The Road Less Traveled

On Monday afternoon I was sitting on top of Capitol, staring at the ridge that runs from the summit over to Snowmass Peak. This tottering pile is one of the most challenging alpine ridges in the state, and has seen few ascents. It got me thinking to an article I read recently in the Vail Trail about how crowded the 14ers are, and how many have taken to climbing lower peaks that are more challenging to escape the happy throngs of Goretex people. In my experience, the easy 14er’s usually have lots of folks, but as soon as you get up on the more technical peaks, you are more likely to find yourself alone with the mountains. Tackle a challenge like the Capitol-Snowmass Ridge, and you have a better chance of winning in Vegas than seeing another person.

I remember my shock the summer I climbed most of the Elk Range peaks and then took a trip to go up Grey’s and Torreys, to find a parking lot with 50 cars in it at 6 in the morning! So this was peak bagging, Front Range style. I saw more people on top of Grey’s that day than I had seen all summer on all the other peaks I did combined.

It seems like many like to take the crusty, elitist attitude and bag on all the folks who are climbing the gentle giants that are most of Colorado’s 14ers, but I think it’s great that people of all abilities can enjoy being up so high. The other week on La Plata we met a group that had done many of the easier peaks, and when I told them I had spent most of my time in the Elks, they trembled and said those peaks were too dangerous. The peaks they climbed presented all the challenge and risk they were willing to take, and they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Of course, people will always be lured in by the numbers, to the peaks that because they sit above an arbitrary point in the sky, garner so much attention. But if you want to find seclusion, follow the advice of the article, and seek out the hundreds of other peaks in the state that don’t have the same notoriety as the big boys. You’ll probably find yourself alone, experiencing another incredible day in the mountains.