there were so many people. While it wasn't cool to be surrounded by people when you are in nature, it is cool for people like me who fought for every set of 20 steps to see that I wasn't the only one having a hard time with this beast we were climbing. Everyone was encouraging one another and almost everyone had to stop and catch their breath often, and we all banded together and pushed slowly onward.
Finally we hit the snow! We were all told that once we hit the snow we were in the clear. I slapped on my crampons and trekked up the snow (thank God I brought those, because everyone else was slipping 2 feet for every 1 they gained. Flat trek across the snow at the top.
At the top of the snow, you walk about 100 feet along the crest in the snow and you FINALLY make it to the summit!!!!
At the summit HOORAY!One of the only summit view photos without any other people.
Again it was packed, and by the time we made it to the top at 11:50 am the clouds seemed to get a bit darker, with promising forecasts of thunderstorms at 2pm I wasted no time on the summit and hauled butt off the top.
My really awesome parents (in their fifties) and I (along with a good handful of other hikers) decided against hiking the knee torturing decent down the staircase of uneven and not stable rocks and chose the completely FUN slide on our butts down the snowy slope (running parralel to the trail). The rest of the hike down wasnt that easy either, but absolutely no trail descent is easy on the joints. On our way back down before we hit tree line, a mountain goat blocked the trail leaving us only about 1.5 feet to get around him. We also made friends with some Marmots and an adorable Pika.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
There is no such thing as an easy 14er. I hate even putting the word easy in the same sentence... although there are harder ones than others and they are in different classes, they are all hard (even the "easier" ones) and should not be taken lightly. Congrats on your summit!
Thank you! Yeah... that has been said over and over on this site and in Gerry Roach’s book, and I never doubted it. Handies was not easy, but I think think that Quandary was much more difficult. I just wanted newbies to know what they are getting themselves into, and not underestimate the peak, because people say it is the easiest. NOPE! All these peaks deserve mad respect for sure!
Thanks for your input! :D
Every time one of my friends says "I want to do Quandary for the my first 14er cause it’s the easiest" I think, no!! It is not the easiest! None of them are easy! That last steep incline is rough, I would put a couple of other 14ers before Quandary. Also, congrats!
I enjoyed reading this report and your perspective on it. You have a nice writing style and I hope you will post more reports. Congrats to you and your (very young) parents! :)
Jay512, vusteph and kushrocks,
Thank you! Next weekend (Aug 1) I am going to hike San Luis and on the following weekend (August 8) I will be hiking Sherman. I may reverse the order of these two... we will see! :D
Might I suggest Huron as an upcoming 14er. Its about the same difficulty as Quandary with significantly better views than Sherman or San Louis. The only catch is you probably need some kind of 4 wheel drive car to get to the trailhead. I promise though its worth it. Again, well done.
I remember that last pitch being a steep haul. I saw you’ve done Handies as well. Your 1st 14er is a trial and you either love it or hate it. You went back for a 2nd so you are obviously bitten. Congrads on your new addiction!!! A little advice, pause every now and then and soak up the smells and views. To this day Ponderosa Pines are intoxicating to me.
Be Safe and Happy Trails
For this report! I lurk on here all the time and finally joined today just so I could reply to you. I hike often and did Quandary as my first 14er July3 and found it much harder than I thought it would be. Took me 4.5 hours to get to the top. After reading all the TR’s here where people just skip through peaks like nothing I was disappointed, but still happy I made it to the top. This is a Great report for beginners to read.
Jay 521, paul109876 and BoulderBarb,
Thank you for the advice Jay and Paul. I will keep on hiking em till they stop being awesome, which will be never! Thanks for the comments and encouragement too! I will definitely be hiking Huron this year before fall officially hits. And Barb, I am glad this report did it’s job. I wanted people who are also beginners to know that they are not the only ones thinking what I was thinking. And for everyone to not be discouraged! Congratulations on your first Fourteener!!!
Couldn’t have said it better myself 8/3/2015 1:58pm
On July 23rd I made the summit of Quandary Peak, my first 14er, and I can tell you it really kicked my butt. I am glad you wrote so honestly about this hike as it is not a cake walk by any means.
I am from Cincinnati, Ohio, and planned out my trip to CO for months, even hiking very steep hills with a 40lb. weighted vest on. Now of course the elevation where I am from is around 900’, so I was about 10,000’ higher than what I’m used to even before I started hiking! Nevertheless I was surprised by the difficulty of hiking to the summit of Quandary, mainly because it is regarded as being "easy" by so many. I did make it harder on myself by not giving my body enough time to acclimate as I started the hike about 18 hours after I arrived in Breckenridge, but once again, this should not be thought of as an easy hike. Congrats to you for roughing through it!!
As a Boy Scout leader, I frequently remind our Scouts that "easier" is not the same as "easy" when it comes to 14ers... BTW, Huron was my first and still is one of my favorites. Good hiking to you!
Just finished Quandary as my first 14er last Friday, August 7th (40th birthday present to myself), and I agree - "easier" =/= "easy". Took me 3.5 hours to the top, and I consider myself lucky on that. Three days later, and I’m still nursing sore muscles, and I’m not in bad shape - I bike to work at least once a week, and that’s a 46 mile round trip. Since I live in northern Denver, at least I didn’t have any issues acclimatizing to the altitude. Even so, for the last 1,000’ I still had to climb slowly, with frequent pauses to avoid getting dizzy. Even getting up to the relatively flat ridge before that final ascent took me twice as long as I expected.
My previous highest peak was 12,637 Mt Humphreys near Flagstaff, AZ. Both seem similar - peak above treeline, beautiful views from top, and hiking distances are fairly short - 4.8 miles vs 6.75 miles. However, Quandary was at least double the difficulty, and the extra 1,200 feet of elevation was only part of the difference. Quandary is significantly steeper, and the skree the trail crosses the entire time above the treeline is harder to navigate, and takes more concentration to avoid twisting an ankle or knee.
Still well worth the trip, but keep your eyes open, and don’t go into it thinking it is "easy" just because it is "easier" than other 14ers.
Quandary was my 1st 14’er last September. Your report brought back nice (or maybe I should say exhaustive) memories. Being someone who lives at sea level, I say any 1st peak is not a easy little hike
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