Peak Picking

I am shivering with anticipation! Strong Sis and her family are coming out for spring break and I'm in charge of scouting out a 14er for us to do. I have three options: two long class 1s and one shorter class 2. Avy conditions are currently good. The roads are icy but open to their usual winter closures. That adds six miles to the summer distance, but as those are road miles, they're an easy march. I'm pumped!

So here's what I'm considering for us:

• Grays Peak - 13.5 miles RT, great views and it's close to Denver. It is pictured here with its neighboring 14er, Torreys Peak, as seen from Option 2, Mt. Bierstadt.
• Mt. Bierstadt - 13 miles RT. I've done this one four times already so I'm not as excited about it, but it's an "easy" one so it has to make the list.
• Mt. Yale - Class 2, 9.5 miles RT. This one turns my crank. I have a thing for the Collegiate Peaks and I have a special affinity with this one. On my first attempt, Yale handed me my keister on a snowy platter. On my second (successful) attempt, I took my friend's dog and had a ball outlasting her energy. On my third trip, then-boyfriend and I snowshoed to treeline to share hot chocolate, full-on sun, and belly-aching about the difficulty of winter 14ers and false summits before turning back. I love the stories that peak tells me!

As you can see, my heart lies with Yale, but I have to be practical. It is class 2. Not many people have been up it. That means we will be breaking trail. That's hard work. It also means that I will have to do really good route-reading. That has never been a strength of mine, but I have improved. Yet in winter... everything changes. All trail markings wear a snowy disguise. Hm... Another Yale story or not?