Review by Brenda Wiard
14ers – May 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine
Guides to Colorado’s Fourteeners: A comparative review
Depending on who is counting and how, Colorado has 53, 54, or 55 peaks higher than 14,000 feet. More than 20 of these peaks are in Central Colorado. The three guidebooks discussed here are the ones most commonly used by people climbing the fourteeners. Although apparently all serving the same purpose, they target subtly different kinds of climbers.
Each of these guides serves the climber well. The authors are all well-qualified mountaineers who have produced well-written and readable books. Within each guide, the mountains are listed in a reasonable order and hard facts (numbers) are ample. They hold up equally well to use in the mountains. The differences between them are emphasized below, including the various treatments of the same peak.
A Climbing Guide to Colorado’s Fourteeners:
Third Edition
By Walter R. Bourneman and Lyndon J. Lampert
Published in 1994 by Pruett
255 pages, 8.5″ x 5.5″
ISBN 0-87108-751-0
If you enjoy tales of derring-do from early climbers and wish you could have explored the “unclimbables” with Albert Ellingwood or Percy Hagerman, this is the guide for you. Bourneman and Lampert compiled an excellent mix of historical and technical details. The historical notes are so entertaining that it was sometimes difficult to tear away from them long enough to read the technical route descriptions.
This venerable guide was first printed in 1978 and has had two new editions since then, the most recent in 1994 on recycled paper. The authors concentrate on traditional routes and techniques, whether or not those are the best, safest, or most interesting. Perhaps in an effort to remind readers that mountaineering is dangerous, the guide also enumerates some of the deaths on the peaks.
In the tradition of years-gone-by, Bourneman and Lampert treat route descriptions subtly. True, they give all the information an experienced mountaineer would need, but also true is that they give little specific detail. Deciphering the mountain is left up to you, the climber.
Treatment of Crestone Peak: The historical preface pertaining to the four peaks in the Crestone group is nine pages long, about half photos. The authors devote two pages to topographical maps, a half page to a single approach to the base area, and a page to the discussion of a single loop route via the Crestone Needle/ Crestone Peak traverse. A goodly portion of their description involves not the route itself, but the view and the consequences of a fall.
The route is marked on the map and one of the photos is of the critical face of the peak. Round-trip distance and vertical gain are given from one base area. A graphic representation of the route profile shows vertical gain per horizontal mile.
Colorado’s Fourteeners: From Hikes to Climbs
By Gerry Roach
Published in 1992 by Fulcrum
251 pages, 9″ x 6″
ISBN 1-55591-103-X
THE NEW CLIMBER, the technical rock artist and the experienced mountaineer all will like this guide. For each peak, Roach gives detailed descriptions of several trailheads, approaches and routes of varying difficulty. This allows the climber to make an informed choice between routes based on skill, desire, equipment, and incoming weather.
Excellent detail and impeccable use of terms make this guide a quality work. Perhaps the largest value is in pulling climbers off the crowded “traditional” routes onto alternative routes. Roach has a delightful way with words that will make experienced climbers grin, such as: clairvoyant climb, delectable moves, devious downclimb, and “consider your future.”
He further endears himself by giving each route a Grade (measure of time needed) and Class (difficulty). The photos are generally from a useful angle and include in the caption the month they were taken, an important point. Unlike the other guides, Roach also gives attention to snow routes. He mentions “classic” routes, “extra credit” climbs, and gives reliable rock quality descriptions.
Treatment of Crestone Peak: The introduction to the Crestone group is a page long and the topographic map takes another page. Roach devotes a page and a half to the four different trailheads, and a page to the approaches from the trailheads to the base areas. Crestone Peak itself gets a quarter page introduction and a whooping three and a half pages of specific detail on six different routes up the peak ranging from Class 3 to Class 5.
The routes are marked on the map and a photo shows the most critical and commonly used face of the Peak. Roach gives the round trip distance and vertical gain for the routes from the different camping areas (for ordinary folk) and from the trailheads (for the hard-core). He also uses an additional two pages to discuss routes combining Crestone Peak and Crestone Needle.
Colorado Fourteeners: The Pocket Slam
By Roger Edrinn
Published by Above the Timber
84 pages, 4″ x 7″
ISBN 1-56044-088-0
ALTHOUGH SOME PEOPLE do it, using this as your only guide when first climbing a mountain would probably be vexing. It is extremely concise and would be perfect as a reference when climbing a peak for a second time. The guide is well-written, although with a somewhat flippant tone and a greater assumption of skill and experience. For example, what Edrinn calls a moderate ridge walk (implying no hands), Roach calls an easy scramble (one hand). For the same section, Bourneman and Lampert in their characteristic uninformative way, just say “climb through.”
Edrinn devotes a short paragraph to the view from the top of each peak. As this is part of the reason people climb, it is a nice touch. Colorado Fourteeners: Grand Slam, a large pictorial book also by Edrinn, is meant to be used at home as a companion guide.
Treatment of Crestone Peak: Edrinn excludes an introduction to the Crestone group and all mention of history. He devotes a scattered two pages to a pair of trailheads, approaches and base areas. He uses a half page to describe a single route up the peak and another page to discuss the traverse from Needle to Peak.
Mixed in with approach directions is a vague description of another route. Edrinn gives distance and elevation gain, but not in as consistent a manner as the other guides. There are no maps or photos.
–Brenda Wiard
