Paul and Kate finish Clear Creek County Ranked Peaks!

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Paul and Kate finish Clear Creek County Ranked Peaks!

Postby lukePlumley » Mon Aug 29, 2011 6:47 pm

On August 28 Paul Stratmoen and Kate Decker became the most recent completers of the ranked peaks of Clear Creek County on the summit of Santa Fe Peak.

Congratulations Paul and Kate! Clear Creek is a fine list, and it was nice to see you finish on some big peaks! The Citadel is probably my favorite in the county, and I was wondering when you would get these last two out of the way. Any other stories to tell from your adventures?

What other completions are you dreaming about for the near future? Larimer perhaps????

lp
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Re: Paul and Kate finish Clear Creek County Ranked Peaks!

Postby Steve Knapp » Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:09 pm

Awesome, it's great to add two more names to the list of distinguished Clear Creek completers. Kate, I think you are the first woman too! Man do I ever miss the hour or less drives to get to these peaks. What were some of your memorable moments?

Congrats Paul and Kate.
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Re: Paul and Kate finish Clear Creek County Ranked Peaks!

Postby KateDecker » Tue Aug 30, 2011 6:58 pm

Thanks Luke and Steve!

It’s pretty cool to finish Clear Creek County – I still recall my 1st ascent of Woods Mountain in 1996. That’s when I realized I was hooked on summits. :-D

The ridge-walk loop of Bancroft, Parry, Eva, & Witter was quite enjoyable, that is, until bullets started whizzing by our heads as we descended the valley. :shock: We dove for cover & I blew my emergency whistle to alert the shooters of our presence. Whew!

I probably won’t look back at Pence, Snyder, or Judge with quite the same sense of achievement as I had after completing Crestone Peak, Mt. Eolus, or Wetterhorn, but that’s half the fun of the CCC list – a wide variety of peaks, and short driving time. (And for some peaks, the challenge was in FINDING the summit!) elmo

As for favorites, I’d have to include the peaks we’ve been serial repeaters on – Woods, Parnassus, Sugarloaf, James. I do love a good tundra slog!

Kate
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Re: Paul and Kate finish Clear Creek County Ranked Peaks!

Postby PaulStratmoen » Wed Aug 31, 2011 8:03 am

Thanks Luke and Steve! Not sure what our next completion will be, but it probably won’t be Larimer County. :worms:

A few other memorable moments:

My first hike in Colorado – Grays and Torreys in 1986. It was a July weekend, and there were no crowds. Things have sure changed since then.

Using a fire escape ladder to reach the top of the summit block on Silver Plume Mountain.

Actually finding an enjoyable (though roundabout) route on Red Mountain :rip:, and then doing it again with Kate.

Taking advantage of heavy fog to sneak up 8595 and 8890.

Breaking my left hand while repeating Vasquez Peak.

While scouting out a route for Mt. Pisgah, running into (and then away from) a scary-looking group with an automatic rifle mounted on a tripod that was bolted to the hood of their heavily-modified Bronco. :shock:
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Re: Paul and Kate finish Clear Creek County Ranked Peaks!

Postby John Kirk » Thu Sep 01, 2011 9:10 am

Good job Paul and Kate!
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Re: Paul and Kate finish Clear Creek County Ranked Peaks!

Postby Haikudude » Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:20 pm

Well done folks! Seems like you are finishing a county every few weeks or so. At this rate you should finish Colorado by the end of the year!
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Re: Paul and Kate finish Clear Creek County Ranked Peaks!

Postby PaulStratmoen » Thu Sep 08, 2011 6:28 pm

Thanks John and Haikudude! It’s nice to have these lists to work on – they get us out to areas and doing things that we probably wouldn’t have otherwise done. It took us a while to finish Clear Creek and Gilpin Counties, though, so our next county list completion probably won't be for a while (although Prowers County looks attainable :-D).

Haikudude – Looks like you’re close to finishing Boulder County. That's a tough one. What's next for you after that?
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Re: Paul and Kate finish Clear Creek County Ranked Peaks!

Postby Haikudude » Sun Sep 11, 2011 8:45 am

Yes, still have Kiowa, Arickaree, and Elk Tooth to go. Otherwise will probably just rotate around on what's relatively close, for me that's Clear Creek, Jeffco, and Larimer. I would like to finish the Indian Peaks list at some point.. no shortage of mountains out there!
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Re: Paul and Kate finish Clear Creek County Ranked Peaks!

Postby Jeremy Hakes » Sun Sep 11, 2011 6:33 pm

Congrats, you two! Maybe some day we can finally hike some peaks together, although it doesn't look like they'll be in CCC. :)
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