The Trip

The Sawatch range is the mountain range in Colorado that is just west of Leadville and Buena Vista Colorado. Of the 54 fourteeners in the state 15 of them are in the Sawatch range. My focus for this challenge has always been on the Sawatch Range. Two of the highest mountains in Colorado are in this range, Mt. Elbert and Mt. Massive.

Mt. Elbert and Mt. Massive due to their proximity will be the objective of my first day of hiking. In evaluating the routes to take the considerations are the distance, difficulty and the elevation gain. The 14ers website also posts user climb times. The climb times come in handy but they are difficulty to evaluate because there is the average hiker as well the the younger more energetic climber that is looking to set a speed record. The first climb will be the Northeast Route up Mt. Elbert. This is one of the very common routes up the mountain, and is a class 1 climb. The round trip distance is 9 miles with an elevation gain of 4,700 feet. I am hoping to meet up with a more experienced climber on this route to help guide me through my first climb. The next objective will be Mt. Massive. The trailhead to the route I plan to take for Mt. Massive is just a few miles down the road from the Mt. Elbert trailhead. The route up Mt. Massive will be from the Southwest. The round trip distance is 8 miles and the elevation is 3,950 feet.

Day two will focus on two mountains further west of Mt. Massive and Mt. Elbert. They are LaPlata Peak and Huron Peak. The route up LaPlata Peak will be from the Southwest. The round trip distance is 7 miles with an elevation gain of 3,380 feet. After LaPlata Peak, I will travel a short distance to the south to get to the trailhead for Huron Peak. Huron Peak at elevation at 14,003 feet is a round trip distance of 6.75 miles with an elevation gain of 3,500 feet.

Day three will be an attempt at a triple play, Missouri Mountain, Mt. Belford, and Mt. Oxford. All three will be attempted on the sample climb since they are so close to each other. The first peak to tackle will be Missouri Mountain at elevation 14,067 feet. The distance to Missouri is 5.25 miles one way with an elevation gain of 4,500 feet. The route to Mt. Belford from Missouri Mountain is not so well defined. From my reading of trip reports, the route on the ridge from Missouri Mountain to Elkhead Pass is not a good idea. One of the reports and maps from one of the people that completed the Nolan's 14 recommends going to the south west to the saddle and the dropping down in elevation south of Missouri Mountain to intersect the Elkhead Pass trail. Then there is a trail to Mt. Belford at elevation 14,197 feet. From Mt. Belford is is 3 miles round trip to Mt. Oxford back to Mt. Belford. Mt Oxford is at elevation 14,153 feet. After returning to Mt. Belford the distance back to the trailhead is 5.5 miles. This is going to be one of the more difficult trips. The trip has been done by a few people. The only portion of this trip that needs further examination is the route from Missouri Mountain to Mt. Belford.

Day four will be a light day. One mountain and that mountain will be Mt. Princeton. At elevation 14,197 feet, Mt. Princeton is the 20^th highest peak in Colorado. The trip up to the peak is 6.25 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 3,200 feet.

Day five will be a Mt. Harvard, Mt. Columbia combination. The route will go to Mt. Harvard first. Mt. Harvard has an elevation of 14,420 feet. It will be 6.75 miles to the summit. The route to Mt. Columbia is 2.75 miles. Mt. Columbia has an elevation of 14,073 feet. From the summit of Mt. Columbia back to the trail head will be 5.75 miles. The total trip will be 14.25 miles.

Day six will be Mt. Yale. This is another light day. The elevation of Mt. Yale is 14,196 feet. The elevation gain from the trailhead to the summit is 4,300 feet. The round trip length of the trip is 9.5 miles.

Day seven will be Mt. Antero, Tabeguache Peak, and Mt. Shavano. This will be the longest trip on which I need to do further research on the route. The trail to Mt. Antero is along Little Brown Creek. The elevation of Mt. Antero is 14,269. The route I will take will then go south to Tabeguache Peak at an elevation of 14,155. The route will take me a short distance to Mt. Shavano at an elevation of 14,155 feet. I will travel back towards Tabeguache Peak and then take the trail along Browns Creek back to the trailhead.

I can control my training for this trip, I can plan for the trip by understanding and fully investigating the routes, and with a little luck from the weather, I should be able to complete this seven day adventure.