Thompson Family: 14ers and 13ers of 2011

After we returned from Hawai'i, my friend Jared and I got right to work. First we climbed La Plata Peak.

Then we climbed Culebra Peak, the southernmost 14er in Colorado, along with Red Mountain, its neighboring 13er.

On the traverse, we saw a huge black bear eating insects out of the tundra and enjoying the sunny day. We'd never seen a bear so high up on a mountain.

Then we camped at Lake Como and climbed Little Bear, Blanca, and Ellingwood Peaks.

Little Bear Peak is famous for a steep funnel-shaped section called the Hourglass which required some fun rock climbing moves and rope work.

That's the ridge over to Blanca Peak from Little Bear. It's a negotiable traverse, but we opted to climb Blanca and Ellingwood Peaks from the lake the next day.

Then Joseph and I climbed Mount Sherman. It was his first 14er. He did so well that I talked him into climbing Dyer Mountain, a nearby 13er.

We completed the loop back to the car by glissading down some snowfields, much to his delight.

Then Jared and I climbed the Maroon Bells, famous for their rotten rock; but we didn't find them too terrifying. First, we climbed Maroon Peak.

Here's the traverse over to North Maroon that's even more negotiable than the Blanca-Little Bear traverse, but we opted to climb North Maroon the next week.

North Maroon turned out to be one of our favorite peaks. It had varied and beautiful terrain and the degree of difficulty was just right.

This chimney was the crux of the route. Our friendly mountain goat escort climbed it in seconds and seemed to be laughing at our relatively awkward descent.

Then we went to the San Miguel Mountains in southwestern Colorado. We climbed El Diente from Kilpacker Basin.

We negotiated the traverse between El Diente and Mount Wilson and found it quite airy and exhilarating.

We descended into Kilpacker Basin and hiked back to camp.

The next day we climbed Wilson Peak from Silver Pick Basin.

We then traversed over to Gladstone Peak, a neighboring 13er. I have never encountered such rotten rock as on Gladstone and was happy to safely descend.

Here's the improvised lightning rod on Gladstone's summit.

This pika welcomed us to Silver Pick Basin.

Next we climbed Pyramid Peak, which was Jared's finisher. He has now climbed all the 14ers in Colorado.

It was a fun hike, with abundant mountain goats to keep us company.

Pyramid's route includes a fun ledge called the Leap of Faith

At the beginning of fall, I talked Jared into an endurance hike. We started with Missouri Mountain, then traversed over Iowa Peak to Emerald Peak, a 13er overlooking the beautiful Missouri basin.

Then we climbed over Elkhead Pass to Mounts Oxford and Belford, at which point we were seriously wasted.

Thankful that the thunderstorms held off until we made the last summit, we let gravity take us back down to the trailhead.

Since the weather this fall was so pleasant, I climbed a few more alone. I started with Mount Bierstadt and thoroughly enjoyed my traverse over the Sawtooth to Mount Evans.