Interested in a 14ers blitzkrieg in July - any interested parties?

[CaptainSuburbia]

The OP never said he wanted to do them all in one trip.

[two lunches]

The OP never said he wanted to do them all in one trip.

well sure but you could proably cobble together a nice flow with the travel template brent posted. while i recognize he was going for speed when he put this together, i think it would work great to go bottom to top

sounds like a good time OP-- i agree with the overnight setup for a couple of these groups, don't forget about overnight permitting for the elks and longs peak. also you might consider packing into blue lakes for sneffles now before that system becomes permitted as well. yes, you can do it in a day, but it's not one you would want to rush once you see it.

[LarryM]

I'm kind of surprised that no one has really tackled the OP's question.

The short answer: If you're looking to climb 1 to 2 peaks per day, and want quantity over quality, then I'd focus on the Sawatch for sure. An aggressive (but not insane) goal is probably a week to a week and a half to hit them all (You can string together several of them pretty easily ... 3, 2, 2, and 1 x 7 ... that's 10 days, obviously many people on this site can do them much faster, but IMO that's still a fairly aggressive goal).

But you may want to spend 2 days knocking out the 5 peaks in the Mosquito range first. Why? Because after the Sawatch, you're heading south to the Sangres. If you're comfortable with class 3, then that's 9 more (I'm excluding Culebra), some of which you can string together.

For 3 weeks in CO, that's 28 14ers. IMO a pretty aggressive goal for mere mortals (to be clear, I certainly couldn't maintain that pace). And since you've already done Grays & Torreys, that will bring you to an even 30, slightly more than half way done.

I haven't mentioned the Front Range or San Juans because the 14ers are more spread out. The Elks are more concentrated, but there are "only" seven 14ers & they are a little harder to climb multiple peaks in a day than the Sangres.

[Jim Davies]

There are multiple combos possible in the Sawatch, depending on your fitness level - Belford/Oxford/Missouri, Harvard/Columbia, Shavano/Tabeguache are all reasonable. I'd then head for Lake City myself - in a few days you can knock off Sunshine/Redcloud and Handies from one campsite, and Wetterhorn/Uncompahgre from another, and the scenery is better than the Sawatch. In the Sangres, Blanca/Ellingwood (and Little Bear if you're up to it), and Challenger/Kit Carson are each long days but can be backpacked. For a real stretch, you could also go for the Crestone group as a backpack in a couple of days.

[nyker]

Does your 2-3 weeks include driving time from WA? If not then that's what, another 2 days each way at least not sure if you're including, but nonetheless-

For just 2-3 weeks, unless you're planning on a Nolan's 14 type assault, I'd recommend focusing on two ranges and pick a handful of peaks from each rather than trying to drive to 3-4 separate areas and plan associated logistics in that timespan and constantly packing up.
You'll want to plan on bad weather thwarting at least a day or two and maybe fatigue, rest days, gear mishaps/replacements, misc sightseeing, etc.

The front range, elks and decalibron have more permitting / use / parking issues on average than some other less traveled ranges so may not be the best options for you to make things efficient and less frustrating.

The Sawatch has a lot of options and I think would be a good option one.
Depending on your route from WA, you can target staying in Salida or Buena Vista or an Airbnb somewhere (drive through SLC on R6 and pickup R70 and turn in Glenwood Springs to Salida via Independence Pass, which will be a cool way in)

The Sawatch has a lot of peaks spread out fairly far from Holy Cross down to Shavano/Tab and most are Class 1/2+ and you can spend all your time there actually there is enough to do.
assume you stay in Salida for 8-10 days, you then have options for the next leg(s) two of which could be Sangres or San Juans:

- drive to and stay in perhaps Alamosa and hit a few of the Sangres Peaks for another week. If you're camping, Willow Lake and South Colony lakes are nice areas to establish base camps for those respective peaks or if you're staying in town most are day tripable, though longer than most Sawatch peaks.
- drive to Ouray/Telluride and hit some San Juan peaks

[LarryM]

All of the previous 3 responses are pretty consistent with each other, at least in terms of the Sawatch being the best option. I'd probably amend my advice slightly ... heading to the San Juans instead of the Sangres probably does slightly sacrifice quantity for quality, but the idea of spending 3 or 4 days knocking out Sunshine/Redcloud/Handies/Uncompaghre/Wetterhorn is an appealing one.

Then again, I've climbed 4 of those 5, and only Humboldt in the Sangres, so I may be biased. Uncompaghre is probably my favorite 14er so far, though that had a lot to do with a perfect day in the mountains with friends, and one of those friends with an appropriate vehicle to get to the upper trailhead (that I didn't have to drive).

[JLuthanen]

These are all phenomenal responses!

@Jorts - jeezus christ. The elevation alone not withstanding the mileage is nuts on your OG plans from a few years back.

@The rest - very like minded. I would like to dodge the red tape where possible with excess permitting, etc. Sawatch sounds promising considering all the feedback and proximity of 14ers to one another. At present, I like @LarryM's approach the best and I will likely start building my route planning around the ideas in his post.

Thank you again for the feedback and more details to come! Will post more once I have a better idea on specific goals (dates, times, etc)

[cedica]

^ It's been a while since we had Utah vs. Colorado mountains quality debate on the forum, beep... clunk... reboot...

But OP's 14ers.com account is from 2013, that would have been so ahead of the curve, like buying Nvidia stocks in 1997 for 82 cents, or moving to US from Russia in 1926 to become a troll...

[SchralpTheGnar]

I’d look into the Sawatch 14ers, there are a lot of 14ers around Buena Vista.

[Trotter]

Doesn't it seem like we always get a few people who want to do all the 14ers in like 3 weeks, they ask all sorts of advice, then we never hear from them again, and I don't think they actually do any more 14ers.

I think the idea of hiking 14ers nonstop is way more fun than actually hiking 14ers nonstop.

[Jim Davies]

I think the idea of hiking 14ers nonstop is way more fun than actually hiking 14ers nonstop.

I've had that bug many times, but after a few days of long trudges and poor sleep, I'm ready to return to civilization every time.

[SchralpTheGnar]

I once hiked in the Sawatch for 5 days straight, there's a lot of 14ers in the Sawatch. The Sawatch range is near Buena Vista.