Category Archives: Thirteeners

Casco Peak from Echo Canyon

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Casco Peak is a Centennial 13er located in the northern Sawatch Range. It is the 69th highest peak in the state of Colorado, sitting just to the west of Mount Elbert and southwest of French Peak. The peak itself is often climbed with French Peak (13,940 ft. – ranked) and Frasco Benchmark (13,786 ft. unranked) as seen in the picture above. It is easily and most often accessed from the Halfmoon Creek TH near the Mount Massive TH, but there are several routes in all directions that enable you to choose your own adventure. Keep reading…

Mt. Moran Skillet Glacier GrundleFest

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I’ve been intrigued by Mount Moran ever since seeing a trip report about it on TGR years ago, then reaffirmed by a pic from a plane included in Chris Davenport’s “50 Classic Ski Descents of North America”. The draw is obvious from the start – an approach on a canoe across a lake in the Tetons to a campsite along a shore and a 6000 foot vertical ski line in the heart of raw nature. In my opinion, that’s a must do for any ski mountaineer, or any mountaineer period. Keep reading…

Monday at the Cathedral

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For several years now I’ve been slowly chipping away at the Centennial 13ers, trying to do them each in the fashion that makes the most sense. Peaks like Vestal and Dallas in the San Juans for example seem best climbed as summer rock scrambles, since their approaches are long and they both hold classic alpine routes.Peaks like Grizzly and Cronin in the Sawatch on the other hand seem best done as ski outings since they have nice couloirs/faces that make them unique. Keep reading…

All the Seasons of North Star

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It is getting to be that time of year in Colorado when all four seasons can be in play in a single day. I guess in some ways it’s like that almost all the time around here, but that seemed to be in full display this past Saturday. As spring quickly approaches, 80+ degree temperatures and blazing sunshine in Denver clash quite markedly with wintry winds and frozen cornices in the high country. Couple that with an above average snowpack that is about as waterlogged as can be after a wet May blizzard, and you have the makings of a classic spring outing (aka: winter, spring and summer conditions) in the Rockies. Keep reading…