Tag: climbing
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Colorado’s 14er base camps: Where to climb and spoil yourself afterward
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Snow has melted from Colorado’s high country. Consider it nature’s invitation to climb. The state’s tallest summits await. So many to do. So little time. The most avid climber needs a base camp, a place…
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Alt-rock: Why some jam to the less-traveled, extreme sides of Colorado 14ers
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save In the 1990s, Andrew Hamilton was guiding river trips and in his spare time scaling Colorado’s highest peaks when he came by a book. It was the first edition of “Colorado’s Fourteeners: From Hikes to Climbs,” by legendary mountaineer Gerry Roach. Like many others who…
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Rock climbers in Colorado and beyond celebrate shift away from wilderness scrutiny
Rock climbers in Colorado and beyond are marking a victory in what’s been called “a war on wilderness climbing.” That’s how Boulder-based Access Fund described the situation in early 2023, around the time the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service proposed a new policy regarding fixed anchors on crags across federal lands. Fixed anchors —…
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Alongside unlikely team, teen in wheelchair summits Pikes Peak
As day broke on the final Sunday of August, a train of people in purple shirts rose through the treeline of Pikes Peak, onward to the tundra and most critical juncture of a two-day journey. There were more than 50 of them, mostly strangers from Colorado Springs and beyond. They had met the day before…
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Colorado senators add voice to debate over wilderness climbing
New political muscle is pushing back against land management proposals that rock climbers see as existential threats to the sport in Colorado and around the nation. That’s how Boulder-based Access Fund has described proposals from the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service. Presented last year, the proposals signaled “a new interpretation of the Wilderness…
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Alongside unlikely team, Colorado Springs teen in wheelchair summits Pikes Peak
As day broke on the final Sunday of August, a train of people in purple shirts rose through the treeline of Pikes Peak, onward to the tundra and most critical juncture of a two-day journey. There were more than 50 of them, mostly strangers from Colorado Springs and beyond. They had met the day before…
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Through the ups and downs of life, father and son have climbed on
Craig Richard and his father, Ron Smith, share a deep bond rooted in their love of climbing, starting when Craig was just 5 years old at Garden of the Gods. Ron, an accomplished mountaineer who once summited Colorado’s highest peaks and North America’s Denali, now supports from the ground as Craig continues their legacy, climbing…
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Mass atop every Colorado 14er: Catholic priests take message to new heights
One of these days atop a 14,000-foot peak in Colorado, you might just spot two men in white robes, the wind blowing those vestments, their fingers cold on the chalices that are smaller than those typically seen on an altar — smaller for the pack on the way up. That’s Father John Nepil and Father…
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Alongside unlikely team, Colorado Springs teen in wheelchair summits Pikes Peak
As day broke last Sunday, a train of people in purple shirts rose through the treeline of Pikes Peak, onward to the tundra and most critical juncture of a two-day journey. There were more than 50 of them, mostly strangers from Colorado Springs and beyond. They had met the day before at the head of…