The beauty attracts us. The danger entices us. The challenge motivates us. So we go, we hike, we climb — all for the chance to stand atop a pinnacle.

It’s the allure of fourteeners — Colorado’s collection of peaks that stand above the rest. The mountains reside in a class of their own simply because of how high they stretch toward the sky.

A peak that reaches 13,999 feet? Not interested. Add 12 measly inches and hikers are lining the trail before sunrise.

I’ve always been intrigued by fourteeners. And in the summer of 2010, I was eager to check off two more — either with Harvard-Columbia or Blanca-Ellingwood. While studying the Harvard-Columbia traverse, I sought advice from some peak veterans before settling on Blanca-Ellingwood.

Blanca Peak and Ellingwood Point are class 2 difficulty climbs with a class 3 traverse option. Having completed several class 2 climbs and class 3 Longs Peak, I embarked without hesitation. The forecast was favorable, and an early start was guaranteed.

Sometimes, that’s not enough.

I failed to bag either peak that day because of my own confidence and a few simple mistakes. As the fourteener season approaches, here are four tips born from an unsuccessful day on the trail.

1. Do your research: I had spent several hours reading reports on Harvard-Columbia but precious little on Blanca-Ellingwood. On some mountains, that isn’t a problem, but I paid for the error this time. While I was equipped with some trail maps, I didn’t have a working knowledge of the hike.

2. Don’t become too eager: I love to climb and am not typically affected by elevation gain. During this hike, I became too aggressive about reaching the summit. Instead of stopping to survey the maps and landscape, I quickly tried to find my way. A pair of hikers — who also, as it turned out, failed to summit either peak — read me a brief trail tip. While that tip proved to be accurate, we already had passed that point on the route, so it only led to confusion in the end.

3. No time to be stubborn: The goal was to climb Ellingwood first and then Blanca. So my group, which included friend Kecia Seyb and dog Cheyenne, began ascending. Eventually, we spotted a cairn and an obvious route between mountains. While the path to Blanca appeared straightforward, we opted for Ellingwood with a sense of relief. That was, at least, until the trail became fuzzy mere feet from the top. Every turn seemed to bring an awkward situation. But to be that close, it wasn’t easy to turn back — and that led to plenty of wasted time.

4. Keep your eyes on the sky: It was now past 1 p.m., and the clouds were rolling in. Nothing seemed threatening, but we didn’t care to take that risk at 14,000 feet. So we slowly moved down to about 13,200 feet, where we came across the standard route to Blanca. All of that hiking, all of that frustration and yet a mountain was in reach. The possibility seemed too good to pass. But as the discussion took place, graupel began to fall from the sky, signaling the end of a disappointing journey and capping a day of tough lessons.

The key thing to remember with fourteeners is the mountain isn’t going anywhere. You can come back another day. And the three of us did a year later, finally bagging the two elusive peaks.