Congrats John Kirk & Steve Knapp-Teller county finishers!

[Kevin Baker]

Hearty congrats are in order for John Kirk and Steve Knapp who finished the 54 ranked summit of Teller county, CO on Sat. Looks like Steve repeated a few with John so they could finish together! They become the 2nd and 3rd finishers of the county. Teller has lots of fence jumping, stealthing, cacti dodging, mine hopping, and scrambling. Which one did you finish on? Any favorites or stories to share, guys? I know of at least one exciting adventure!

Kevin

[lukePlumley]

Well done, men! Teller seems like a fine county full of variety. What peaks are your favorties down there?

lp

[PaulStratmoen]

Congratulations to both of you! Kate and I were surprised to see your sign-in on Hackett Mtn. We had followed your still-fresh footprints to the summit. We also were on Cedar Mtn, 9514 and Truman's Rock the same day as you, but didn't see any registers on any of those. It would have been neat to meet up with you guys! We were also surprised to later see that Steve had repeated some of these peaks, but now we know why .

Which way did travel in doing these summits? We started at Signal Butte and worked our way north to Cedar Mtn.

[DHatfield]

Congrats John and Steve!!

[MikeRodenak]

Nice work guys! Congrats on turning another county "green", that is quite a wall of completed Front Range quads you've got going there too, a couple of more peaks and you'll stretch it all the way to Wyoming

[Brian Kalet]

Good job guys...you made short work of Crystal Benchmark.

[Steve Knapp]

Thanks everyone! Teller was a fun county to work on. As Kevin mentioned there is quite a variety of different peaks and many interesting challenges. With only 54 peaks it's a pretty reasonable list compared with something like Larimer or Park county. When it became apparent that John and I were both within one day of finishing we decided to team up even though it involved some repeats on my part and even splitting up for part of the day. It was the right thing to do as we worked on much of the county together anyway. Thus we got to share the completion date. My condolences to Doug and Susan, we beat you to it. You'll finish soon enough and join the three of us. Getting McReynolds done this summer and having a snowless autumn really sped up our progress.

Here was the order on Saturday, otherwise known as cleanup day. Sorry we missed you Paul and Kate!

Cedar Mtn - repeat for me. Nice peak though, I first climbed it a couple years ago after Big Rock Candy.
Hackett- another repeat for me. John needed these two stragglers for his completion.
9514 - Repeat for both. It was there and too tempting to pass up. Bonus climb of Truman Rock.
Crystal Benchmark - OK, in the interest of time we cheated a little and drove the PP Highway. But we still got 1500' of gain in 4 miles from Crystal Reservoir using the north slopes. Some serious bushwhacking in there, wouldn't recommend it. But we got it done in two hours.
Dome Rock and 9112 - Since I did these with Brian a couple weeks ago we split up here. John did these and finished on Dome Rock while I went on to:
Booger Red Hill and Beasley Hills (my last peak) - Nice grassy peaks with good views.
UN9270 (Park County) - Still had daylight so I picked up a new one with a repeat for John. I'm up to 160/230 in Park County now, another project.
Twin Rocks - Interesting unranked 5th class formation off of Twin Rocks Road. A boost from John got me up the short first section (mid 5th class?) and then it's a low 5th class scramble to the top. We had no rope. Fun but exposed! Thought I had an LoJ 1st ascent but I see Stewart Green has already climbed it. John didn't like what he saw and passed on the climb after getting up part of it.

[Steve Knapp]

Teller County favorites/memories:
McReynolds - Weird 5.9 technical finish on top of a 12er. Best done in summer for comfortable temps. Doug, what are you waiting for? We combined this one with a bunch of other peaks on a long hike in the surrounding area, carrying the rope and gear the whole way.

Dome Rock and 9112 - I never knew these were there, really cool peaks. Highly recommended.

Dog Head - Can't say I especially enjoyed it, but it was a another unique 5th class challenge. As different from McReynolds as night and day.

The Almagres - Nice high altitude tundra walk. Great views of everything in the Pikes Peak region.

Mount Rosa - A trail to the top! Really enjoyable peak.

"Runs down Fast" - Appropriately named. Best scree descent I've ever had in Colorado. 500 vertical feet in two minutes. Pure joy!

Red Ridge - Got reacquainted with the lovely cholla cactus, had to extract several spines from my skin that day. Beware of what lies below 8000' feet in these parts.

I must say I enjoyed every peak in the small yet diverse county. Many thanks to John, Brian, Chris, Derek, and Beau. I think I only did four of the 54 solo, so I had great company for most of them. And thanks for the TR's Kevin! You'll always be first, nice job paving the way for the rest of us.

[aaronvoth]

Great job John and Steve, Ben and I just missed you on 11749 last June. I've enjoyed the summits of Teller County. Maybe one day I will complete it. One of these days I will join the elite ranks of those who have finished a county. I almost have Clear Creek and Gilpin done. Steve, if you need company on any Park county summits I would take a break from Larimer and Boulder counties to join you.

[John Kirk]

Some of my favorites:
Turkey Rock A couple leaps of faith are required for this one - pretty different.

"McReynolds Peak" Make sure to bring TWO big pieces for this (#5s). Interesting challenge.

Sheep Mountain was kinda cool too:

Dome Rock and 9112 for the last two to finish was definitely a highlight.


Mitre Peak is super steep (near the top) and is a massive looking peak for a CO 8er- despite the scrub I thought this was a worthwhile peak.

[Jeremy Hakes]

Nicely done, you two! Congrats. :)

Any pointers/suggestions for Crystal appreciated (email is ok, too). Thanks, and congrats!