Eviledge Climbing
(Rockin the Ridges)


2005 climbs
Grays Peak
Mt. Bierstadt
Quandary Pk
Mt. Democrat
Mt. Bross
Mt. Cameron
Mt. Lincoln

2006 climbs
Grays Peak
Mt. Sherman
Mt. Massive
Torreys Peak
Mt. Evans
Mt. Elbert

2007 climbs
Missouri Mtn.
Mt. Bierstadt
Redcloud Peak

2008 climbs
Mt. Evans

2009 climbs
Mt. Princeton

2010 climbs
Mt. Antero
Huron Peak





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  Mt. Princeton

Elevation:   14,197
Date:           June 28, 2009
Climbers:    Jody & Anna
Info:            We decided last minute to tackle Mt. Princeton instead of the previously planned Mt. Antero. We got an early start from the house at 3am because I knew it would be a long drive down to Buena Vista. We got to the CR162 turnoff from US 285 at approx. 5:15am & were at the Mt. Princeton trailhead after a few wrong turns at around 5:45am. We decided that we would put the truck to the test and followed the Jeep trail out of the back of the mail trail head parking area. The 14ers.com website said going up this trail would require a high clearance 4wd & they weren't kidding. My truck has a 3" lift and 33" tires and I still banged the bottom a couple of times. It was approximately 3.5 miles to the upper camping areas where we finally parked & we started hiking at approximately 6am.

The first part of the hike was up some more of the Jeep trail road until we hit the actual trail turnoff. This first part of the trail was pretty good trail through the wood and over the ridge. Once over the ridge is where the rocks start. Ugh..........the "rock field" didn't end until we were at the top. Of the 3.5 miles on the way up - I would say about 2.75 of those miles were on rocks. At some point there comes a time when you have to turn straight up the mountain to get to the saddle. Unfortunately, there is a lot of trail damage here so it was a lot of loose rock and scrambling. Once at the saddle you are looking straight up the rocks at the summit. There is also a little scrambling that needed to be done on this last part, but overall I didn't think it was too bad (Anna has a different opinion about this part). The wind on this part of the climb was terrible though, especially since the trail took us right up to the ridge where the wind was whistling up through the canyon. There were a couple of times where the wind felt like it was going to knock me over. We reached the summit somewhere around 9:45am & spent somewhere around 15-20 minutes on top enjoying some time out of the wind in the "wind shelters".

After gaining the courage to brave the rocks again, we started back down. We took a couple of good long breaks on the way down & made it back to the truck around 12:15pm & back on the road at approx. 12:30pm. After a stop to get gas and drinks, we followed the "Sunday afternoon Denver caravan" back to town. We got back to the house a little after 3pm. overall a few more rocks than I expected, but glad to get this one done. Mt. Antero you're next!!!

**P.S. Sorry about the pictures, we ran out of batteries in the camera about half way up & most of them are from my cell phone. I couldn't blow them up too much because they looked bad when I did.



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