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My friends and I are freshman at Colorado School of Mines, and today we decided to challenge ourselves to do ten 14ers in 24 hours. We didn't follow the Colorado rule of 3000' ascent/descent, or official FKT rules for this record, just did standard routes for fun and to see how many we could do!
Our original timeline looked something like this: Grays and Torreys midnight start, down by 4:30. Onto Decalibron by 6, down by 11:30. On Sherman at 12:30, down by 3, and finally over to Belford Oxford Missouri by 5, summiting all three in that order by midnight and down by 3:00 AM Sunday.
I slept about 2 hours Friday night before leaving at ten PM for the Grays and Torreys trailhead. We stopped at dominos and all managed to cram down a pizza to carbo-load for the adventure. We set off at 11:23 Friday night, a little earlier than expected, which adjusted all of our goal times by forty minutes. We finished Grays and Torreys in four hours uneventfully in the dark with a group of six still. Drove to Decalibron and our group dropped to four, as one friend had rolled his ankle pretty badly coming down grays and another had a headache. Decalibron had super windy conditions and it was definitely a slog up Democrat as our last peak of the group. I’d never summited these peaks before and the sunrise on them was beautiful. I think Lincoln was my favorite with the bit of cliffs you move past at the end. We came down and immediately drove to the Fourmile Creek trailhead for Sherman, where one of our four started having leg cramps so only three continued up Sherman, plus the two from before who were feeling better.
Grays and Torreys in DarknessWindy but beautiful Decalibron sunriseHunkered in the wind shelter for brief respite. L-R Isaak, Cash, Me, Chase
As we were coming down the road, I got a flat tire and while changing it completely stripped the wheel lock lug nut, as I speak my car is still there because the tire can no longer come off and no towing service was willing to pick it up :( . unfortunate end to the day but still stoked having done 20+ miles and 10,000 feet elevation. Our original plan was to finish with Missouri, Belford, and Oxford. (Edit: got it towed!)
My journey ended here, but one of our group, Isaak, and the friend who skipped Sherman with the leg cramp, Cash, ended up summoning Belford and Oxford later in the evening, adding an extra ten miles to the already grueling day.
Overall looking forward to trying this challenge again next season, definitely felt like the three of us who had done all 7 could have summited the last three mountains before midnight if my car hadn’t stopped us for ~an hour and a half. We got down from Sherman at 1:30 or so and were ahead of schedule before the car troubles. Thankful for the great weather all day and that everyone made it down safe.
Distance was a little off from my Forerunner 245, but you can see we did the standard routes/mileage from the map.
Edited for clarity and added some detail because I was deliriously tired writing this the first time. Didn’t realize this was a novel-writing forum instead of a mountaineering one, haha. Really you guys have high standards though which I respect. Just wanted to share a fun day in the woods (and in the rocks, for Sherman’s case…)
ShermanDemocrat -- one friend not pictured
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Really don't understand the dislikes 9/26/2021 2:56pm
I think this site should have some type of admin-approved dislike. with a modicum of narrative to justify it. I really don't understand what is to dislike in this instance. The fact that young students set out for a challenge and almost met it?! The fact that irrespective whther they met their goal or not, this would encourage their peers to set out for similar goals, which would ultimately help everyone?! Don't people browsing this site want their peers to appreciate the outdoors? What is there to dislike really?!
If somehow they expected a better narration, or a different adventure, please lead by the power of example! But seven peaks in 24 hrs is really amazing. Kudos to everyone involved!
I met one of your group who declined to head up Bel, Ox, Mizzou and heard about your adventure. Sorry to learn you didn't get the last three peaks, because you guys still looked ready to rock at the trailhead. Excellent adventure. Bummer about the whip.
It's not really a trip report. Only 2 pictures, hardly any detail, no discussion about planning, etc. The criteria for a good trip report is listed in multiple places on this site. People want to read a real trip report, not a slap-dash conditions report that isn't really interesting.
Whatever some might say about what it "really" is or is not, your trip report reflected the spirit of your challenge, and I see nothing wrong with that. Who needs route description on the standard route of these super-popular peaks anyway (we all know there's a trail all the way up and some relatively short Class 2 moves here and there)? Clearly you guys were on a schedule, and taking pictures probably was not the first priority, and I'm ok with that, plus a picture of the final pitch of Grays in darkness will be, well, dark... To each our own version of adventure, challenge, and fun. So... maybe some disliked because you summited Bross (you know the deal about it, right)? Oh yeah, because you guys were certainly the only ones ever doing so in the history of Colorado hiking! (sarcasm). But I'm confident you guys will learn from this experience, what could have gone better and how it could have gone better (bummer about the minor injuries, bummer again about the flat tire on that notoriously nasty road to Sherman TH), but also what could have gone worse (the above incidents, but happening at different times or places, so to allow things to take a more dramatic turn), and that's only by experience that one can learn about these things. Had you stayed home and watched football instead, you'd have learned none of it. Anyway, congrats on your multiple summits at lightning fast paces. That's more than I've ever done in a week, but like I said above, to each our own definition of adventure, challenges and fun. Duh, dislikers need to get a life!
Great to see the likes are winning. It was 0-3 when I wrote my initial comment. Hopefully people will give some thought before hitting the dislike button. If a post is not up to someone's literary standard, one can just move on, no need to ding it. I tend to favor brevity in reports, as there is a large body of creative writing out there already.
Car shuttle to Columbia trailhead. Do Columbia, Harvard, Oxford, Belford, Missouri, and then if you are feeling good add on Huron. If you are feeling really good then add on La Plata. Looking forward to your next challenge.
I was always trying to down 24 beers in 24 hours (my best was 20), so your goal is much healthier. Carbo loading on pizza right right before you set out to hike cracked me up.
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