One of the big sports in Colorado is bagging 14ers (mountains higher than 14,000 feet). There are 54 of them, and they range in difficulty from an easy dayhike to insanity. I have climbed 13 to date, with Long's Peak being the hardest thusfar. If I have my way, I will climb all of them. Here's some of my more notable climbs.

This year I climbed Long's Peak. Long's Peak is Colorado's northernmost fourteener, and because it is such a spectacular monolith rising above the front range, is a very popular climb. It is a Class 3+ climb, with plenty of exposure, making it relatively difficult. I started at 2am in the morning, and hit the summit around 7.

     After several failed attempts, I finally managed to get Jenee to the top of her first fourteener (one of the 54 mountains in Colorado over 14,000 feet above sea level). On this particular day we climbed 14,264 foot Mt. Bierstadt. The weather was perfect and the fall colors were spectacular.

     During Labor Day weekend of this year, my brother Tim and I did an epic mountain bike ride down the Monarch Crest Trail, an epic 30+ singletrack starting at the top of the Continental Divide (11,000+) and ending up in the town of Salida, Colorado. Many regard this to be one of the finest mountain bike trails in the world, and I agree.

     Here are several other mountain bike pictures from some of my more epic excursions. As far as I am concerned, for a mountain biker, Colorado is Mecca.

     In April of 2001 my brother Tim and I embarked upon a three day backpacking journey into the grand canyon. The first day we hiked down into Phantom Ranch and spent the night, the second night we stayed at Indian Gardens, and the third day we climbed back out. I had a great time but I was a bit disappointed when I hiked down into the canyon carrying a forty pound pack only to find a crowd of fat tourists on muleback drinking beer. The most obnoxious part was my finding a payphone and beer hall at Phantom Ranch.