It was time to climb the fourteener widely considered to be the hardest in Colorado, and I had a proven track record of being a not-great climber. What could possibly go wrong, besides a slightly overinflated ego?

Written version: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=20689

This comparatively-short-by-my-standards revival of a write-up I first published soon after the events took place could double as a PSA for why climbers should always wear helmets in terrain covered by loose rocks...and why you shouldn't crowd so closely to the climber above you that you can potentially smell their socks.

Written version: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=20576

Because Baby's First Class 4 on Little Bear had gone soooo well, it only seemed like a natural extension to take a Real Climber(TM) friend up on his offer to take me up some Class 5 Real Climbing(TM)! What else could possibly go wrong?!?

Written version: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=22998

A cluster of three fourteeners around Lake Como Road provided even more of a challenge than I could have anticipated, and that was with my first Class 4 - climbing maneuvers and, in this case, ropes required - peak included among them. Sleeplessness, hallucinations, and Search and Rescue calls, oh my!

Written version: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=22997

By the end of July 2019, I'd run out of "easy," a.k.a. purely hikable, 14,000-foot Colorado mountains and thus had to level up to ones that required a few more climbing maneuvers. Given my previous record with harder peaks, what could possibly go wrong?!

Written version: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=22996

In the third episode of the Winterlude, I introduce another friend who will be crucial to my eventual success in finishing the fourteeners...which is kind of amazing, considering that our first fourteeners (and thirteeners!) together were a bit of a frigid sufferfest of epic proportions.

The Winterlude continues with the comparatively short story of my first calendar winter ascent of a 14,000' mountain...which, despite its brevity compared to most of my mountain stories, was nevertheless more interesting than it had any right to be.

Written version: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=19994

This Winter Solstice special episode introduces a real character who would become a key player in some of my final 14,000' mountains while hinting at the "joys" of winter climbing...if one can even get to the trailhead without needing a pricy holiday tow to get back out, that is.

In this real head-banger of a finale to Of Mice and Mountaineers' first season, I prove that I learned absolutely nothing about staying out of trouble throughout my first fourteen years of climbing fourteeners.

Written version here: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=22817

In the second-to-last episode for this podcast's first season, I revisit several fourteeners that required more than one attempt each before I finally saw their summits, which would’ve been way less embarrassing if more than one had even been literally in the same range as peaks that real climbers use to practice for the Alps or Himalayas.

Written version here: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=22803