quandary peak hike

This past Sunday (8/2/09), I hiked up 14,265-foot Quandary Peak in Summit County, Colorado. Quandary was my third 14er. It’s located just south of Breckenridge, along CO 9. The trailhead is very handy to this main highway, so Quandary is one of the more popular 14ers. The peak is located in the 2.3 million acre White River National Forest. WRNF encompasses a huge area of ‘High Country’ in central Colorado and has ten peaks over 14,000 feet within its borders.

I found some conflicting data about this hike. Roach (Colorado’s Fourteeners: From Hikes to Climbs, Second Edition) lists Quandary as a 5.4 mile hike, roundtrip, and has the elevation at the summit as 14,265 feet. The WRNF official website, though, says it’s a 3.11 mile hike, one-way, and that the summit is 14,247 feet. According to the website, the trail starts at 10,917 feet. Regardless of who’s right, it’s a nice hike with a good trail all the way to the summit, and once you get to the top, the view is stupendous.

If you’ve ever checked out Roach’s book, which I’m pretty sure is considered the Bible for climbing 14ers in Colorado, you know that some folks take this whole business of bagging 14ers (there are over fifty) pretty seriously. For example, Roach says:

Purists accept the goal of not only climbing all the fourteeners, but gaining 3,000 feet on each one. This is a much harder goal… For example, consider Lincoln, Democrat, and Bross. Even if you are careful to start 1,000 feet below 12,000 Kite Lake on your initial climb of all three, you have only gained 3,000 feet on one of the three peaks. To gain 3,000 feet on all three, you will have to do this standard climb three times, or do alternate routes to the other two peaks on two more occasions.

Okie dokie.

I have to admit there's something wonderfully satisfying about standing on top of a 14,000-foot mountain that you've climbed under your own power, but I have no desire to climb all the 14ers in Colorado. I’ll be happy doing one or two a summer, but bagging all fifty-five of them just isn’t a goal that interests me. There’s someone that has climbed them all at least ten times. In 1997 a seven-year-old girl completed climbing all of Colorado’s 14ers. Dogs have climbed all the 14ers. Two guys climbed them all in 1995, observing the 3000-foot rule, in less than sixteen days. Good for all of them, but like I said, bagging all the 14ers just isn’t on my list of things to do before I die.

Now maybe if I knew I’d be the very first person to take a Terrible Towel to the summit of each 14er… Hmmmmm.

mt bierstadt hike

Mount Bierstadt (14,060 feet) is considered one of the easier 14ers in Colorado, because of its proximity to Denver & the fact that (except for some boulder-hopping on the final stretch to the summit) it’s a very straightforward hike from the Guanella Pass Trailhead. Starting from the pass, up the west slopes of the mountain, the hike is 6 miles roundtrip, with an elevation gain of 2,77o feet. Although Bierstadt is considered an “easy” 14er, it’s still a 14er, and so should not be taken lightly. All the normal precautions should still be taken when hiking at this altitude.

Getting to the Guanella Pass Trailhead (at least from Georgetown & I-70) was complicated a bit by the construction going on when I made my hike (on 7/18/09), and I think this is scheduled to last until October 2010!, so you might want to check on this before you go (especially on a weekday).

Once you arrive at the trailhead, you can see Bierstadt & the jagged profile of the Sawtooth rising up due east of you. Back in the day it apparently used to be quite the ordeal to force your way through the infamous Bierstadt Willows immediately after leaving the trailhead, but now this stretch of the hike is easy as pie, what with the boardwalks & well-worn trail. (Just remember to save a little gas for this section on the way back, since then it’ll unfortunately be uphill!)

On the way up, there were a few stretches of trail that surprised me with their steepness. You’ll feel it in your calves. I remember thinking, “Guess they don’t believe in switchbacks around here!” On the way down, these sections will cause your quads to burn as you struggle to control the speed of your descent… and you’ll be glad you have some good hiking boots since your toes are squished down to the front of your shoes on the steep grade. (I just gave in to momentum & jogged quite a bit of the way back down to the willows.)

There gets to be a point where the summit (which is in view for most of the hike) just doesn’t seem to be drawing much closer, but keep plugging away & before you know it, you’ll be entering the boulder field & ready for the final push to the summit. Once you start boulder-hopping, you can follow the spine of the ridge all the way up the summit, but the ‘trail’ here actually keeps to the west side of the ridge & is marked with cairns (although you’ll really have to look for them, since they’re wicked hard to see amidst all the boulders).I spent about fifteen or twenty minutes up top, had a chocolate bar, got a summit shot with my Terrible Towel, and was back down at my car in a little under 4 ½ hours (5:50am-10:15am). This was my second 14er (I did Longs Peak last summer) and would like to do one more this year. I’ve kinda got my eye set on Mt Elbert, maybe, next month. Stay tuned!

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