Mike Rodenak finishes Eagle County!

[Ryan Kowalski]

Congratulations Mike! Finishing on Castle Peak was a great idea. Eagle County seems to have some difficult access peaks. As ususal I've got to ask, what were your favorites? Least favorites?

I imagine your next county objective is Chaffee? Drop me a line for those as I love me some Chaffee County!

Congratulations again Mike, finishing a big county list like that is no small undertaking.

[lukePlumley]

Congratulations Mike on being the first finisher on what must be a very tough list. Castle is a great way to end it. I have to ask if you guys were able to hand-level or climb the western summit tower? On to the next county!

lp

[Brian Kalet]

Congrats again, Mike!
I didn't take my level up there since it has already been leveled by Tim Worth & Ken Nolan.

[MikeRodenak]

Thanks guys!

I finished with Steve Knapp and Brian Kalet on Castle Peak after climbing (driving up?) PT 10010 earlier in the morning. To make it worth their while I also repeated 5 others in the area, hey they were nice enough to drive way out to me in order to climb with me, I figured I'd help make it worth their while! We did not climb the second candidate, but as Brian noted, Ken and Tim have leveled the summit and we are confident the "easier" of the two (with the cable from the old watch tower) is the higher. I thought by about 2 1/2 - 3 feet from eyeballing it, but it could be even less.

The favorites list is a tough call, there are so many cool peaks in the Gore and HCW that its hard to pick one! A lot of the lower peaks are pretty nice strolls too, and many are open sage and grass without too much deadfall and nice views. I have a couple of days that will stand out as favorites for a long time, not just in county but of all my climbs. The loop I did in Lime Creek was a lot of fun, a real exploration as I had no information other than my own maps and photos. The other would be the Corners group + Meridian, Scot and I had 2 snow climbs and some fun ridge scrambling on that one. There are a lot of individual peaks that stand out as good ones too, and I know there will be many repeats in my future!

Least favorite is a little easier, Basalt Mtn has so much deadfall it was really quite a chore. A close second is PT 9900 (also a lot of deadfall). Neither summit really had any views either, just a mess of fallen trees. Basalt I also did with some early fall snow, so beside deadfall there was some postholing. Just not much fun.

Access is not too bad, there are a few private land areas, but I try my hardest to avoid it all. Luckily we also have two wilderness areas, and lots of NF and BLM land! I probably went the "long way" on more than my share of peaks to mitigate property issues, but unlike some of those front range counties, we don't really have any houses on the summits. The only one that would is 9145, its a private lot in a gated community. It had a sold sign on it, but no house. It might have a house now though? There are also 2 9ers in the Toner Res quad that I did from "above" to avoid the private land along the Fryingpan River, starting at 11500 and dropping over 2000' feet for each of them and reclimbing. Of course there are ranked 11ers on that ridge by where I parked, so I just looked at it as "reverse climbing" the 11ers

Chaffee is on the "to do" list, but I think Summit will happen first. I only have 8 left, and they are bunched together enough that I could do them in 3 trips. A few are remote Gore peaks though that will be "weekenders". Ryan, I will definitely keep you in mind for my Chaffee adventures!

All together it was a lot of fun to go after my "home county". I got to explore a lot of parts that I think the average resident doesn't even know exists let alone visits. Most people think "Vail" when they think Eagle County, but there are some rural ranchlands and remote rugged wilderness peaks too. A lot of variety, and not a lot of "beta". Most of the low peaks I was the first person on LOJ to register a summit of, and I had to find my own way through maps and recon from other peaks. If anyone is interested in the peaks, let me know. I didn't do many TRs as low peaks in Eagle County aren't exactly on people's radar but let me know if anything catches you eye and I will get you some trailhead and route info!

[Steve Knapp]

Major congrats Mike, this is a great accomplishment! Very cool to be the first one to finish all the peaks.It was great to be able to be with you on the finishing day, and the few other outings we've had in the Gore and HCW. Castle is quite the interesting peak, a memorable one to finish on. It was sure a long way back there. Thanks for doing all the other peaks with us after the list was finished, we crammed a lot into the day.

Now we can see who finishes up Summit next, except it's not a race. You'll enjoy Peak I, Elephant, Dward Pyramid, etc.

[cftbq]

Absolutely amazing, Mike. Congrats.

[RyanSchilling]

Outstanding, way to go!

[TWorth]

Nice going Mike. Always like to read these county summaries as they give a good overall feel for what peaks in the area are like.

Agree w/ you on Basalt as being rough going although the old tower on top was cool and it was still better than some of the scrub oak bashes next door in Garfield Co.

In 05 I went up the N side of Castle, probably about the same in difficulty as the more climbed S side.

In 03 I helped build the CO lookout associations website and tracked down some historical photos of Castle, they can be seen here:

http://www.firelookout.org/cohost-co/castle.html

[John Kirk]

Eagle county is out there for the taking again, although with ski season closing, I'm sure this won't be undone by Mike long. Just discovered this peak thanks to the handiwork of Joe Grim:
8131 on the Dotsero Quad

[MikeRodenak]

I'll be on it tomorrow

Not as glamorous as finishing on Castle, but oh well.

Thanks for the update, I guess this is my punishment for discovering that Silverthorne was only in Summit County, Eagle goes back to 132!

http://listsofjohn.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=527&p=2767&hilit=silverthorne#p2767