by ClimbingCooneys » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:24 pm
The 3000 ft rule that has been encouraged for the 14ers doesn't always work when there are multiple, connected peaks - ie, Democrat, Lincoln, Bross. In those situations , we always figured that if the total elevation gain for the day was around 3000, we had met the criteria. Some peaks require extensive backpack trips just to get into. We count the elevation gain on the backpack as part of the total. If you start from a high camp at 12,000, and only gain 1,100 to summit a 13er, but packed in 8 miles and gained 2000 on the trip in, it counts as far as we're concerned.
In short, we've never been bound by the 3,000 ft rule, especially on the 13ers. When you consider all the hikes we've done where we put in 4000 - 5000 vertical in a day or even more, it seems justified to cut yourself a little slack when you can get off easy on something else. The little 13er next to Antero, we hiked to the summit from our vehicle in 14 minutes and Mt. Evans B off Mosquito pass, we did in 17 minutes. In each case, we at least gained 300 feet. There's been precious few of easy hikes like that, though. Seeing how the 602 peaks we've completed thus far have added up to over 1.8 million vertical feet gained according to our records, that's an average of 3,000 per peak. I'd say we met a decent criteria anyhow. I think in our books, since it takes at least 300 foot rise from a saddle to count as a separate peak, (in Colorado) we feel somewhat compelled to do at least 300 feet to claim a summit.
Beaten paths are for beaten men.