Mountaineering Colorado    Always   

Colorado is home to 54 (by most counts) 14,000' (4267m) mountains and hundreds more greater than 13,000' (3962m).  Even though base camps at most big mountains (read Andes, Himalaya) are higher than our summits, there isn't anyplace else with the access to basic (and advanced) mountaineering offered in Colorado.  On top of this, we've got IMHO more and better rock climbing opportunities concentrated in a few hours of travel than, well, anywhere.  You'll probably find something close to, on par with, or better than just about any type of climb you could find anywhere in the world right in my backyard.

I use and recommend Dawson's guides to the 14ers to plan some of my trips; it's generally well-written and accurate (I think his RT times are a little slow) and if nothing else gives good descriptions of the standard routes.  In addition, it adds to the adventure just a bit more than Roach's book by not telling you where to step to avoid all of the fun little difficulties!  The weather, avalanche condition, and TR information links below can keep the trip surprises to a minimum, and the trip report and backcountry resource links can yield good information for researching where to go off the trade routes.  Hope you find them useful; let me know if I should check out some others.

I (finally) completed my long-standing goal of climbing all 54 of Colorado's 14ers on 17 August 2002 with Sunlight Peak in the Weminuche Wilderness, after several years of putting it off, putting it off, putting it off so that I'd still have a simple, recognizable goal.  As of that date, I've climbed 89 14er summits by increasingly more difficult and fun routes, and there's no plan on stopping just because the 'list' is complete now.  But, new goals beckon.  Where are we going and growing now?

I still have many, many adventures to experience out here.  Next on the list are the classic CO ridge routes that I haven't climbed yet, and a bunch of technical alpine climbs - the Wilson-El Diente Ridge, Little Bear-Blanca Ridge, and Ellingwood Ridge on La Plata, Petit Grepon in RMNP, and the Prow on Kit Carson are just the beginning.  Here's my tick list for the 2005, and current status. Or, try out the new Online Gallery of some of my photography, and tell me what you think.

Current Featured Content (hey, my webpage, my picks!) Secret Plans for Global Conquest (text version) - The army of robotic flying monkeys is almost complete. Heh heh heh. Online Photo Gallery  See a few of my newer photographs here; this is experimental, so tell me what you think. Surfing Costa Rica - I guess I should say I got talked into it. But I didn't, not really. WRIAD TR - The desert, biking, and self-discovery. 14er Log & Statistics - 89 summits and climbing stats on the quest 2005 Season Climbing Log - Climbing and life for 2005 Tick lists, links to current TRs, and Generally what I'm up to. 2004 Season Climbing Log - I have no idea where I was all of last year. :) 2003 Season Climbing Log - Trying hard to get more days next year - 82 climbing days, plus other stuff. 2002 Season Climbing Log - Adventures, Trials, and Tribulations for 2002 - 77 More Days! 2001 Season Climbing Log - Fun in 2001 - 67 days o' climbing! READ ME  and learn how to make your time climbing more rewarding. If you're bored or a student of classical literature, try my reprisal of Dante's Inferno, complete with a new map of Hell! Kelly's Thesis on a spherical geometry 1-median optimization problem. The USGS maps are hopelessly out of date and there's no money to fix them; you can adopt a quad and help the program while you play outside as an USGS ESC volunteer.  My quad is Frisco, including Lake Dillon, the Tenmile Range to Peak 6, and Buffalo Peak in the Gores.

From The Quotable Kelly: Random image from Kelly's adventure archives; think something heroic, or really brave, or really stupid, probably. Or maybe just nice scenery. Who knows.

Seasonal News from Colorado: 15 October 2004:  Welcome to it's-nearly-ski-season-and-I'm-excited-about-it.  Really.  The summer's been a wash, except for changing locations to somewhere infinitely better than my last home of record.  Some serious biking and running, but not much climbing; strained left rotator cuff has been bothering me, as has being too strange for local girls to want to go out on dates here.  :)  Other than that, I definitely like it here, and we have some plans...  let you read about them after we're done completing!! Big changes since my last updates here; my last contract fizzled out in Colorado Springs, finally, and happily I had a couple of open options that I had been developing for follow-on work in Denver.  I moved to Littleton in late July and started working with DISA and CSC as a facilities engineer supporting 18 CONUS, Hawaii, and Europe computing sites.  It's extremely busy but very engaging work, and puts me much closer to the outdoor activiites that I am enjoying, as well as to my partners in stupid adventures.  We ran across the Grand Canyon a few months ago (both ways), and biked the White Rim in a day unsupported (big for me since I don't bike).  Climbing is a second priority while we've been in training, but look me up if you're looking for someone to go play with anyway. Here's one of the funniest things I've ever seen advertised on EBay - and yes, it's all about the ice climbing. :)

"Adventure is just bad planning." -- Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) It has been brought to my attention that reading my 'adventures' tends to paint my exploits in a possibly negative light (gee).  I felt I needed to add a disclaimer.  When you start doing risky activities as an inexperienced newbie, you can expect that the objective (and subjective, because you're new) hazards are more intense; in fact, there's a thought process that I subscribe to that says something like, 'When you've gained enough experience to stop having adventures, you're competent in what you're doing.'  Meaning, you take the risks to learn how to do something well, and then have the experience to avoid or mitigate hazardous situations based on your experience.  Of course, if you don't believe in causality, ignore my preceeding argument and don't call me to climb with you.  I look hard now to find adventures (and yes, more difficult and inherently hazardous climbs), but most of my material is from my learning phase.

Kelly's Adventures (in tan)	Soloist Top Rope Operation Please, don't try this at home.  No, really, don't.	My Favourite Links (in periwinkle)
How I started climbing TR: The Great Pikes Peak Debacle	The Gore Range Traverse Long TR on Attempt #1	ClimbingBoulder.com The only resource you need for CO rock climbing
Ice, Rock, & Cold: All Mixed Up! TR: Scary fun ice climbing in RMNP.	Object Lessons, Personal ramblings and the 19 Dec 2002 journal entry.	Camp4.com, our Colorado news & community Visit Sean & I and see what you think!
"And I could feel, like, hail               through my mittens, and..." TR: Saint Elmo's Fire on Mount Massive	Dumb and dumber climb Devil's Tower. TR: The Durrance Route, early in my career.	Colorado Avalanche Info Center (CAIC) Open in winter - not the hockey team!
Gaah! Lightning! To the Trees! (Get the tent!) TR: Weathering a storm on North Maroon's shoulder.	Oso: I guess dogs don't climb. TR: Mount Massive during a dog-sitting trip.	The Weather Underground My current source of 10-day climbing forecasts
The Crestones Traverse Perspective on growing one's climbing abilities.	"My glasses are tingling. Is that bad?" TR: South Maroon, another storm, and cliff-jumping. --TEMP OFFLINE FOR EDITING--	Rockclimbing.com Worldwide climbing community & forums
Gettin' jiggy with it TR: Summit & RMNP roadtrip climbing adventures. --TEMP OFFLINE FOR EDITING--	Surfing (semi-TR) Costa Rica, holidays 2004 What, you expected something else?	TopoZone's topo maps Entire US Coverage, free!
3...2...1... And Phil goes down for the count TR: Pete and I adventure just a bit on the Grand, Exum Ridge	The Grand 4x4 Adventure from Hell How to have mechanized adventure in high style.	Steve Parker's huge collection of Colorado TRs
Longs Peak Adventures How many times is this gonna take?!?	The Taylor Pass 4x4 Adventure Another 4x4 & camping adventure through the Rockies	Are you a peak bagger? article by W. Sheets
The Femur is the Strongest Bone... TR: Aborts, desert snow, and ground falls.	Cheyenne Mountain tales Hidden history and hiking in the backyard.	SummitPost mountains pages and forums Something on every mountain everywhere you wanna be
Things to be Thankful For TR: An alpine trip cut short by circumstance	All about Telemark Skiing: From learning to competing.	MountainCommunity.org A PNW and national climbing community forum
On Finishing. TR and reflection on goal completion.	Tele Injury Numero Dos!!! Ouch. And, why I didn't compete the next year.	The Backpacker Home Page
Climbing Turkey Rocks post-Hayman. A photo essay.	Vedauwoo and Tetons climbing roadtrip. A photo essay.	WRIAD. Canyonlands, Utah. Biking trip report.
Pearl Izumi Crescendo Soft shell windproof jacket review for Camp4.com	Mountain Gazette Anthology Book Review (on Camp4.com)	Summit Climbing Guide Book Review (on Camp4.com)
2005 Climbing Log (current) What's kelly doing lately? What's in the plans?	Solar Digital Photography System Climbing/Expedition System review (on Camp4.com)	KayLand Revolutions Technical ice boot review for Camp4.com

Member of Peak to Peak Trail and Wilderness Links

Here's how to hit more about me:  My Online Resume Portfolio is here; here's my planning page and TR from our unguided backside route on Aconcagua in Nov '98.  Take a look at my Summit County climbing website and try out the area sometime.  Here's the beta you've been searching for on skiing Pikes Peak.  Finally, here's my thoughts on impact events.  That's quite enough.  You're bored by now.  Have a nice day.  :)

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