FourteenerWorld Interview with Gary Swing         December 2007

 
We asked Gary the following questions:

Q: When did you climb your first mountain? Which mountain was it? How old were you?
 
Where I grew up in southern New Jersey, the highest summit anywhere around was Kinsley Landfill, a 230 foot high pile of garbage and dirt. I never climbed it, but I did hike up the highest natural point of land in southern New Jersey, Apple Pie Hill (206 feet above sea level) when I was about 15 years old or so, around 1983. About a year later, I hiked up Mount Killington in Vermont.
 
Q: What was the first technically difficult/dangerous mountain route that you encountered and how did you react?
 
In September, 1990, I hiked up Longs Peak with the University of Colorado’s Hiking Club. All I knew about it when I signed up for the trip was that it was higher than any hike I had done previously. I was unprepared. I wore jeans, cotton shirts and sneakers, and I was scared to death when I reached the Narrows. I stopped for about an hour before I got up the nerve to walk across the exposed ledges. Since then, I have hiked up Longs Peak six more times by either the Loft or Keyhole Routes.

The first summit that I climbed which required some technical rock climbing by its easiest route was The Castle in the Lost Creek Wilderness Area. I climbed it on June 6, 1999 with my friend Mark Snyder. We started at the Rolling Creek trailhead and climbed The Castle by a route that we made up. It involved crawling through passageways under the rock, a fair amount of rock scrambling, and a short roped section at the top. The rock scrambling was fun. Bushwhacking through thorn bushes was not so fun.

Q: At what point did you commit to finishing all the 13ers, and at what point did you realize or become confident that you were actually going to be able to complete them?

It’s difficult for me to say for certain. My stock answer to that question was always that I wouldn’t commit to trying to finish all the Colorado thirteeners unless and until I made it to the summit of Lizard Head Peak, the most technically difficult thirteener. I did that in the summer of 2005, during my first “Homeless on the Range Expedition.” Still, I had certain peaks I wasn’t sure about climbing, particularly Peak Fifteen – which I failed to climb five times due to route finding difficulties and severe weather, and the peaks in the Boulder Watershed, which are strictly off-limits and patrolled. I wasn’t certain that I would really complete the thirteeners until I had just one left to do.
 
Q: Which ten 13ers do you think are the most difficult technically?
 
I would say that Lizard Head Peak, Dallas Peak, Jagged Mountain, Teakettle, Coxcomb, Peak Fifteen, and South Lookout Peak are among the hardest. Rounding out the top ten is unclear to me, but I’ll throw in Peak Nine, Unnamed 13,017 which I called “Mini Monster Mountain,” and maybe Precarious. The route I took on Precarious certainly lived up to its name, but there must be better routes. The only published route I found for Storm Peak A on the Silverton quad was treacherous, but I found a much easier way down from a notch in the ridge. Whitney Peak is described as a walkup, but it has two summit points. There is a rock block on top which I believe is the true summit, and one difficult move is required to get on top of it. Crestolita, Pigeon, US Grant, Monitor, Animas, The Citadel, and Ribbed required some fun rock scrambling. Bartlett had some nasty crumbling junk near the summit and El Punto’s summit just seemed dangerous to reach. Generally, my most difficult climbs resulted from making up my own routes and traversing between multiple peaks on the same day. Traversing the five thirteener summits in the Williams Mountains in one day required a great deal of challenging scrambling and route finding. When I climbed Emma and Gilpin, I followed Garratt and Martin’s traverse route from Emma to Gilpin, which I found to be absurdly dangerous due to the loose rock and exposure. I took a better way down closer to Blue Lakes Pass.
 
Q: Have you climbed the unranked 13ers? If not, why not?
 
I only climbed a few of them. I don’t think that giving a name to a point measures or distinguishes anything. I used the 300 foot rise criterion to define summits.
 
Q: Which mountains of the 13ers did you carry/use a rope on?
 
I used a rope on Teakettle, Coxcomb, Pilot Knob, and Lizard Head. I used a rope for two rappels on Peak Fifteen and a short downclimb of one section on Ice Mountain. I set up top ropes for other people on Monitor and Sleeping Sexton. I carried a rope but did not use it on The Heisshorn. I free soloed Dallas, Jagged, South Lookout and Peak Nine. I climbed The Citadel on a rock climbing field trip for Basic Mountaineering School, so I did use a rope on it, but it was a contrived rock climbing exercise.

Q: At what point in your career did you climb Lizard Head? Who did you do it with? Did you lead? What finish did you do?
 
I climbed Lizard Head Peak in the summer of 2005, after I had climbed more than half of Colorado’s thirteeners. My friend Mark Snyder led it. He’s a strong, fast rock climber. We actually waited out a storm below the base of the peak that turned back another climbing party who had done the first two out of three pitches to the summit. I think we did the standard finish.

On the climb of Lizard Head Peak, Mark described our finish on the summit pitch: "As we were setting up for the second technical pitch [the middle pitch is third class], we heard thunder far in the distance. I started up quickly and took the very easiest route to get to the top fast. This happened to be about two moves up a face to a decent ledge and then a quick climb up a large sloping flake. Again it was fun to have the big #6 because I could place it anywhere behind the flake. Then there were a couple more chimney moves and behind another flake to the top. That pitch seemed easier at 5.5 or 5.6. I set up a belay from scratch as this was not the harder route with a belay station at the top. That route was around the corner about 30 feet. By the time I got set to belay Gary up, the thunder had stopped. Gary quickly came up after removing gear as he went. By the time he was up, the sky was clear for our summit celebration at 7:00 [pm]."

Mark and I made an agreement that he would lead Lizard Head for me if I would do a climb of his choice afterwards. The next day, I did the most difficult rock climb of my life – a six pitch 5.8 climb of Post Office Crack on Ophir Wall. A storm hit us that day, too, on the last pitch and on the descent, which involved steep bushwhacking and fourth class rock scrambling in hail and heavy rain.
 
Q: While climbing the fourteeners & thirteeners did you have any moments of doubt?
 
I had many moments of doubt while climbing the thirteeners and fourteeners. If there weren’t moments of doubt, it would be too easy! I confronted fears including thunderstorms, loose rock, exposure, unroped solo rock climbs, snow that was steeper than I liked, postholing in deep snow, ice patches, avalanche hazards, and encounters with bears, rattlesnakes, vicious dogs, mosquitoes and flies. Sometimes I turned back due to conditions I felt were too dangerous, particularly for avalanche hazards and thunderstorms. Other times I pushed my luck farther than I should have. I rarely failed to reach a summit when I went solo.

The last time I turned back on an ascent was an attempt on Peak C when the snow seemed unstable. There was deep snow on a moderately steep slope. It was so hot on the snowfield I was sweating just standing still. Snowballs rolled down the slope below my feet. There was a long horizontal crack across the snowfield. The day before, I had seen a big slab avalanche near Peak G. I felt that it was too dangerous to proceed, so I returned later in the season to climb Peak C after the snow melted.

Q: How many peaks (including repeats) do you climb in an average year?
 
That has been highly variable. When I was focusing on the fourteeners, I climbed an average of about 12 fourteeners per year. As I shifted my focus to high thirteeners and then thirteeners in general, I gradually increased the number of high peaks I climbed per year, until I climbed 68 thirteeners in 2004. Then in June of 2005, I quit my job, moved out of my apartment, put most of my belongings in a storage unit, and packed my outdoor gear in my car. I set out on the first of my big summer adventures, which I called the “Homeless on the Range Expedition: Endeavoring to Persevere.” I spent three and a half months hiking and climbing 200 Colorado thirteeners, 182 of them solo, while living out of my car and my backpack. In 2006, I did a sequel trip that I called “Triskaidekeuphoria: Homeless on the Range 2” and hiked 84 more thirteeners that summer. In 2007, I hiked and climbed my last 54 summits to finish the thirteeners, mostly on a trip that I called “Homeless on the Range 3: Will Walk for Food.”
 
I only keep track of the number of peaks above 13,000 feet that I ascend for the first time. There are a few fourteeners that I’ve repeated, including Longs, Grays, Bierstadt, Quandary, Democrat, and Crestone Needle. I have also hiked up Bard Peak several times. In the off-seasons, I hike more in the Boulder and Jefferson County foothills.

Q: Do you repeat peaks often?
 
The only peaks I repeat often are summits in the foothills, like Plymouth, Lookout, Zion, Galbraith, Green Mountains in Lakewood and Boulder, South Boulder Peak, Bear Peak, Flagstaff Mountain, and Mount Sanitas. The one high summit that I have repeated often is Longs Peak because people invite me to join them for that hike more than any other. I hiked up New Hampshire’s Mount Washington three times before I moved to Colorado in 1990.

Q: If Colorado mountain ascents were awarded with merit badges or medals, which 10 would you be proudest to wear?
 
Lizard Head Peak, Capitol Peak, Crestone Needle, Peak Fifteen, Dallas Peak, Jagged Mountain, Clark Peak, White House Mountain, El Punto, and South River Peak.
 
Q: Is climbing the lists a lonely project? Do you find it difficult to find climbing partners for some of the really unknown and obscure peaks? Do you do a lot of solo climbing?
 
Spending the nights alone in the wilderness feels lonely sometimes, but not the climbing itself. I find it to be much more lonely just living in the United States and being in the city than hiking alone in the wilderness. I feel totally alienated from American society where most people have a world view that is an artificial construct, completely out of touch with reality. Yet, I enjoy having the company of people I care about or can get along with.
 
It has been difficult for me at times to find climbing partners for obscure, remote or difficult peaks, but for the most part I don’t mind hiking alone. I have a bit of a reputation for being a fast hiker, but I tell people that now I just do everything half-fast. I enjoy hikes that require a lot of endurance, including long distances and substantial elevation gain. The peaks that I have most wanted company on have been the most technically difficult ones. 
 
Most of my hiking and climbing has been done solo.
 
Q: Do you have other interests/hobbies as strong as mountaineering? Do you think it’s possible that another interest could replace mountaineering for you?
 
Political activism opposing American militarism has been a major interest and concern of mine. It has also been a great source of frustration and feelings of hopelessness and despair. Hiking and mountaineering have served as outlets for my feelings of alienation, hopelessness and despair.
 
Long distance walking, bicycling, and international travel are other interests that I believe could replace mountaineering for me. Last fall, I spent two weeks traveling around Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Italy by train, foot and vaporetto (public transit boats in Venice). Innsbruck, Austria was my favorite destination on that trip.
 
Q: In the time that you have been hiking/mountaineering/climbing, what piece of equipment or gear has made the most significant improvement in each of the following areas: 1) Safety 2) Comfort 3) Enjoyment.
 
I would not be a good person to answer this question. I’m a low-tech, shoestring budget adventurer. I get most of my clothing and other equipment second hand at gear sales, thrift shops, or from clearance sales. I tend to pack heavy, but I'm working towards “lightening up” on gear.
 
Q: As one gets more and more involved in this sport, more peak lists open up that are in the realm of possibility. Some involve world travel, others involve specialized technical skills, others super endurance, etc. What personal characteristics have motivated you to follow the path you have chosen?
 
I chose to focus on Colorado peakbagging partly for practical reasons. I moved to Colorado in 1990 because I loved the natural beauty of Colorado’s mountains. Hiking and climbing locally has enabled me to pursue adventure travel on a low budget. Resupplying has been relatively simple and it hasn’t required the commitment and uncertainty of extended adventure travel in distant, unfamiliar parts of the world.
 
I enjoy individual endurance sports like hiking and bicycling, but I have never been interested in competitive or team sports. I like unroped rock scrambling on third and fourth class rock or lower fifth class routes with solid rock. I’m not much of a technical climber. I can enjoy some roped rock climbing, but I’m not interested in taking it to extreme levels. I prefer not to climb routes above 5.6 or maybe 5.7
 
Q: If you were confined or restricted to only ONE mountain for the rest of your life, which mountain would it be?
 
Based on my experiences so far, I would concur with Gerry Roach’s answer to this question: Green Mountain in Boulder. It is reasonable to hike and climb on Green Mountain year round, it has good hiking trails and rock scrambling routes with beautiful views, and it is right above the city of Boulder, so it’s easy to get to without driving a car.
 
Q: If you were confined or restricted to only ONE Colorado USGS quadrangle for the rest of your life, which one would it be?
 
Telluride. I like the town and its bicycle friendly, pedestrian friendly culture. The quad has twelve thirteeners, including Dallas Peak and several easier summits, plus excellent hiking trails that can be walked right from town. 
 
Q: At this point in your life do you think that your greatest mountaineering accomplishments are still ahead of you, or are they in the past?
 
I think they’re in my past. There are too many other adventures to pursue.
 
Q: What is your secret to staying physically and mentally fit?
 
I stay physically fit by working at a job that requires me to do a lot of walking most days and by commuting to work by bicycle when it’s practical to do so. I have been a vegetarian for more than twenty years. I have never smoked and have never used illegal drugs. I stay mentally fit by reading, writing, and participating in progressive activism.
 
Q: If you could spend a day hiking/talking with any mountaineer past or present, who would you choose?
 
David Pneuman. I enjoy his company. He’s an excellent chef and he’s always fun to hang out with, even if we don’t always make it to the summit.
 
Q: Do you think that climbing “the lists” has restricted or expanded your circle of climbing partners?
 
I would say it has restricted my circle of climbing partners, particularly as I have moved on to more obscure peaks. The fourteeners have become crowded, but low thirteeners remain obscure.

Q: If you had to start over again with climbing the lists, would your strategy be any different?
 
For the last three years, I have been focusing more on extended trips to climb peaks in geographic clusters. If I had to start over again, I would do that from the beginning, climbing all the thirteeners and fourteeners in a given area on longer trips to maximize hiking time relative to driving time.
 
Q: What was your most delightful moment on a summit?
 
Let’s just say that some things should be kept private.
 
Q: What was your most terrifying moment on a summit?
 
Probably close encounters with lightning on Mount of the Holy Cross. I could feel the electricity, my hair stood on end, and I could see the rocks spark. There were simultaneous flash-booms from the lightning and thunder. I was not far below the summit and I went into crouch mode until the lightning became more distant.
 
Q: What is the most insane thing that you have done on a mountaintop?
 
Fourteenerworld undertook a project of trying to get a different climber to hike up each Colorado fourteener with a life-sized folding cardboard cut-out of Rodney Dangerfield. I hiked up Mount Huron while wearing a cow costume and carrying Cardboard Rodney. I brought a book of Rodney Dangerfield jokes to share with three other Colorado Mountain Club members who joined me on the trip. Subsequently, I posted a trip report and photos of the www.fourteenerworld.com website.

I have also carried a watermelon up easy thirteeners several times on Colorado Mountain Club trips to share with people on the summit. The first time I did this, it was a surprise on somebody else's trip up Pettingell Peak. Nobody knew I was carrying a thirteen pound watermelon in my pack until I pulled it out on the summit and starting cutting it up.

 

Q: Have you had any memorable celebrations on mountain summits for your major milestones?
 
Capitol Peak was my last fourteener. I did that one solo. I did my last of the 100 highest, Jupiter, solo as well. I finished the Colorado county highpoints on Summit Peak with my girlfriend at the time, but a storm was coming in fast, so we hurried back down. Peak Fifteen was my last peak in the top 200 and top 300. I climbed it with a Colorado Mountain Club group, but we didn’t have a special celebration. The following day, I finished the top 400 and top 500 on Peak Four solo.
 
For my final thirteener, I went on a two day backpack trip to South River Peak with four other people from the Colorado Mountain Club. Debi Hruza was the trip leader. Her oldest son was hosting a “Talk Like a Pirate Day” party that weekend that she missed by leading the hike. So I suggested that we have a “Walk Like a Pirate” theme for the hike. Debi and I dressed up in pirate costumes that we wore for the entire two day hike. She made me carry a helium balloon with the words “Over the Hill” for the entire hike. Rather than using a long approach trail, we started and ended with a rough bushwhack. It was pretty tough doing a bushwhacking backpack while trying not to get my helium balloon tangled up in tree branches.

I brought Chips Ahoy, Pirate’s Booty and grog to share with the other hikers. Debi and her husband Mike brought along a carrot cake with pirate themed candles, pirate napkins, and pirate plates for a celebration on the top. They also brought champagne, chocolate coins, and a card to congratulate me on finishing the thirteeners.

Debi, Mike and I did a short lower fifth class finish to finish on the south side of the summit cap while the other two participants walked around to locate an easier summit ascent.

Between all the different kinds of junk food I ate and three different kinds of adult beverages on the summit, I was feeling a bit tipsy for the long hike out, which eventually gave me a throbbing headache. Still, the hiking party was a lot of fun. 
 
Q: Who were your early mountaineering mentors? Who have been some of your mountaineering mentees?  
 
I never had any mountaineering mentors, mentees, manatees or minotaurs. There were various books about adventure travel that inspired me. First among these were A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins and the sequel The Walk West by Peter and Barbara Jenkins. Ever since I read those books in high school, I wanted to go on some kind of epic adventure. I had ideas about walking or bicycling across the United States or Canada or walking the length of the Appalachian Trail. Later, I read the book Magnetic North: A Trek Across Canada about David Halsey’s wilderness expedition across Canada by foot, dogsled and canoe. While I was out on my first Homeless on the Range Expedition, I read Edward Abbey’s book, Desert Solitaire, which I found inspirational. Since then, I have read several books about thru hikes of the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, the Arizona Trail, and the proposed route of New Zealand’s Te Araroa Trail
 
Q: For the record-keeping fanatics out there: Do you have a special system to record your trips, summits, comments, etc.? Is it all from memory, or do you have a mountain log to reference?
 
I checked off the peaks I climbed on a list. For the fourteeners, I checked them off in Gerry Roach’s fourteener guidebook. When I moved on to thirteeners, I checked them off in Garratt and Martin’s high thirteeners’ guidebook and later in Gerry and Jennifer Roach’s thirteener guidebook. Later, somebody told me about www.listsofjohn.com. Once I found that website, I checked off peaks there and printed out copies of my remaining thirteeners to take with me in my car to check off peaks while I was on trips. At times, I tried to maintain a journal, but didn’t keep up with it.
 
Q: What is your favorite piece of mountaineering gear and why?
 
I don’t have a favorite piece of gear.
 
Q: What would you say is the predominant characteristic, talent, and/or skill that has helped you achieve your mountaineering goals?
 
Perseverance: simply the willingness to keep going on day after day even when I felt like giving up. The challenge of hiking all the thirteeners was more mental than physical.
 
Q: Carl Blaurock said, "I was born a hundred years too soon. We just had hemp rope, and we didn't even use that right." Do you ever wish your mountaineering career had occurred in a different time period?
 
No. As far as the hobby of Colorado peakbagging is concerned, I think I pursued it during the golden age. Peakbagging in Colorado was facilitated by the availability of detailed topographical maps, peak lists, automobiles, roads, and a temporary abundance of relatively cheap fossil fuels. I believe the age of the automobile and cheap fossil fuel is drawing to a close. Within ten to twenty years from now, I expect that the hobby of peakbagging as we know it today will virtually disappear. You can walk or bicycle to any place you can drive to, but automobiles have made the mountains more accessible.

Q: What are your top 10 favorite thirteener & twelver routes?
 
1) Jerry and Jennifer Roach’s guidebook to the Lost Creek Wilderness Area describes a route that they called the Alphabetizer. I came up with a longer variation of this that I called the Alphabehemoth. It does a loop around Craig Park, traversing ten summits between 11,500 and 12,500 feet (Peaks X, Y and Z, X Prime, Kenosha, Platte, Shawnee, “No Payne,” Payne Benchmark, and Zephyr) in a 20 mile walk with about 7,250 feet of elevation gain.

2) The traverse of the five thirteener summits of the Williams Mountains.
 
3) A traverse of Gold Hill, Silver Mountain, San Joaquin Ridge, Unnamed 13,432, and Wasatch Mountain from the town of Telluride. I started from Telluride by taking the free gondola ride up to Allred’s Restaurant and hiking up ski tracks to Gold Hill before traversing below Palmyra Peak to Silver and the other summits, then down Bear Creek back to Telluride.
 
4) The Triple Crown route from Wild Basin up to Chief’s Head, McHenrys Peak and Mount Alice.
 
5) The traverse of the Trinity Peaks from Vestal Creek.
 
6) A rock scrambling variation of the standard route on Arrow Peak.
 
7) A traverse of Unnamed 13,261, Unnamed 13,278, Rio Grande Pyramid, Window Peak, and “Mini Monster Mountain” (Unnamed 13,017).
 
8) The traverse of the Twilight Peaks and West Needle Peak.
 
9) The traverse of the Dolores Peak quad thirteeners from Rock of Ages Saddle (Unnamed 13,540, Unnamed 13,498, Unnamed 13,123, Dolores and Middle Peak).
 
10) Climbing conglomerate knob rocks on Crestolita
 
Q: Do you have any plans for future Colorado mountain lists? What list might you currently be working on?
 
I don’t have any future plans for mountain lists, but I may eventually finish hiking the Colorado Trail. I have hiked six entire segments of it and bits and pieces of many other sections.
 
Q: Within the sport of climbing 14ers there are certain written or unwritten ethical “rules”. For instance, the drop between the saddle, the minimum elevation gain, etc. Do you have your own set of rules/ethics?
 
In that sense, my only rule is that for peakbagging, I count peaks that have at least a 300 foot rise from the highest connecting saddle. For highpointing, you just have to get to the point by any means possible. For peakbagging, there has to be at least a hike from a “reasonable” trailhead. It doesn’t count to drive up Mount Evans or Pikes Peak, but it does count to hike Twining Peak from Independence Pass. It also counts to hike connecting ridges to the second, third, fourth, and fifth peak of the day. I just have a passenger car, not high clearance or a four wheel drive vehicle. I have been hesitant to try to drive too far up rough roads. So, in practice, I have tended to start lower and hike greater distances than many hikers who rely on four wheel drive vehicles. I have also come up with some odd approaches to remote peaks on backpacking trips. Sometimes, I have hiked long distances on four wheel drive roads and either hitchhiked or accepted rides when they were offered. In 2006, I was offered rides on the back of ATVs twice. That was fun.

My cardinal rule for outdoor adventure is: "Be open to things that happen along the way."  John Lennon said: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
 
Q: How did/do you balance climbing and a career?
 
I have a job, not a career. Climbing has come first. I work part time promoting cultural events in Denver, live on a low income, and have a flexible schedule. I can take off just about anytime I want. I just don’t get paid for it. I have also supplemented my income by participating as a guinea pig in long-term asthma research studies for National Jewish Hospital. They have provided free medicine for my asthma and effectively paid for most of my expenses during my big trips over the summers of 2005 and 2006. Essentially, my job for those summers was breathing.

Q: Who were/are your regular climbing partners?
 
At various times, James Harrington, Makenna Berry, Debby Henkens, Atindi Akpem, Shanli Tse, Leif Hojem, Debi and Mike Hruza, and Melanie Vicknair, but probably about 90 percent of my thirteener hikes were done alone.

Q: Do you do much climbing in winter?
 
Not anymore. Early on in my pursuit of the fourteeners, I did a fair amount of winter mountaineering, but now my winter hiking is mostly limited to the foothills. I will sometimes hike high peaks with other people in the winter, but I no longer do winter solo mountaineering.
 
Q: I understand that you've stated you don't intend to climb anymore after finishing the 13ers.  Have you climbed any mountains since you did?  If so, why?
 
If I stated that I don’t intend to climb anymore that was a bit of a misstatement. I don’t intend to climb any more lists of peaks. I will probably continue to climb some mountains, but I don’t want to feel that I need to climb every peak on some given list. I am especially uninterested in climbing more peaks that have no legal access or require high access fees. I don’t really like climbing peaks with a lot of loose exposed rock, either. I don’t plan to climb all the twelvers or all state highpoints or anything like that.
 
I have the idea that I would like to switch gears from peakbagging to long-distance walking and exploring other countries with the idea of expatriating eventually. Some trips I have in mind for the future include hiking the length of New Zealand on the Te Araroa Trail, hiking the Coast to Coast Route across Ireland from Dublin to either the Kerry or Dingle Peninsula, hiking the Alpine Pass Route across Switzerland, or the Arnoweg in Austria. The Pacific Crest Trail and Continental Divide Trails are other possibilities.
 
Since I finished the thirteeners on September 16, I hiked up various four and five thousand foot summits in Georgia and North Carolina in early November as part of a 150 mile “test hike” of the southern end of the Appalachian Trail, heading north from Springer Mountain. I also hiked up Clingman’s Dome, the high point of Tennessee, which is on the Appalachian Trail. I am considering hiking the rest of the Appalachian Trail from Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina to Mount Katahdin in Maine or Cape Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec.

Q: Do you suppose that there are some summits not meant to be climbed? In other words, do you think that are there mountains or high points where the danger in reaching the summit outweighs (in your opinion) the reward?
 
Yeah. Why would anybody want to climb Bartlett Peak? Some mountains are just piles of wretched loose rock that aren’t worth climbing. There are plenty of world-class mountains that I’m not interested in climbing because the climate is too extreme. Denali, K2 and Everest are not on my agenda.
 
Q: Name the top 10 Colorado mountains that you would NOT want to repeat, along with a few words describing why not for each.
 
Bartlett Peak has been mined into oblivion. The rotten stump that remains isn’t worth climbing and the mining activity spoils the views.
 
As long as the Boulder Watershed remains legally off-limits, my only interest in Arikaree and Kiowa would be to view them from the distance. I would not want to go back to DeAnza B or Mariquita unless they are opened to the public.

I’m not interested in paying to repeat the summits on the Cielo Vista Ranch. These include Culebra, Red, Vermejo, Puragatoire, Alamosito, Beaubien, Unnamed 13,565, Unnamed 13,229, Lomo Liso, and Francisco.

Q: Do you think that you may have sacrificed anything important during the pursuit of your climbing passion?
 
Other than my marriage, two knees, one finger, my right wrist, and any chance of financial stability, no, I don’t think so.
 
Q: If for some reason you could no longer hike, would this devastate you, or do you think that you could change your passion to some other activity.
 
I could change my passion to another activity, whether it’s reading, writing, or something else.

Q: Do you enjoy climbing with partners or solo adventures?
 
Yes, both. If you mean which do I prefer, that depends upon the partners and how important it is to me to reach a destination. Sometimes companionship is more important to me. Other times I’m concerned about reaching a destination before stormy weather strikes. Speed can equal safety. When I go alone, I can go where I want to when I want to, at my own pace.
 
Q: How did you manage to climb peaks with constrained access (eg. private land)?
 
I paid for legal access to the peaks on the Cielo Vista (formerly Taylor) Ranch.

At least four thirteeners have no legal access. I was inspired by a frequently censored part of Woody Guthrie's song, This Land is Your Land:

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

There were a few thirteeners where I just picked a route off a map and I encountered signs that expressed discouraging words, but I kept going anyway at a rapid pace. In most of these cases, I came down a different way after traversing over other summits.
 
The official policy of the Colorado Mountain Club concerning peak list completions is that they don’t count “illegal peaks.” I personally think that’s a reasonable rule for Colorado peakbagging, but other peakbaggers whose opinions I sought expressed the view that if it’s on the list, you must climb it in order to complete the list.  
 
Q: With your solo mountain trips, do you have one very memorable climb which pleased you or satisfied you greatly?
 
The traverse of Apache and Navajo Peaks was very memorable. I did a snow climb up the Queen’s Way route on Apache, using ice axe and crampons. I didn’t feel comfortable coming back down that way, so I traversed the ridge past Dicker’s Peck, up the West Chimney route on Navajo to its summit, down another chimney, and intended to descend the Airplane Gully on Navajo. The guidebook description said that only one gully descended from the ridge on Navajo without encountering cliff bands. I chose the wrong gully and ended up downclimbing those cliff bands. It was a fun route.
 
Q: Some say that the Internet has made climbing the 13er list much easier than it was in the past when there was little information about the peaks available. Would you agree with this? If so, how much easier to do you think it has made it?
 
I would say that the Internet has made climbing the thirteener list 18.7 percent easier. I would also say that 40 percent of all statistics are wrong.
 
Now you can look on peakbagging websites like www.14erworld.com and find trip reports describing routes on many peaks that don’t have any route descriptions published in books. This has made it somewhat easier to climb the thirteeners. If I know a mountain has a reputation for being very difficult to climb, I’ll look for route information from both guidebooks and trip reports before I go. Nevertheless, my habit has mostly been to just take the topographical maps with me and make up my route as I go along.
 
Q: Do you rely on a GPS or a map and compass primarily for your route finding?
 
I use topographical maps and when necessary a compass. I don’t own a GPS. I never even bought a compass until I started doing the Colorado county highpoints and used a compass to help identify obscure highpoints on the eastern plains. For the high peaks, I usually found that topographical maps were sufficient.
 
Q: What is the single most important piece of advice that you would give to someone just starting out wanting to climb the Colorado high peak lists?
 
Learn from other people’s mistakes, including mine.

Q: Do you have any favorite quotations?

"I'd rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth." -- Steve McQueen

"I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me." -- Noel Coward

The end.

Here's a link to Gary's Summit Statistics

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