Colorado Climbing Information and Locations

Colorado has enough peaks to keep someone busy for a lifetime. The state seems to produce more peakbaggers than any other. I think it has something to do with the fourteeners. Many aspire to climb them all and in so doing, end up climbing many, many more. There are also a lot of big mountains that the average hiker can climb, spawning an interest in peakbagging.

What I like about the Colorado Rockies is the choices in routes. Most peaks will have both easy and hard ways to the summit, especially if climbing in early season. When I first visited Rocky Mountain National Park at age 15, I wasn?t too impressed. A sign boasted being higher than Oregon?s Mt. Hood, yet the peaks were all rounded summits. What good is a tall mountain without any topography to it? Later I learned this was only a speck of the many mountain ranges in Colorado.

Of the 54 Colorado fourteeners, I?ve only climbed the highest (Mt. Elbert) and the two drive up ones (Pikes Peak and Mt. Evans). In the near future, I should begin to climb the remaining 51 fourteeners. This was part of the allure to moving to Utah. Surprisingly, other climbing interests to the west have kept me out of Colorado but that will soon be changing.