Deep in the heart of the central Sawatch range, about a third of the way between Buena Vista and Leadville, pretty much smack dab in the middle of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, lie the next two 14ers on my “to climb” list, Mt. Belford and Mt. Oxford.
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On my continuing road to recovery, it was time to try my first 14er of 2022. While none of the 14ers are genuinely easy – you’re climbing up to 14,000 feet, after all – some are easier than others. The one generally considered the easiest is Mt. Sherman, in the Mosquito range between Leadville and Fairplay. From the upper 4wd trailhead the round-trip climb is listed as under five miles with just over 2,000 feet of vertical. A perfect re-introduction to mountain climbing.
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I generally like to start these mountain climbing posts with a picture of the subject mountain, just to give you, dear reader, an overview more or less, of what I’m talking about. I usually snap these pictures in the morning during the approach or after the climb on the way out, depending on where I can get the best shot of the entire mountain. For this post, a climb of Mt. Antero, the best photo I have was taken a couple of weeks ago when I was standing next door on Mt. Princeton. It’s a nice shot and I’m not too proud to recycle, so I present to you, once again, Mt. Antero.
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Way back in the 1860’s and 1870’s, back before Colorado even became a state, survey crews from what is now called the U.S. Geological Survey fanned out across the Rocky Mountains to catalogue, measure, map and name the mountains. Imagine that, being given the authority to name mountains! Most of the names we use to this day came from those 19th century surveys.
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I don’t consider myself a particularly obsessive person but if I’m interested in something I do have a tendency to lock onto it like a dog on a bone. From the very first 14er we climbed years ago I’ve found a definite attraction to their challenges. And now that we’ve climbed several of them, I find my interest has only grown. I don’t know if I’ll ever climb them all. Due to their difficulty or remoteness, there are several that are probably out of my reach at this point in life. I’m not 20 years old anymore. But for the time being I’m really interested in pushing myself to climb as many as I can.
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As I mentioned in a previous post, as a kid growing up in Colorado my knowledge of the mountains was pretty limited. The mountains were always there in the background, they just weren’t something my family chose to actively seek out.
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Next up on our 14er climb list was Huron Peak. At 14,003 feet Huron just makes the list of Colorado 14ers but what it lacks in altitude list-topping, it makes up for in remoteness and rugged beauty. Huron has the distinction of being the Sawatch 14er farthest from a paved road. What that means is that when you approach it from the lovely Lake Ann basin you are surrounded by nothing but wilderness for miles in every direction. No towns, highways or civilization of any kind are visible from Huron’s slopes. A perfect place for quiet seclusion.
Or so we thought.
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One of the most interesting things about living in Colorado is the variety and abundance of geology all around you. If you venture outside anywhere in the mountains, you’re bound to find strange rock formations, fossils, crystals, and all manner of other minerally things. As a non-geologist I don’t know what ninety percent of it is but I find the whole thing fascinating and I’m slowly learning about it as I go.
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It’s mid-June and most of the snow has melted from the high country so it was time for our first 14er of 2021. I picked La Plata Peak as our objective for the day. La Plata Peak sits deep in the central Sawatch range near Mt. Elbert and Twin Lakes. At 14,336 feet, it is the fifth highest mountain in Colorado.
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