Teresa Gergen completes all ranked Teners in Colorado!

[kirkmallory]

On 10/31/14 at approximately 8:38 AM, Teresa Gergen became the first known person to complete all the ranked 10ers in Colorado on Bears Ears Peak (10,577).

Congratulations Teresa! You have certainly earned your place in Colorado's mountain climbing history.

[John Kirk]

Spectacular...





Had to add a new icon for this!

[Brian Kalet]

She's also the only person to complete the highest 2000 ranked peaks in the state:
http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/Conten ... p?lid=1010

[John Kirk]

She's also the only person to complete the highest 2000 ranked peaks in the state:
http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/Conten ... p?lid=1010

and 2300:
http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/hc.php?State=CO

[mikeofferman]

Wow! Congrats Teresa!

[Alyson Kirk]

Nice job! That's absolutely amazing! You rock!

[KentonB]

Outstanding! Congratulations!

[lukePlumley]

What a list! And what a first! Way to go Teresa!

Now about those 9ers....

[dhgold]

I'm not normally one for emojis but I have to second the .

Every ranked peak in CO >= 10000', that's really something.

As for your next objective: you're within striking range of contiguous US highest 1000.

[jmbrooks8]

suprema regina delle montagne

[Steve Knapp]

Congrats Teresa! Mighty impressive. It will be interesting to see what kind of things you do next.

Anything significant about the peak you saved for last? I was kind of hoping you'd get it Teresa style - midwinter on snowshoes ten miles from the nearest road, but somewhere you can drive close to in the summer. But you were probably ready to be done.

[John Paul]

That’s a remarkable accomplishment! Looking at a map of the 530 Colorado 10ers it's difficult for me to even get my head around what you have done here. Spectacular! I bet there were some real gems in that group of 530. I also bet there was a lot of bushwhacking, treed summits, hunters and private land to negotiate. But you did it and thank you for sharing it with us. I imagine you must have some great stories (good, bad and ugly) from this endeavor. Maybe one day we will get to hear some of them.

Looking forward to seeing what you work on next -Just peaks, right… JP

[TeresaGergen]

It's been quite a journey. I wouldn't have been able to finish all the ranked peaks over 10,000 ft without the help of a lot of people - those who led numerous technical summits for me, those who provided beta, those who gave encouragement, and those who babysat me on the hills and trails through a long physical recovery. Thanks to all of you.

Luke - no 9ers. Or at least, not all of them.

Dave - at one point my big goal was to climb all the ranked peaks over 13K in the lower 49. I wasn't sure it was possible for me. But I figured if I could have one impossible goal, I might as well have two. The list of the CONUS High 1000 didn't add that many more high 12ers in other states to the 13er goal. I did the High 1000 12ers whenever they were near the 13ers. I finished everything on the High 1000 list in all the states except WY and CA, and have been making trips to both states pretty much each year. Next summer, my focus will be on these lists. We'll see what happens.

jmbrooks8 - I'm flattered, and honored. Earlier this year, for my 50th birthday, my adult daughter suggested that we go get tattoos together to celebrate. I told her to ask me again when I turned 60, and that maybe by then I'd come around to the idea. At least now I know what to have inked. :)

Steve, yes, it will be interesting. I'd like to think that I'll just happily climb any old peak in CO now, focusing on nice pleasant ones with no fences or scrubby stuff, and find some interesting lists in other states to work on. Anyone wanna take bets on how that'll work out?

When I first started the joint 10er/11er project, I picked out separate peaks to finish on for each hundred category, all relatively close to one another, and thought I would finish them all at once in a row over the course of a few days. The final 11er hundred group peaks were all on a backpack trip that ended up being very cold, in Sept. I was able to shorten the trip by a day by climbing the peaks in geographical order instead of elevation order. It changed the final Elevener peak to "Anvil Horn." I was a little disappointed and a little relieved as I made the decision to change the plan I'd had from the start. As it turns out, "Anvil Horn's" an extremely interesting peak, and was a very worthy finish, especially since I got benighted shortly after leaving the summit block, and had to work my way down a field of huge boulders in the dark, wearing my full overnight backpack, until I could find a flat enough spot somewhere to set up the tent. I kind of enjoyed it.

The remaining 10ers didn't unfold as planned after that for a number of reasons and complications. At some point I decided Bears Ears was the most interesting peak of those that I had left, and decided to save that until I could deal with the complications. You can park 0.25 mile (and about 800 ft) below the top. The road to it was already snowpacked last Fri, and one more storm might well have left me finishing Teresa-style. I was, in fact, ready to be done.

Thanks again.

[Tom Pierce]

Congrats, Teresa, a great accomplishment!
-Tom

[Brian Crim]

WoW! Way to go Teresa! That's really amazing.