Mountains

(in the order that we completed them)

  1. Mount Bierstadt
  2. Mount Sherman
  3. Mount Antero
  4. Mount Princeton
  5. Mount Yale
  6. Pikes Peak
  7. Mount Democrat
  8. Mount Lincoln
  9. Mount Bross
  10. Mount Quandry
  11. Mount Evans
  12. Grays Peak
  13. Torreys Peak
  14. San Luis Peak
  15. Redcloud Peak
  16. Sunshine Peak
  17. Handies Peak
  18. Uncomparghe Peak
  19. Wetterhorn Peak
  20. Sunlight Peak
  21. Windom Peak
  22. Mount Eolus
  23. Mount Sneffels
  24. Wilson Peak
  25. Mount Wilson
  26. Mount Huron
  27. Mount Missouri
  28. Mount Oxford
  29. Mount Belford
  30. La Plata Peak
  31. Mount Elbert
  32. Mount Holy Cross
  33. Mount Shavano
  34. Tabegauche Peak
  35. Blanca Peak
  36. Ellingwood Point
  37. Little Bear
  38. Mount Lindsey
  39. Mount Humboldt
  40. Kit Carson
  41. Challenger Point
  42. Crestone Peak
  43. Crestone Needle
  44. Culebra Peak
  45. Maroon Peak
  46. Pyramid Peak
  47. North Maroon Peak
  48. Capitol Peak
  49. Snowmass Peak
  50. Castle Peak
  51. Mount Harvard
  52. Mount Columbia
  53. Mount Massive
  54. Longs Peak

Original List

(The mountains in the order we originally planned to attempt them)

Calendar of Climbs

Metro to Mountain Site

Metro to Mountain Blog

 

Mount Eolus

Date to Climb: June 28, 2009

Climbed Date: June 28, 2009

Elevation: 14,083

Range: San Juan, Needles

Latitude: 37.62190, Longitude: -107.62260

Route: Northeast Ridge ll, Class 3

Round-Trip Mileage: 5 (from Chicago Basin)

Pre-Climb Comments

Eolus has a couple hundred feet of exposed class 3 climbing, up and down. Should be fun. After climbing, we will go back to camp, break camp, pack, and hike the 16 miles back to the Purgatory trailhead. I wish all days were going to be this easy. Ha!

Post-Climb Comments

After meeting Nick, we soon were walking with two other climbers also going to Eolus. They were walking faster than us at times, but we still seemed to catch them with our slower but steady pace. Just below the ascent route, we caught them again, consulting their maps. A few joint decisions later, concerning route-finding, and we were traveling together.

Mount Eolus

Mount Eolus

Too much snow made the route hard to follow. We were not able to join the ridge separating Eolus and North Eolus at the low point without even more snow climbing. Instead of following the snow covered route we joined the ridge with a few fifth class climbing moves.

The traverse across the ridge was easy and the climb of Eolus was almost trail-like following cairns along some narrow ledges. However, by the time we summited it was time to hurry back to camp. We still had a long hike ahead of us (16 miles.)

Downclimbing Eolus Snowfield

Back down the Snow on Eolus

Eolus was fun and along the way we met Josh and Paul, two med-students from Georgia - the two who had climbed with us. There were staying in the Chicago Basin for a week. It would be interesting to hear the rest of their tales.

Note: We were unable to even attempt North Eolus. If we had climbed it after Eolus, we would have had to stay in Chicago Basin for another day. We needed to leave for two reasons: 1) Everyone was expecting us out that day. 2) We had no food remaining.

The ultimate consequence of not summitting North Eolus is that we will not be able to complete the unofficial fifty-nine fourteen thousand foot peaks. We will now just focus on the traditional fifty-four peaks. Asterisks on the Original List indicate the five extra peaks which we now do not intend to climb. None of the peaks were designated to be climbed without also climbing their parent peak.

22 Peaks climbed, 32 to go.

Mount Eolus - June 28, 2009 summit check