Colorado: Your grandmother’s fourteener

Posted on June 10, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Kim Fenske strolls up Mt. Sherman

The rounded ridge to the summit of Mount Sherman lies beyond ruins of the Hilltop Mine, 1.5 miles up the trail, at 12,900 feet.

Story and photos by Kim Fenske

SUMMIT COUNTY — At 14,036 feet, Mount Sherman is one of the more modest fourteeners in Colorado, ranking forty-fifth in height. With an easy walking trail from about 12,000 feet in elevation, Sherman is your grandmother’s fourteener —  good beginner trek or afternoon sprint mountain. Even flatlanders visiting from lower elevations should be able to walk up to the summit of Sherman in a few hours.

Mount Sherman lies in the middle of the Mosquito Range. The mountain forms a narrow rib between two river valleys, the Arkansas and Platte. Sherman is southeast of Fairplay, Alma, and Breckenridge, with Leadville in sight to the west. The summit can be approached from Leadville, via Lake County Road 2 east to Iowa Gulch. However, the most popular approach is on dirt roads from Fairplay, along Fourmile Creek. (more…)

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Colorado: A spring jaunt on Mt. Antero

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Stunning vistas from Colorado’s 11-highest peak

Mount Princeton, 14,197 feet, lies north of Mount Antero, about twenty miles southwest of Buena Vista, above the Arkansas River Valley.

Fenske hiked three miles up Mount Antero to set base camp beside a stream at 11,000 feet and slept snug and cozy in a two-pound ultralight tent with a zero-degree rated sleeping bag.

Story and photos by Kim Fenske

Mount Antero, 14,269 feet, may rank high among the ugliest Fourteeners in Colorado. The peak has been abused by mining digs and cut with four-wheel-drive vehicle pathways for decades. During peak summer season, Antero can be crowded, dusty, and noisy with heavy traffic of all-terrain-vehicles.

Despite the blemishes created by modern machinery, Antero offers spectacular views of its neighbors, Mount Shavano, 14,229 feet, and Tabeguache Peak, 14,155 feet, to the south; as well as Mount Princeton, 14,197 feet,  to the north.

Mount Antero is the 11-highest peak in Colorado, named for Chief Antero of the Uintah band of Utes. (more…)

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Colorado: Hiking Mount Harvard

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

Exploring the Collegiate Range

Missouri Peak, where a father and daughter died early this summer.

Story and photos by Kim Fenske

The Collegiate Peaks west of Buena Vista provide many beautiful and challenging hikes within an hour of Summit County. The peaks are part of one of the ten largest wilderness areas in the U.S. Over the past several years, I have scrambled over the long boulder fields of Mount Harvard a few times. At 14,420 feet, the summit of Harvard is the third highest Fourteener in Colorado

My first ascent of Harvard on a hot August day ended with me hunkered down in a blinding snowstorm with a covey of ptarmigan among the rocks at about 13,000 feet, then drenched in a heavy rain on my retreat down Frenchman Creek. (more…)

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Fourteener fees in Colorado?

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Bob Berwyn

The U.S. Forest Service is proposing $10 to $20 fees for climbing peaks in the Sangre de Cristos Colony Basin.

Public comment wanted on plan to charge for access to peaks in the Colony Basin area of the Sangre de Cristos

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — The U.S. Forest Service is considering charging $10 to $20 for climbing a group of popular fourteeners in the Sangre de Cristos in order to help pay for trail work and restoration of damaged alpine tundra. For now, the proposal is only aimed at summer users.

“Relying on recreation use fees appears to be the best option for providing future high quality backcountry experiences and protecting the natural environment in South Colony Basin,” Forest Service ranger Paul Crespin wrote in a May 12 letter announcing the proposal.

While the agency claims it needs the money to help manage the area, groups opposed to the fees say the plan a first step toward widespread hiking fees on fourteeners. A better option would be to adopt a free first-come, first-serve permit system, according to the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition. (more…)

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Rescues on Quandary and Torreys

Posted on May 23, 2010 by Bob Berwyn

The East Ridge of Quandary Peak, as viewed from the trail head. PHOTO COURTESY THE WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.

Climber hurt badly in Torreys avalanche; Quandary hiker literally blown off his feet by strong winds as spring mountaineering season starts in the high country

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — About 16 members of the Summit County Rescue Group hiked part way, then skied and snowshoed up the East Ridge trail of Quandary Peak Saturday to rescue an injured hiker, who was literally blown over by the wind, according to Becky Baylor, one of the volunteers on the mission.

Four members of the rescue group also participated in a rescue mission Friday to help evacuate a climber who was badly injured in a large avalanche near the summit of Torreys Peak.

The Quandary call came in about 11:30 a.m. and rescuers were staging at the Quandary trail head by about 12:30, Baylor said.

“A hiker had gotten up to somewhere on the saddle along the East Ridge and the wind literally blew the person over,” Baylor said. The hiker’s knee was injured in the fall and he was unable to hike back down. (more…)

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