Iconic Colorado Routes

[Monster5]

Criteria gets a little funky here, and some annoying sort might bring up the hiking vs climbing vs mountaineering thing, but what do you consider the top ten iconic Colorado mountaineering routes?

I'm gonna go with the below as benchmark routes. I thought about Ellingwood Arete, the Petite, and Casual, but those are a bit too climby.

-Kieners, Longs
-Blitzen Ridge, Ypsilon
-Crestones Traverse, Crestone
-Capitol NE Ridge
-Kelso Ridge, Torreys
-The Bell Cord, South Maroon
-The Bells Traverse, Bells
-Halo Ridge, Holy Cross.
-Wham Ridge, Vestal
-Little Bear Blanca Traverse

Also, I need something to do this weekend.

[John Prater]

I think Ellingwood Ridge deserves to be on there. And I'd probably go with Cross Couloir over Halo Ridge.

[Scott P]

Solo Flight on Lone Eagle should definitely be on the list. Also, Jagged Mountain.

[gspup]

-Kieners, Longs - On my short list

-Capitol NE Ridge - Definitely
-Kelso Ridge, Torreys - Yes

Also, I need something to do this weekend.

So what are you doing this weekend...? I need something to do as well.

[Chicago Transplant]

I think Ellingwood Ridge deserves to be on there. And I'd probably go with Cross Couloir over Halo Ridge.

'

Cross Couloir ascent with Halo Ridge descent is a great way to experience Holy Cross, I think that would be a good revision to the list above.

Maybe same on the Bells? Up the Cord to Maroon, then traverse and down North?

That would free up a slot for something like Solo Flight or Ellingwood Ridge.

[TallGrass]

Thru-hiking 14 Sawatch 14ers, maybe with pedaling to south of Minturn.
Lindsey to S. Little Bear Traverse (via B).
Crestone Traverse from Humboldt saddle (or N. Pillar)

[SchralpTheGnar]

Cool topic, I usually define mountaineering as snow/ice up between 45/60 degrees and/or rock 3rd class to 5.4.

North Face of North Maroon was my favorite climb of any 14er, just thinking about the climb in and of itself, the ski down was a little contrived, but that climb was so interesting and fun and thought provoking. Kieners is probably the best all around mountaineering route for just having a little bit of everything, snow, rock and exposure, I've done that 3 times and had mini epics each time, so that kind of taints that route personally.

Here's my top 10 that would make a nice tick list, I tried to mix up the rock and snow. Enjoy!

-Kieners - Longs - snow/rock
-North Face - North Maroon - snow
-Bell Cord - South Maroon - snow
-Wham Ridge - Vestal - rock
-Hourglass - Little Bear - snow
-Spiral Route - Notchtop - rock
-South Couloir - Crestone Peak- snow
-South Buttress - Hiamovi Tower - rock
-East Face - Wilson - snow
-East Gully - Sharkstooth - rock

[Monster5]

Awesome. Ellingwood and Lone Eagle are great additions and combining a couple routes is a good idea.

I guess "iconic" in this context might consider: quality, history, status as a benchmark challenge, popularity, aesthetic distinction, and sustained or unique at the grade. Or, if you're trying to assess a potential partner's skills and ask "well, what have you climbed?" They might list these.

I think Jagged, Notchtop, Gash, and Hiamovi might be a bit too obscure for iconic, though cool routes. Heck, Teakettle is probably more famous than Jagged despite being kind of a crappy peak in usual conditions. That route on Sharkstooth would probably hold more sway if it weren't for the more famous NE Face climbing route right next door. North Face of N Maroon is also somewhat obscure outside of the ski mountaineering community. I'm having trouble fitting Ellingwood in - perhaps in place of Blitzen? Blitzen is quite well known, popular, and distinctive but Ellingwood carries more history.


So Top Ten Iconic:
-Kieners to North Face, Longs
-Blitzen Ridge, Ypsilon
-Crestones Traverse, Crestone
-Capitol NE Ridge
-Kelso Ridge, Torreys
-The Bell Cord and traverse, Maroon Bells
-Cross Couloir to Halo Ridge, Holy Cross
-Wham Ridge, Vestal
-The Hourglass to Little Bear Blanca Traverse
-Solo Flight, Lone Eagle

I guess an expanded list, in addition to the mentioned, might include:
-Notch Couloir to North Face, Longs. Really, the meat of this is a snow climb, crossing Broadway so perhaps Kieners is sufficient
-Ypsilon Couloirs. The left is more famous but the right branch requires snow and rock skills in usual conditions, but Blitzen is probably better.
-The Snake, Sneffles. I guess this would be iconic were it not for proximity to the Front Range and thus lack of popularity.
-Sunlight Peak for the famous block, though most seem to lump Chicago Basin all together.
-The Sawtooth, unfortunately, is somewhat an iconic climb.

[Monster5]

In Schralp's style and using 3rd to 5.4, <WI3, what would you consider the BEST mountaineering routes in the state?

[handonbroward]

Awesome suggestions all around, but I have one question:

How does Ellingwood Ridge get "classic" status? I soloed it this year, and it was one of the longest and most unexpected challenges in all of the 14ers climbing I have experienced. It isn't really a "ridge" route, per say, and I did not find many, if any, of the features enjoyable. And I consider myself to normally enjoy as much type 2-ish fun as any route can throw at me. Tons of backtracking due to huge drops off the backside of almost every prominence. Descending and ascending death gullies on either side of the ridge repeatedly. Very, very wet and loose snow in the couloirs near the top that I thought would slide if I took one step on it (this one may have been more of a product of me taking much longer than expected to get up there). And lastly, suicidally loose low class 5 towers that I climbed to avoid the couloirs.

I couldn't figure out why I saw so many what appeared to be outrageously long trip times for the route, and then I did it. 10ish miles took me almost 10.5 hours, and I normally move very fast.

So is it just the challenge that makes it such a classic? Because if sufferfest falls under the definition of classic, then yes, the route belongs in that category.

[Dave B]

Missing:

1. Dream weaver
2. Standard on the 3rd (yup, that's mountaineering in my book)
3. Cables (in winter)
4. Martha (more iconic than high quality due to brevity)
5. Dead dog
6. D1 or Casual Route

[dhgold]

The two things that immediately come to my mind are The Diamond and The Naked Edge. Kieners seems a reasonable Diamond proxy. While TNE in no way qualifies as a mountaineering route, it is the Colorado rock climb, receiving maximum scores for all of the following: "quality, history, status as a benchmark challenge, popularity, aesthetic distinction, and sustained or unique at the grade".

For a climb to be truly iconic (in its neologistic usage), I think in it should be a "destination climb". In 1980, when I'd never heard of TNE or, for that matter, Eldorado, I gave a ride to a British hitchhiker who was making his way to LAX after spending a couple of months in the states, mostly in Yosemite. I asked him what he'd climbed in Yosemite; all I remember of his answer was the that the American climb he was was most chuffed about was TNE. More than 25 years later, in Australia, I spoke with a local hardman who was planning his first trip to the states. The climb he was most eager to get on was The Naked Edge, no matter that it was much easier than the climbs he usually sought out.