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SNEAK PEEK at the Colorado Rockies Six-Pack of Peaks Challenge
I will be in Colorado the last week of June to scope out what will become the Colorado Rockies Six-Pack of Peaks Challenge. What exactly does “scoping out” entail? Well, hiking each of the peaks–six peaks in six days!
The challenge is designed to be hiked over time, so that you could hike one each weekend over six weeks. But if you’re visiting the area or looking to make the challenge even tougher, you can hike them over six consecutive days.
Each peak is higher and more difficult than the ones before, though all of them are hikes in summer season (not climbs). The route is laid out so that someone from Denver could drive to the trailhead, hike the peak, and return in the same day. For those doing them over a single week, the route forms a circle, allowing challengers to camp, glamp or stay at hotels along the way.
Altogether there are six peaks, over 50 miles of hiking and more 18,000 vertical feet of climbing.
Here’s the tentative list. Note that this is preliminary and still subject to change.
#1 – Bergen Peak
- 9,708′
- 9.2 miles
- 2,708′ vertical gain
- 34 minute drive from Denver
#2 – Mount Manitou
- 9,460′
- 7.2 miles
- 3,060′ vertical gain
- 1.5 hour drive from Denver
#3 – Birthday Peak
- 13,898′
- 6.2 miles
- 2,418′ vertical gain
- 3 hour drive from Denver
#4 – Horseshoe Mountain
- 13,898′
- 6.2 miles
- 2,418′ vertical gain
- 2.5 hour drive from Denver
#5 Mount Guyot
- 13,370′
- 7.75 miles
- 3,164′ vertical gain
- 1.5 hour drive from Denver
#6 Grays Peak
- 14,270′
- 9.5 miles
- 3,944′ vertical gain
- 1 hour, 15 min. from Denver
I’ll be hiking these in sequence over six days, beginning June 27th.
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4 Replies
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Just a brief update, since this has already been launched and the first hike logs have come in… We replaced Mt Guyot with Mount Bierstadt. Bierstadt is a 14er and higher than Guyot, but a more straightforward hike. Guyot has a LOT of nasty scrambling and we felt it was outside the scope of this challenge. Still a great peak, though.
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One more update… we have replaced Mount Bierstadt with Mount Sherman.
Mount Sherman is still a 14er, and it’s very near Peak #4 (Horseshoe Mountain) so you could easily hike those two back-to-back. The plus is that Mt Sherman is WAY less crowded than Mt Bierstadt (where challengers reported waiting 45 minutes in line for the porta-potty).
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Hello,
I would like to know if we need passes or permits to hike any of these mountains in the pack?! and how to get them?
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[quote quote=4025]Hello,
I would like to know if we need passes or permits to hike any of these mountains in the pack?! and how to get them?[/quote]None!
Colorado has a very open stance toward trail use. No permits or quotas are in place on ANY of these six peaks.
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