As a result of the snows of winter slowly melted and the beginning of summer season 2023 approached, I decided to set a model new goal bodily goal to push myself out of my comfort zone this yr. And so, I received right down to climb at least one peak every week for the whole thing of astronomical summer season—roughly 14 weeks, while you embody the partial weeks on each end merely to be on the safe facet.
The difficulty inherent throughout the goal wasn’t primarily climbing a whole of 14 peaks—it was trying to climb a peak every week with out fail. It’s simple to batch a bunch of climbs proper right into a single expedition, nevertheless trying to carve out time to get out into the mountains and stand on prime of 1 factor tall every single week for 14 weeks straight proved to be strong. Even, so, I labored diligently to plan my schedule prematurely to prioritize this goal, nevertheless on some occasions I nonetheless wanted to attempt to find out strategies to shoehorn in a model new peak spherical the complete totally different obligations of day-to-day life.
If #onepeakaweek had been my solely goal for the summer season, it’ll have been quite a bit easier… nevertheless I nonetheless had extended mountain bike work trips to complete and backpacking loops that didn’t comprise peak climbing, plus—actually—trying to get the rest of labor and chores and day-to-day life taken care of.
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Nevertheless, regardless of the scheduling challenges, I persevered and managed to face on prime of 19 complete summits (16 distinctive peaks) ranging in peak from 7,550 ft to 14,150 ft—along with one every single week. Listed below are all the peaks I climbed this summer season, organized from shortest to tallest, with some transient concepts from my experience on each of them.
S-Mountain – 7,550 ft
S “Mountain” is certainly additional of a “hill” and was merely a bonus jaunt to an beautiful overlook of my earlier hometown of Salida. Whereas it wasn’t my principal peak of the week, it is a named mountain, and the view from the best is pretty rattling unbelievable. So, on the file it goes!
Pautskey Degree – 7,689 ft
My mountain bike journey up Pautskey Degree was positively one in all many weeks the place I wanted to find an answer to cram a peak proper right into a packed mountain biking schedule. I had a great deal of driving and tenting plans on the weekend that didn’t comprise a peak climb, so I rode to one in all many extreme components accessible immediately from my residence in Durango. No matter being fairly low, it’s a little bit of a slog to face up there, and the view from the summit is downright pretty.
Smelter Mountain – 7,725 ft
Smelter Mountain is one different in-town Durango path, nevertheless I hiked this mountain early throughout the season when the extreme nation was nonetheless buried in deep snow following a strong winter. The selection of mountaineering fast nevertheless steep mountains down low, even when the snow lingers on the extreme peaks properly into the summer season, is probably going one of many points that makes Durango (and loads of cities in Colorado) so explicit.
Animas Metropolis Mountain – 8,171 ft
Yet another from-the-house mountain bike journey, no matter how sometimes I do it, Animas Metropolis Mountain not at all seems to get any easier. The climb to the best is grueling, and sadly, and I sadly chosen a poor path once more down that didn’t truly reward me for the work that I put in. Correctly, that’s all a part of trying to journey every path in town—you want to journey the shitty ones along with the unbelievable ones.
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Strand Hill – 10,358 ft
Whereas Crested Butte is ringed by stunning mountain peaks, driving to the best of Strand Hill was yet another peak squeezed into an unlimited week of mountain biking. However it proved to be an unexpectedly satisfying journey—I hadn’t ridden this far up the Strand Hill freeway sooner than (most riders flip off on the singletrack path junction), and the upper reaches of the aspen grove proved to be stunningly pretty! I moreover wanted to wander spherical throughout the woods for a bit to hunt out the exact prime of the mountain since, apparently, nearly no individual models off to bike or hike to the best of Strand Hill.
Citadel Rock – 10,441 ft x2
Citadel Rock was the first peak of my downside as a result of it—like Smelter, my second peak—was largely free of snow in late June. No matter rising to solely 10,441 ft, I nonetheless wanted to hike over just some snow drifts to attain the best. Citadel Rock was moreover one among solely two mountains that I completed plenty of events all through the summer season.
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Pajarito Mountain – 10,441 ft
I took a break from some prolonged days of downhill mountain biking to go exploring and uncover the peak of Pajarito Mountain. The very best just isn’t immediately accessible from a elevate, so I wanted to pedal up a mixture of ski runs, gravel roads, and faint singletrack trails to hunt out the summit. From a clearing on prime, I cherished a strong view off the underside of Northern New Mexico!
North Cone – 12,060 ft
I did far more downhill mountain biking in 2023 than I commonplace, which truly fairly often immediately conflicted with my #onepeakaweek downside. All through an prolonged week of DH driving at among the best bike park in Colorado—Trestle—I put collectively an journey day, getting right down to journey to the best of the closest peak to the bike park. No matter a elevate bump, it turned out to be an actual journey, with a whole lot of ft of climbing up steep singletrack and rutted doubletrack, along with a great deal of hike-a-bike. Nonetheless, the view from the summit was rewarding, and the bodily downside of the ascent was a welcome break from the fastened downhill shredding.
Degree 12,700 ft
One in all many largest adventures that my partner and I shared this yr was backpacking the 4 Transfer Loop, which crosses 4 steep mountain passes, all merely above 12,500 ft. To swimsuit an exact “peak” into the journey, I hiked up and off West Maroon Transfer to hit a extreme stage. From there, I was able to catch glimpses of Gothic near Crested Butte—an actual take care of!
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Engineer Mountain – 12,968 ft
Now points start to get truly attention-grabbing, with a few of the technical summits of the summer season. No matter not even hitting 13,000 ft, Engineer Mountain is probably going one of the crucial aesthetic peaks throughout the San Juans, and the scramble up the summit ridge is extreme consequence! Engineer proved to be my second favorite mountain of the yr.
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Spencer Peak – 13,087 ft x3
Spencer Peak was my first extreme alpine summit of the yr, and no matter wanting to hike all the easiest way to Sultan on the first hike in early July, I ended up stopping fast at Spencer. Nevertheless for my final climb of the summer season, I went once more for redemption, trekking all the easiest way to Sultan and tagging Spencer on every the easiest way there and the easiest way once more.
Hassell Peak – 13,208 ft
Hassell Peak marked the easiest stage that I rode my mountain bike all through Summer season 2023. The epic Continental Divide Path section from Jones Transfer to Herman Gulch might not be prolonged, nevertheless it’s doubtless one of many highest-elevation mountain bike-legal singletrack traverses in North America. Okay, that’s pretty just some qualifiers, nevertheless nonetheless this was a very stellar mountain bike journey with stupendous views and surprisingly rideable singletrack.
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Sultan Mountain – 13,368 ft
As talked about above, I was so completely happy to attain some redemption by making all of it the easiest way to Sultan on my final peak climb of the #onepeakaweek downside! As my final climb of the season, snow was already beginning to return to the extreme mountains. It was wild to suppose that in early July I wanted to cross big snowfields to attain the best of Spencer, and in mid-September the north faces of the mountains had been already holding a dusting of snow and slick ice from the first snowfalls of the yr. The extreme nation season is transient, nevertheless it is so properly definitely worth the effort to learn from it! As an added bonus, I was the one explicit individual on the mountain for the entire 5 and a half hours that I was climbing
Degree 13,600 ft
Degree 13,600 ft was really a mistake. This can be the first time I’ve made a fallacious flip (at least this huge of a fallacious flip) whereas climbing a mountain. I assumed I knew which peak I was aiming for after I hit the saddle below Mount Sneffels, so I didn’t confirm my map. As I was partway up what regarded just like the obvious pitch, I rotated and observed all the people climbing what was merely a quite a bit taller mountain peak. So, I merely decided to finish what I started and scramble to the best of a slim summit block for {a photograph}, then boogie once more down and head to my principal purpose.
Golden Horn – 13,780 ft
Golden Horn was unequivocally my favorite peak of the yr! This jagged spire requires an prolonged, sustained scramble to attain the saddle. From there, we scaled an uncovered ridge to attain a tiny summit block with utterly unbelievable views! Bear in mind to catch my full journey report article for all the superlatives and accolades that I can stage at this mountain.
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Mount Sneffels – 14,150 ft
Mount Sneffels is called the “Queen of the San Juans,” and it truly is a spectacular mountain! From the summit, you take pleasure in a novel vantage, with views of the San Juan mountains to the south and east and views of the extreme desert and Colorado Plateau to the north and west. From the summit, the mountain slopes drop precipitously to the desert far, far below.
Whereas Sneffels was a unbelievable climb, this was far and away primarily probably the most crowded mountain I climbed all yr—simply because it’s a 14er. The suffocating crowds is probably going one of many principal reason why Sneffels was the one 14er I climbed this yr. In its place, I had an absolute ball spending quite a bit time on fairly a number of 13ers and even plenty of 12ers the place I was sometimes the one explicit individual on the mountain. To each their very personal, nevertheless this yr’s experiment in climbing obscure peaks proved to be so pleasurable that I plan to proceed climbing 13ers and totally different lesser-traveled mountains into 2024 and previous.
It’s impressive how you managed to climb 19 summits in one summer. Balancing such a goal with everyday responsibilities is no small feat.
Climbing one peak every week for the entire summer is quite the challenge! Your experience planning around other commitments is relatable.
Your journey through those various peaks sounds exhilarating. It’s great to see such dedication to outdoor activities.
The variety of peaks you tackled this summer really highlights your adventurous spirit. Thanks for sharing your insights!
You’ve inspired me to take on a similar challenge! I appreciate how you detail each climb’s unique experiences.