ClimbingCooneys complete Storm King Quad

[ClimbingCooneys]

Took us a long time - multiple trips over 30 + years, but we finally finished all of the ranked summits over 13,000 on the Storm King Quad. Packing out of Noname was a litle bittersweet - relieved that some of those arduous backpacks & ascents will no longer be necessary as well as the costly train ride in, but at the same time missing the absolutely incredible beauty of this magnificent wilderness. Upper Ruby, Noname, Vestal and Sunlight drainages are without question, the most spectacular places Colorado has to offer and the most outstanding wilderness!

[kirkmallory]

Congrats! The 13ers on the Storm King Quad are a nice list just by themselves. If you ever do miss visiting that magnificent wilderness, those few high 12ers you have remaining on the quad are quite worthy, especially 12890 which is in the heart of the wilderness.

And congrats on Lizard Head! Just 22 thirteeners left!

[ClimbingCooneys]

Thanks Kirk. I'm sure we'll find a reason to return to the Weminuche. We left a few soft-ranks hanging like Peak Ten. Wanted to get it in on this last trip up Noname, but time, weather and age did not permit. Also want to get Glacier Point. Leaving this area behind is like saying goodbye to an arch nemesis that became your friend. There were several rained out, snowed out trips over the years. Costly train rides that resulted in no gain for the peak count and that delayed our completion but we finally got 'em done. Thanks too for noticing we got the Lizard Head. Sure are relieved to have climbed that one! Special thanks to Keaton with the San Juan Outdoor School for leading us up it. Makes the final 22 look a lot easier now.

[Steve Knapp]

Congrats on climbing all the 13ers on the quad! Quite a project in itself. That is my favorite quad in the entire state, what a beautiful place. 35 peaks, all above 12k. Definitely go back and "complete" the quad with the remaining 12ers if you get the chance.

Your post got me wondering how many quads one would complete by focusing only on peaks above 13k. So I pulled up your quad completion map, six quads completed so far (Holy Cross, Mt. Massive, Alma, Winfield, Twin Peaks, Uncompahgre). Maybe there will be a few more when you finish the 13ers. It looks like there are 105 quads with at least one 13er. Interesting.

Good luck on your remaining 13ers!

[ClimbingCooneys]

Your post got me wondering how many quads one would complete by focusing only on peaks above 13k. So I pulled up your quad completion map, six quads completed so far (Holy Cross, Mt. Massive, Alma, Winfield, Twin Peaks, Uncompahgre). Maybe there will be a few more when you finish the 13ers. It looks like there are 105 quads with at least one 13er. Interesting.

Yes - I've wondered about how many quads there are to complete if you only are climbing peaks above 13K. For the last ten years or so, once we decided to go for the 637 13er/14ers, we started focusing on doing what we called "quad clean outs," or a "QCO." From our viewpoint, we have dozens of quads that we have now "cleaned out," but I've never attempted to count how many that is. Maybe there's a way in John's program to figure that out - just never tried. How'd you arrive at the 105 figure? Can you come up with a list that includes 13ers & 14ers?

[MikeRodenak]

Nice Work! I will be down there visiting your old friends next week

To see Quad Completion Progress by elevation, check out this page: http://listsofjohn.com/Quads/qindex.php?State=CO

Then on the pull downs, select your name and change elevation to 13000+ and voila, you get your progress on Quad completion for only peaks about 13k. Looks like you have completed the 13ers in 92 quads. Cheers!

[ClimbingCooneys]

Thanks, Mike. that's slick! Now I don't have to manually count all my quads.