little bear-Blanca traverse or other 14ers

I have been researching to do the little bear-Blanca traverse on a rest day during my bouldering trip next week. I keep seeing that though the climbing is easy, that it's not for beginners; but I can't seem to get a grasp on what they mean by beginner. I'm highly experienced at climbing single pitch sport and trad routes in Arkansas (up to 12a), but have basically no alpine experience. Would this traverse be too dangerous? If so, any other 14er that are challenging but doable?

It's not tennis mate

Little Bear-Blanca is an excellent climb, but there are a few things to keep in mind.
1. If you're driving a passenger car, expect to start and finish at the Lake Como trailhead. That's a 14.7 mile round trip, with 6800 feet of elevation gain. If that's your idea of a rest day, I'm impressed. With most 4WD vehicles, you can knock off about 1,000 feet of elevation gain by driving part way up the jeep road to Lake Como. With an ATV you might make it to Lake Como, which reduces the hiking/climbing distance to about 4 miles and 2900 vertical feet.
2. There's very little technical climbing, and none of it is at all difficult. The two issues you might encounter are route finding on the traverse and loose rock.There is a LOT of loose rock on this route, and your biggest challenge is going to be finding hand and footholds that stay attached when you pull on them. The traverse itself wanders back and forth across the ridge line, so you have to be continually looking well ahead to figure out where to go next.

I would suggest ascending Little Bear by the NW Face route, just to avoid the crowds and associated rockfall on the West Ridge route.

Most people do Little Bear and Blanca as an overnight trip. Hike in to just above Lake Como, bivy above the lake (it's actually more like a small pond), and the next day do the 2 peaks and walk back out to the car.

Here's a source for info on 14ers: 14ers.com . "Colorado's Fourteeners" is an excellent guidebook.

Honestly, the route-finding on the traverse isn't very difficult and easier than the other 3 classic 14er traverses. You can stay proper for 95% of it and keep it under 5.4 or take a few obvious bypasses (left around early towers, right around later points) and keep it to 5.0. Generally, if you see a spot harder than that, it isn't too hard to do a short backtrack and find the next good-looking option before getting into trouble.

Gaining LB can be a bit more challenging - I second the NW Face route. Much safer and faster than the hourglass and you can keep it mostly loose 3rd with a 4th top out via a shallow gully or stay more left on a rib and keep it sustained fun 4th.

Descending Blanca can suck. I find it easiest to descend the ridge to the Ellingwood saddle and then cut down rather than switchbacking talus on the Blanca face.

With a light SUV or even higher clearance outback, you can make it past the annoying baby head cobbles and do relatively cruiser road hiking from there. There's a tough spot for most stock SUVs right after the baby heads and before the elevation-gaining switchbacks. If you make it past that spot, you can drive up a switchback or two.

I prefer the whole group as a daytrip and knocking out the road in the dark. Carrying an overnight pack up the road in day-time heat can be brutal. Depends on your shape.

Basically, with decent route-finding common sense and a good head for unroped scrambling exposure, you should be fine. If you don't have that, probably do something else.

Other 14ers in the area: Crestone Needle or Peak by themselves. Perhaps the traverse - harder route-finding but less exposed and easier with the exception of one short pitch below the Needle. Kit Carson and Challenger are easier but still nice. Kit Carson N Ridge is exposed and fun class 4. Or Ellingwood SW ridge (bit chossy) if you want to endure the Como road without getting all of them.

I did it a few weeks back with an additional traverse from Blanca to Ellingwood Point and descended the SW Ridge on Ellingwood. It was about 16.8 miles round trip from where I had to stop my VW Golf at 8,400'. Total elevation gain and loss was 7500'. It took us about 14 hours round trip at a fairly leisurely pace.

I recommend doing this by climbing the NW Face on Little Bear, this is by far the quickest way to the summit. I've done the Hourglass in both winter and summer, and the West Ridge Direct, the NW Face was by far the quickest. I will warn you that this route is extremely exposed. I'm talking 1-foot wide cat walks with 2000' of air on either side. I personally thought that the crux was down climbing off of Little Bear. (Rock shoes are recommended)

Here is our GPS track and some other interesting stats on the climb: movescount.com/moves/move35…

As a 5.12a climber you will have no issue with the very minor climbing required. Nothing really goes above low 5th class. The main issue with this traverse and very little alpine experience is the insanely loose rock at every turn and the long time required to spend above timberline. This will take some time and you will need a decent weather window unless you plan on getting an alpine start(3:30amish). There is no good way to bail once you start the traverse and this is not a place to be in a thunderstorm.

I made this traverse solo in early June this year and it wasn't so bad. It's super exposed, but the moves aren't very difficult - I'd say no harder than 5.2. I got fogged in for a period, but it lifted after a while. It made the sheer drop on either side a bit more manageable :)

Exposure does not a more difficult climb make, but the consequences sure are greater.

I hiked to just above Lake Como and camped, then headed off around 6am or whenever the sun woke me up. A long day, but I was on the road by 3pm or so if I remember correctly.

A couple pics:

Thanks for all of the replies! Those pictures are excellent! I have a Subaru Forrester and was planning on bivying near lake Como and leaving super early. I mean a rest day from bouldering, which would mostly be for my skin since bouldering osnt extremely exhausting. The more I read though, the more worried I'm becoming about being able to read the climate for dangerous storms. That's really my main concern, as I'm pretty fit and have climbed through plenty of loose rock. In all the danger seems a little high for doing a first 14er, especially solo. Thanks for the suggestions!