Top of the Heap: Telluride’s Imogene Pass ranked as our readers’ favorite run and out pick as Best Epic Event. Photo: Liam Doran
EO’s first annual Best of Colorado awards are here. The editorial staff put our heads together to bring you to the places we go for backyard adventure—and we went online and asked our readers for their votes, too. Here are the winners.
Summit Hike
OUR PICK: Mount Wilson At 14,246 feet, graceful Mount Wilson is the 15th highest peak in Colorado and the highest peak in the San Miguel Mountains, a sub range of the San Juans. The first ascent team climbed a difficult, and decidedly unpopular, route on September 13, 1874 and named the summit for the topographer on that climb, A.D. Wilson. Today, the standard route is up the north slope which is mostly a class 2 hike with some class 3 scrambling and optional class 4 moves—if that’s what you’re looking for.
Mount Wilson is one of the more difficult 14ers in Colorado and the views throughout the climb are worth the effort. Summer and fall are the best times to go, but be mindful of the afternoon thunderstorms prevalent in August. An early start is always recommended which means camping somewhere along the way—a great experience on its own. Don’t get Mount Wilson mixed up with nearby Wilson Peak, though, that’s a great climb as well. If Wilson Peak has an odd tinge of familiarity when you look at it, you might be a Coors drinker. The mountain is what’s depicted on the beer’s label.
YOUR PICK: Longs Peak Sure, we love an epic day on Longs, but we can’t cover it in every issue of Elevation Outdoors.
Road Bike Climb
OUR PICK: Mount Evans The closest fourteener to Denver also happens to make for the best road bike climb in the state, and arguably the country. It isn’t just that the 28-mile route climbs 7,000 vertical feet on the highest paved road in the US, where marmots have gnawed holes through the guardrail-less concrete. The big thrill comes from the wide-open panoramic vistas, a visual onslaught of the most incredibly beautiful, undeniably brutal landscape you’ve ever laid your polarized-lens-protected eyes upon.
YOUR PICK: Lefthand Canyon Of course there’s enlightenment on the popular 4,000-vert pull up through Ward to the Peak-to-Peak Highway, and the loop options are endless, with stops at the Jamestown Mercantile and the alpine cirque of Brainard Lake topping the list.
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Thanks Elevation Outdoors! You picked “The Gauntlet” as the best river trip and we agree! What an amazing, thrilling and beautiful stretch of whitewater. In fact, AVA named this combo of sections “The Gauntlet” about 14 years ago when we were the only company running it. AVA runs 65% of the people that go through Pine Creek commercially each year – and our office is right across the street from Pine Creek. Come see what the excitement is all about and join us on a “Gauntlet” run sometime! http://www.coloradorafting.net
Thanks again Elevation Outdoors – love all the other picks too. Keep up the good work.
-the crew at AVA Rafting