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  • Mt. Bierstadt Group Summit - Front Range, Colorado
  • A rest before the summit push on Dallas Peak - San Juan Range, Colorado
  • Broken Ankle + 6 Miles = Tired
  • The classic San Juan approach - San Juan Range, Colorado
  • Overlooking Noname Basin from Twin Thumbs Pass - San Juan Range, Colorado
  • Upper Noname Basin - San Juan Range, Colorado
  • Nearing Noname Cabin - San Juan Range, Colorado
  • Twin Thumbs Twins - San Juan Range, Colorado
  • Nearing the summit of Pt. 13,736 - Sawatch Range, Colorado
  • Blustery day on Iowa Peak - Sawatch Range, Colorado
  • Morning snow at 15k, Cerro Ramada - Cordillera Ramada
  • Artesonraju from the summit of Nevado Pisco - Cordillera Blanca, Peru
  • February crowds on Gray's Peak - Front Range, Colorado
  • Kicking steps on Cerro Lliani - Cordillera Vilcanota, Peru
  • Final traverse to the summit of Wheeler Mountain - Ten Mile Range, Colorado
  • The long walk to Pachanta - Cordillera Vilcanota, Peru
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    Afternoon at 17k on Cerro Ramada - Cordillera Ramada, Argentina
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    The final ridge on Iowa Peak - Sawatch Range, Colorado
  • Summer summit on Longs Peak - Front Range, Colorado
  • A rest day at the Pachanta Hot Springs - Cordillera Vilcanota, Peru
  • Mind over matter on Mt. Parnassas - Front Range, Colorado
  • Rest stop on Cerro Lliani - Cordillera Vilcanota, Peru
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    Post nap surprise on Cerro Ramada - Cordiller Ramada, Argentina
  • Summit on Cerro Lliani - Cordillera Vilcanota, Peru
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    Ridge walking on Grizzly Peak - Sawatch Range, Colorado
  • Enroute the summit via the West Ridge on Pacific Peak - Ten Mile Range, Colorado
  • Mule train bound for Chilca - Cordillera Vilcanota, Peru
  • Taking in the view from Fletcher Peak - Ten Mile Range, Colorado
  • Hiking on Silverheels - Mosquito Range, Colorado
  • Traversing! Gladstone Peak - San Juan Range, Colorado
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    The best of times at Willow Lake - Sangre de Christo Range, Colorado
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    High Altitude Cerebral Edema? - Cordillera Ramada, Argentina
  • Bound for Chilca - Vilcanota Range, Peru
  • Going alpine light, Holy Cross Ridge - Sawatch Range, Colorado
  • Cumbre! Campa I - Cordillera Vilcanota, Peru
  • Roadside lunch with the best of company - Cordillera Vilcanota, Peru
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    Long ridge walk to the summit of California Peak - Sangre de Christo Range, Colorado
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    Crossing el Rio Colorado . . . in the afternoon - Cordillera Ramada, Argentina
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    Dealing with Fall snows high on Casco Peak - Sawatch Range, Colorado
  • Moonrise over Mercedario - Cordillera Ramada, Argentina
  • Still climbing at 20,900 on Cerro Ramada - Cordiller Ramada, Argentina
  • Talus on Halo Ridge, Mt. of the Holy Cross - Sawatch Range, Colorado
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    Deteriorating conditions on Mt. Arkansas - Ten Mile Range, Colorado
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    After the climb - Cordillera Ramada, Argentina
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    Taking in the view from the summit of Crystal Peak - Tenmile Range, Colorado
  • Topping out on Mt. Arkansas' North Couloir - Mosquito Range, Colorado
  • Glissade on Mt. Arkansas - Mosquito Range, Colorado
  • Hard snow morning on Teakettle Mountain - San Juan Range, Colorado
  • Spring snow announces the start of the climb on Dallas Peak - San Juan Range, Colorado
  • Crossing the Eolus Catwalk - San Juan Range, Colorado

What's new on Climbing with Bob?

 

Upcoming Climbs

It is summer climbing season and we are doing our best to keep getting out . . .

2013 Additions:

June 23, 2013 - Another solo climb, this time Deer Mountain, another Sawatch Range Bicentennial.

June 17, 2013 - Solitude was the name of the game on UN 13,631 a.k.a. "Anderson Peak" on the western edge of the Sawatch.

June 9, 2013 - Another two-fer day in the mountains but this time the summit of Mt. Mamma was separated from Grizzly Mountain by almost two miles of alpine ridge.

June 2, 2013 - The snow is retreating quickly from the southern Sawatch and we picked up Cyclone and Carbonate Mountains with not too much of a slog through drifts on the approach. Turns out Carbonate was my 100th 13'er!

May 25, 2013 - A return to the Ice Lake Basin, this time to climb the intended peak and claim Centennial #96, Vermilion Peak.

May 19, 2013 - After almost six weeks, we got out again and took a climb up memory lane . . . Flattop Mountain's Dragon Tail Couloir, an old and close favorite when the urge to climb some moderate snow and a bit of steep snow strikes.

April 7, 2013 - a blustery start of Spring weekend and the promise of Bicentennial Mt. White marred only by lots of wind and snow squalls, enough to convince us the an afternoon in the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs would be more fun than going for the summit under less than favorable conditions.

February 3, 2013 - a peak too far . . . too much snow and the effect of 4500 feet of gain stood between us and the summit of Cottonwood Peak, the northernmost Bicentennial of the Sangre de Christo Range.

January 20, 2013 - Another day out, a long long day, ten hours to cover a bit under six miles . . . Mt. Blaurock.

January 6, 2013 - A long day out on snowshoes yields another Bicentennial . . . Pt. 13,626 in the Sawatch Range.

2012 Additions:

December 2, 2012 - Warm down low, cold up high and a late return from the summit of Rinker Peak.

November 18, 2012 - Another blustery, cold, pre-winter climb, this time . . . Taylor Mountain.

November 4, 2012 - A climb of both Mt. Champion and Pt. 13,736 on a blustery and cold Fall day.

October 31, 2012 - Off to the Sawatch Range for a hike up Bull Hill, the tallest hill west of the Mississippi.

October 21, 2012 - the last of the Mosquito Range Bicentennials, Mt. Tweto, is added to the list.

October 15, 2012 - back on the Bicentennial track with a half day climb of Gray Wolf Mountain.

October 7, 2012 - a return to climbing with a great group on Mt. Bierstadt.

August 7 through October 7, 2012 > a page as to the broken ankle that may be of interest to anyone having a similar problem

August 6 through 9, 2012 > A double finisher, G finishes his quest to climb all of the 14'ers with a quick early morning ascent of Windom Peak. Afterward, en route to Jagged Peak, I finished my efforts to climb my last five Centennials by rolling my right ankle, resulting in a broken fibula. Having pulled that stunt on the second day out and 8 miles and about 3000 vertical feet from the trailhead, the two day effort to get back to the trailhead pretty much wrapped up my Centennial climbing effort for 2012.

July, 21, 2012 > Another Centennial . . . Rio Grande Pyramid in a one day 20 mile push.

July 20, 2012 > After getting rained out a few weeks before, it was time again to aim for Phoenix Peak, this time with success.

July 8, 2012 > A total washout of climb of Phoenix Peak turns into a climb of West Spanish Peak on the way home the next day.

June 24, 2012 > A short morning hike yields Bicentennial Twining Peak and Pt 13,500 on the way

June 17, 2012 > A rerun of the climb up Mt. Sneffels Southwest Ridge but with a different cast of characters.

June 16, 2012 > A second try at Dallas Peak puts two of four climbers on the summit and tests the comfort zone of both.

June 3, 2012 > A planned road march to the summit of Sayres Benchmark went the way of a map reading fandango that turned out just perfect.

May 21, 2012 > Red, rotten, and rugged about summed up the day we spent on the Elk Range's Thunder Pyramid.

May 6, 2012 > We followed our near miss on Dallas with a successful climb of Teakettle Mountain in the incredible Yankee Boy Basin.

May 5, 2012 > A spring snow attempt on Dallas Peak, the "hardest Centennial", results in a turnaround just 100 feet from the summit, but a good day out regardless!

April 22, 2012 > A warm spring climb of Mt. Arkansas' north couloir complete with steep snow and a fast glissade.

April 10, 2012 > A mid week, the weather was just too damn good, solo mojo recovery climb of Bald Mountain via the North Ridge right out of Breckenridge, CO.

April 1, 2012 > A solo slog through the remaining snowpack and then 1500 feet of snow climbing to the summit of the Front Range's Bard Peak.

March 25, 2012 > I picked up the last Bicentennial of the Tenmile Range with a climb of Peak 10 and then Bob and I crossed the ridge to climb Crystal Peak from a different side.

March 10, 2012 > Mt. Lincoln from Kite Lake - a winter climb from the Kite Lake trailhead.

February 5, 2012 > Parts of Denver got 2' of snow but the Ten Mile Range saw only an inch or two. Bob and I aimed for the drought zone and scored a winter summit of Quandary Peak.

January 15, 2012 > A blustery winter ascent of Mount Democrat not by the normal route but by a segment of the Southwest Ridge. Though they do not match the season, new photos have been added to and the narrative re-written for my original 1998 climb of Democrat.

2011 Additions:

December 26 through 31, 2011 > An old school road trip to Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Big Bend National Park simply to go somewhere warm. Getting warm ended up including a snow climbs on Guadalupe and Hunter Peaks in Guadalupe Park followed by snow free bliss on Emory Peak and the South Rim Loop in Big Bend's Chisos Range.

December 24, 2011 > I've added a page about Picketwire Canyon, a shallow SE Colorado Canyon that contains North America's largest dinosaur trackway. A diversion from the avi plagued slopes of the Spring of 2011.

December 18, 2011 > All four members of Climbing with Bob make a trip to the summits of Mosquito Peak and Treasurevault Mountain on an incredible December bluebird day.

December 4, 2011 > Five hours out in a half hearted attempt of Pawnee Peak, in the India Peaks Wilderness.

October 16, 2011 > A run of the ridge connecting the Tenmile Range's Drift and Fletcher Peaks.

September 11, 2011 > Sun, rain, snow all made an appearance during our 15 mile round trip to and from the summit of Hagerman Peak in Colorado's Elk Range.

August 22, 2011 > We missed Mt. Sneffels summit by mere feet back in May so a repeat performance was necessary. However, this time we chose the Class 4 Southwest Ridge as an alternate and less traveled course to the top.

August 21, 2011 > We connected the boulder strewn slopes of Mount Wilson to the knee wrenching descent of El Diente with a quick but careful crossing of the Wilson/El Diente Ridge.

August 20, 2011 > At return to the San Juan range led us to the rickety slopes of Gladstone Peak and the solid handholds of Wilson Peak via the new Silver Pick trail into "the Wilsons."

August 7-8, 2011 > The Tigiwon Road to the start of the normal start of most routes that lead to Holy Cross Ridge was closed for the summer so we made the overnight trek in from the French Creek trail head, via Fall Pass, Lower Tuhare Lake and the upper portion of Halo Ridge . . . . a long 18+ mile route that gave both me a Centennial and Mt. of the Holy Cross, a new 14'er for Bob.

July 23, 2011 > The third try was the charm for Wheeler Mountain, after two failed tries during snow season, we finally scored the summit on a bluebird day in late July.

July 10, 2011 > An early July Sunday morning yielded the summit of Mount Ouray, the southernmost centennial of the Sawatch on a cloudy July morning.

July 9, 2011 > They say there are moose in the drainages surrounding the La Garita Peaks but until this climb of Stewart Peak, I'd yet to see one.

July 3, 2011 > A "twofer" climb of Jones Mountain and Niagara Peak adds another Centennial and a Bicentennial to the list over the course of a clear weather Fourth of July weekend in the San Juan's of southwest Colorado.

June 2011 > The Sonia Morales Expedition Team is back from Peru and an exploration of the Vilcanota Range. We scored climbs of Cerro Lliani, Nevado Campa and an attempt on Nevado Santa Catalina (Mariposa). through into that mix a trek of over 75 miles, the companionship of a great bunch of Peruvian support staff, and the adventure of picking an choosing our routes , bound only by a pick up time in a far away pueblo.

May 21, 2011 > Would you believe another short attempt of Wheeler Mountain on another wintery day, this time in late May?

May 8, 2011 > A try for Centennial Vermillion Peak yields the summit of Fuller Peak, the neighboring peak that got confused for the peak we hiked another seven miles to score.

May 6, 2011 > Oh so close . . . a seven mile snowshoe approach leads to within feet of the summit of Mt. Sneffels at the height of snow season . . .

April 17, 2011 > A very windy and cold climb to the summit of Parnassas Peak on a day that started out with the promise of Spring climbing.

March 27, 2011 > A short attempt of Wheeler Mountain on a wintery day.

March 8, 2011 > A half day hike to the summit of New Zealand's Ben Lomond in lieu of the usual Queenstown pursuits . . .

January 30, 2011 > A bluebird winter day on Pacific Peak's West Ridge, ridge top traverses and steep snow all on a beautiful January day.

2010 Additions:

December 26, 2010 > A short lived attempt to solo Squaretop, terminated by deep powder on an incredible bluebird day.

November 14, 2010 > An attempt to climb Mt. Flora at the southern end of the Indian Peaks yielded only the summit of Colorado Mines Peak, a 12'er that the weather made us pay full price for.

October 10, 2010 > A pre-winter day on Iowa and Emerald Peaks . . . snow, wind, cold . . . all we were missing was a spot on the far side of that winter solstice to make it official. Well . . lets just call it a preview of things to come in the Sawatch.

September 12, 2010 > an end of the summer return to Mt. Adams granted us a summit on a beautiful day sans avi slopes and snowshoes.

August 22, 2010 > I've added a page for Bridge Day 1985 . . . a day of rappels and single rope ascents on West Virginia's New River Gorge Bridge. Not exactly a mountain climb but an interesting read about an out of the ordinary activity.

August 16-20, 2010 > A week in Chicago Basin yielded rain, hail, sun, Jupiter Peak and North Eolus, completing soft 14'ers and adding a Centennial to the tally.

July 25, 2010 > A second, and this time successful, run at Grizzly Peak, however via the East Ridge and McNasser Gulch trailhead in lieu of the now melted out Grizzly Couloir.

July 18, 2010 > A weekend of sightseeing in southern Colorado includes the summit of Huerfano Peak along the way.

July 11, 2010 > Added some photos to the pages for my climbs of Redcloud/Sunshine and Handies Peaks back in 2000. Photos are from 2010 trip to the same area but illustrative of the climbs and peaks.

July 10, 2010 > Two peaks for the price of 1.5 was the moral of the story for a long day climb of Point 13,832 and its not so close neighbor, Point 13,811.

July 9, 2010 > The first day of a two day trip to the San Juans to climb Centennials yielded Half Peak, a bit of an unusual summit at the end of a 6 mile hike to and beyond Cataract Lake

June 26-27, 2010 > An overnight to Willow Lake, a climb of Kat Carson via the Outward Bound couloir and a cast of new characters make for a great weekend climbing trip.

June 6, 2010 > A mile of rotten snow made for a climb of Grizzly Peak that was not to be but the attempt was by no means uninteresting given the other traffic on the trail and opportunity to see part of the Sawatch I had never visited before.

June 5, 2010 > A "not in the guidebook" route up a snow filled couloir on the eastern face of French Mountain. We were able to climb snow without the hassle of a snowy approach, but the crossing of halfmoon Creek made the start and finish of this climb one to remember.

May 22, 2010 > A short day day out was the name of the game and Lackawanna Peak's south slope route promised exactly that . . . 3400 feet of vertical over a short 3.4 mile course in 4.5 hours with just enough wind thrown in up high to make for chilly fingers and firm snow.

May 1, 2010 > The name of the game was taking each false summit as an individual victor in our climb of California Peak in the still snow bound Sangre de Christo Range

April 11, 2010 > Close but no summit on Mount Adams in the Sangre de Christo Range. A short but daunting avi primed snowfield stood between us the the summit of Mount Adams on one of the nicest bluebird days that I've ever experienced.

April 3, 2010 > A very snowy attempt of Mts. Arkansas and Tweto. Warm temps and snow below but some serious wind and bad visibility higher up made for a 5 mile physical conditioning exercise and no chance of a summit

March 21, 2010 > We missed a winter summit by a day or so when we climbed Mount Sherman on the 21st, barely 24 hours after the equinox. A long approach led to snow covered slopes shaking off the cold of winter under a warm spring sun.

January 9 - 25, 2010 > Argentina 2010 - A two week expedition to Argentina's Valle de Colorado and the Ramada Range. Two weeks of travel, adventure, climbing topped off by a 21,000 foot summit without another climber in the whole valley. It is a long report of 25+ pages but if you have an interest in a non Aconcagua climb in the high Andes of Argentina, from start to finish, it might be worth a read.

January 2, 2010 > A tale of two mountains, a glimpse at a bluebird day on Mt. Bierstadt and the harsh reality of a winter storm blowing in on the same mountain . . . we got our money's worth on this favorite 14'er.

2009 Additions:

December 19, 2009 > A long day out, mostly above 13k on North Star Mountain. Blue skies brought on bitter cold and harsh winds to make this the longest ridge we've done is a very long time.

December 13, 2009 > One very cold attempt of Mt. Bierstadt on a dead of winter day. We found lots of snow, miles, cold, wind and acclimatization in preparation for our upcoming Andean adventure.

November 22, 2009 > Cercle de Silverheels - enter the wind stage west . . . A chilly morning depart from Hoosier Pass becomes a long walk to the summit and an even longer walk back as the winds of winter remind us of the season.

October 24, 2009 > Winter is here, at least it was when we climbed Casco Peak from the Halfmoon trail head. We found plenty of snow and wind but we scored the summit of this high 13'er, regardless of the weather.

October 17, 2009 > After a month out of the mountains, we make a climb of Mount Buckskin for a bluebird day tour of the peak's summit ridge and neighboring Loveland Mountain as well.

September 20, 2009 > Following our climb of the Bell, we moved over toward Castle Creek and summitted Cathedral Peak. We climbed the "mud" couloir in spitting snow, summitted in the clouds and barely beat the serious rain to the car. But, the colors were dead on and we just about had the place to ourselves.

September 19, 2009 > Ed needed to ring the bell, the South Maroon Bell, that is. It was time for our annual fall color climb and we took on the South Bell's South Ridge route. The colors were perfect and we managed to get the climb in between bursts of snow.

August 30, 2009 > An unusual event, an August climb on a Colorado 14'er . . . but I'd been out of town and itching to get out. G and Bob were of similar itch so off we went to Longs Peak to score a new route . . . The class 4 Northwest Couloir that cuts from the midpoint of the "Ledges" portion of the Keyhole Route to the sloping northerly ridge leading to the summit plateau.

July 19, 2009 > The G man returns to climbing with a mellow debut on Mount Oklahoma. An old school camping trip and a non guidebook ascent made for the perfect day out in the mountains.

July 12, 2009 > Someone left the Refrigerator door open so Bob and I climbed the steep snow Refrigerator Couloir on Ice Mountain. We descended Ice's class 3/4 Northeast Ridge and then picked up the North Apostle via its Class 2 Southwest Ridge before calling it a day.

July 4, 2009 > I took the "*ABC" ("All But Culebra") notation off my 14'er climbing experience by climbing Culebra Peak and neighboring Red Mountain, a Centennial 13'er on a bluebird Saturday.

June 2009 > Added a few photos to the Mount Antero page.

June 14, 2009 > Almost 26 years after my walk up the Baldwin Creek road, I repeated the trip, this time by 4WD to summit North Carbonate Peak, a.k.a. Cronin Peak on a blue sky morning.

June 13, 2009 > A trip through the fields and high meadows of post hole hell delivered me to the summit of Crystal Peak from the Mayflower Gulch trail head.

June 7, 2009 > Steep was the guidebook description of the climb and the book was right on. A good trail leading to a short summit snow climb made Mount Hope a delight.

June 6, 2009 > An incredibly windy June climb of Horseshoe Mountain with 60 mph gusts making what should have been a tourist climb into a test of endurance.

May 16, 2009 > A climb of the couloir leading up the southwest face of Traver Peak from the Climax Mine/Fremont pass hairpin parking. Once atop the summit, Bob and I hiked the connecting ridge to McNamee Peak and then continued on to Clinton Peak, a ranked Centennial

May 9-10, 2009 > Two days of snow in Colorado's San Juan mountains. Ed and I spike camped the Matterhorn Basin to score snow climbs to the summits of both the Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre Peak.

May 1, 2009 > After a lapse of about 9 weeks, I made a solo climb of Quandary Peak's Christo Couloir, a 2500 foot conditioning climb more than anything else.

April 26, 2009 > The weather did not cooperate, hence a brief blurb as to an attempted climb of the Dragontail Couloir on RMNP's Flattop Mountain.

April 5, 2009 > G and I took a siesta from work to study Spanish in Antigua, Guatemala and during the stay, we did a group climb of Pacaya volcano to see the lava flow. Not exactly our typical climb but how often do you get to toast marshmallows over molten rock?

March 2009 > I added Expedition pages for a trip to Mexico's Copper Canyon. We did Copper Canyon "back in the day" (1987) before there was eco tourism and somehow we found our way to the bottom of this spectacular canyon.

February 22/23, 2009 > An overnight camp planned for Kelso Ridge turns into a snowy fogbound climb to the summit of Grays Peak.

January 10, 2009 > A climb of Dyer Peak in Colorado's Mosquito Range. We did it Bolivian style and though the elevation may have been a little shy of 14k, I think Bob might have joined the Club on this climb.