Full disclosure: I did not hike up Mount Bierstadt. I hiked up something harder; Mount Guyot. This peak is just east of Breckenridge, and it was originally supposed to be one of the six peaks in the challenge. After I hiked it, we decided it would be a bit too technical for many people.

The trail starts out innocently enough. The trail climbs up French Gulch along a nicely graded incline, finally reaching French Pass. That's where the trail to Guyot becomes a cross-country scramble.

First, you scramble up a steep slope of scree to the ridgeline to the north. Once a the ridge, there are some social trails heading towards Guyot and you might even think the worst is behind you. Not even close.

The trek along the ridge has some sections that you can hike, but more often than not you're scrambling in shifting scree. The views are amazing, but it's slow going. I averaged 1 mph.

I was thankful to reach the summit, but even then, the worst was not over. I planned to go straight down the slope of scree to join the Little French Gulch trail. This turned out to me far more arduous and slow than I expected. I fell numerous times. I broke one of my trekking poles.

When I finally made it back to my car I had been gone for nearly 10 hours.

And so… peak #5 in the challenge became Mount Bierstadt. This was my personal Bierstadt, x2.