Mountaineer route list help.

I tried this on a mountaineering site and got no responce so I figured I'd post it here.

Hi all, I’ve been out of the mountaineering game for a while but I’m looking to get back into it. I started out in mountaineering but rock climbing and ice climbing have taken over for the last several years because I’ve had more time to train for and do them than mountaineering. Recently my life situation has changed and I’ve gotten back my motivation to train for mountaineering. Over the last couple of months I’ve been working on getting back in shape, doing a regular training program, but I still have a long way to go. My goal over the next year is to climb progressively harder routes in the Colorado Rockies to get ready for bigger goals in 2014. I’m trying to get together a list of 8-10 climbs to do on the weekends starting in about two to three weeks and going into next winter. The first route I have chosen is the East Face of Cathedral Peak summitpost.org/east-face/23… and I am looking to get on progressively harder routes from here. For my first year back I’d like to keep the routes under 5.11 and WI5 butt I would like to work up to upper 5.10 and WI4 in the mountains by the end of the year. If you have any suggestions in this range it would be greatly appreciated. I’m looking for fun routes not necessarily high summits. I live in Grand Junction so I’d prefer routes closer to me but if a route looks really appealing I’d travel. I’m just looking for suggestions for fun routes, I don’t expect anyone to do all my research for me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Your question is a tad nebulous which might explain the lack of response on SP.

You've got a solid skill set which will get you up 75% of CO alpine routes.

These two links are pretty-much an exhaustive list of your CO possibilites and you're close to some great mountaineering in the Elks and San Juans. But you should definitely consider some trips to climb in RMNP as it's probably the most developed alpine area in this part of the country.

Colorado Ice/Mixed

Alpine rock

I know what you're saying. It's a huge list, I was just hoping some people would be able to point me towards routes they found enjoyable. I'll do the research, I'm just looking to narrow the list from 100s to 20 or so. Of the 100s there's a lot of crap, I'm just hoping some people with expireance can help me do some weeding. I've done a lot in the Sierras, I don't know the Rockies at all.

Your response is very helpful and I do appreciate it. Do you have a favorite route you'd suggest? Thank you for your response.

Check the stars associated with the routes, that will help you determine classics. Otherwise read them and see if it suits you. One of my goals is to get up in RMNP a lot more. It sounds like you lead harder than I do but I can follow at all those grades so if you are looking for a partner give me a PM.

Rschap wrote:I know what you're saying. It's a huge list, I was just hoping some people would be able to point me towards routes they found enjoyable. I'll do the research, I'm just looking to narrow the list from 100s to 20 or so. Of the 100s there's a lot of crap, I'm just hoping some people with expireance can help me do some weeding. I've done a lot in the Sierras, I don't know the Rockies at all. Your response is very helpful and I do appreciate it. Do you have a favorite route you'd suggest? Thank you for your response.

I don't have a whole lot of alpine experience so I can't give you many recommendations, especially for you part of Colorado. However, I can say from reading others experiences and talking with friends you can't go wrong with any of the "classics" routes listed on those MP pages. A lot of those routes are in RMNP, but that park earns it's status with good rock and awesome routes.

I really enjoyed Ellingwood Ledges last year, and to add a little more to it we linked the
traverse to gain both Crestone summits. It might be a little further away than what you're looking for but well worth it.

Thanks for the info, I'll keep looking into it.