jmdenver Loc: Colorado

The view from near the summit of Mt. Colombia (elevation 14,077ft) in the Collegiate Range in Colorado.

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Mt. Columbia is the peak in shadow on the right. Mt. Harvard is just to the left of Colombia in the distance.

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Wanderer2 Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains

Really enjoyed the photo. I've just moved to Colorado and soon won't be living very far from the Collegiate Peaks. How strenuous is the hike to the top of this one? Thanks for posting it.

jmdenver Loc: Colorado

Funny you should ask. This mountain is not for the faint of heart. The trail begins relatively easily but becomes a bear toward the end. See the excerpt below.

Mount Columbia might just be the most hated of Colorado’s 54 fourteeners (“14ers”), mountains that rise to an elevation of 14,000 feet or greater. Located in Colorado’s beautiful Sawatch Range, ten miles east of Buena Vista and a two-hour drive southwest of Denver, Columbia is one of the Collegiate Peaks that overlook the Arkansas River Valley.

From the 14,073-foot summit, you can see its 14,000-foot Ivy-League brethren: Mounts Yale, Princeton, and Harvard, among others. Yet, regardless of its stunning vistas, Columbia has a notoriously bad reputation for its slog to the top best described by author Mark Obmascik in his book, Halfway to Heaven. A grant support letter describes the conditions of the trail:

"There is no path in the Colorado high country that is worse than the "trail" up Columbia. It is a mess. It is scree atop powdery dirt that is all rutted into a crumbling 30-degree slope ... That, at least, is a technical description. In non-technical terms, this trail sucks. It is 1,600 vertical feet of misery. Climb three steps forward and slip two steps back. It feels like walking on greased marbles, except that these marbles have sharp edges and wedge inside your sock and prick your sole. More swear words have been uttered by hikers climbing Mount Columbia than any other Colorado 14er. This mountain twists ankles, skins knees, and shreds bottoms of pants."

Wanderer2 Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains

Thanks for the info on the climb. Very unfortunately it doesn't appear to me one I can do at my advanced age. Thanks again.

hiker60 Loc: Northern Idaho

Beautiful landscape photos especially in black and white. A special thanks for shooting these shots for those of us too "lazy" to hike up 14,000+ feet. Ah, the old days.