Teresa Gergen finishes the 11ers, Highest 1800 & 1900

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Teresa Gergen finishes the 11ers, Highest 1800 & 1900

Postby kirkmallory » Wed Sep 17, 2014 9:59 am

On Friday, September 12th, 2014, Teresa Gergen became the second person to climb all ranked peaks in Colorado over 11,000 feet. Her final peak was Anvil Horn (11,705) north of Steamboat Springs.

She then climbed Unnamed 10970 on September 13th to finish the Highest 1800, and Farwell Mountain on September 14th to finish the Highest 1900. Looks like she is the first person to complete the Highest 1900.

Congratulations Teresa! These are very impressive accomplishments, and I was glad I could join you for your final peak in the Highest 1900.
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Re: Teresa Gergen finishes the 11ers, Highest 1800 & 1900

Postby John Paul » Wed Sep 17, 2014 7:29 pm

Decidely awesome! It's been highly entertaining watching you peel off those peaks. Next up the CO 10er list. Looking forward to meeting you one day...JP
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Re: Teresa Gergen finishes the 11ers, Highest 1800 & 1900

Postby Steve Knapp » Thu Sep 18, 2014 10:42 am

Wow, I had no idea you were close to finishing. Congrats Teresa! You've shown so much focus and dedication, climbing most of them solo, always marching on. I like how you worked on the 11ers/10ers at the same time, instead of all the 11ers first. To do this after the injury setbacks you've had is quite an accomplishment.

And amazingly, only two 10ers left now. You'll have that wrapped up in no time I'm sure. Are sub 10k peaks now in your future, county lists, etc? You know I had to ask. :-D
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Re: Teresa Gergen finishes the 11ers, Highest 1800 & 1900

Postby markott » Thu Sep 18, 2014 11:08 am

Holy Smokes!!!! Way to Go!! You make mountain climbing seem easier than it is. Way to set the pace for the rest of us that will probably never catch your supreme accomplishments!!
Mark Ott elmo :rofl:
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Re: Teresa Gergen finishes the 11ers, Highest 1800 & 1900

Postby Tom Pierce » Thu Sep 18, 2014 3:22 pm

A great and impressive accomplishment, Teresa! Hearty congratulations!

-Tom
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Re: Teresa Gergen finishes the 11ers, Highest 1800 & 1900

Postby Brian Kalet » Fri Sep 19, 2014 12:26 pm

Congratulations, Teresa! Only 1 peak left for the highest 2000 peaks in the state. It might be time for you to relocate...
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Re: Teresa Gergen finishes the 11ers, Highest 1800 & 1900

Postby TeresaGergen » Fri Sep 19, 2014 3:01 pm

Thanks, everyone!

Brian, I did something better than relocate - I retired. Now I can climb wherever I want.

Steve, when I finish those last 10ers, I'm done with elevation lists in CO, and this time I really mean it. I'll certainly climb lower peaks, but I won't be finishing the 9ers. I may have to think about a few counties here. I'd like to finish the UT and maybe the AZ county highpoints. I'd like to at least research lists like the ADK, in places I know almost nothing about, and see if I find them interesting. I'll spend some time browsing the LOJ custom lists. There are specific peaks I've always wanted to climb that aren't on lists I'm interested in, that I'd like to make time for. I'll keep plugging away at CA 13ers and see where I end up. But my biggest goal after this will be finishing the WY 13ers, of which I have 3 left. If anyone qualified to lead Koven (right next to Gannett) would like to help me out, please let me know!

Most of what I had left this summer for 10ers and 11ers involved very long, hard days, a fallout of having used up everything easy as recovery hikes earlier. Right now I have to admit I'm starting to look forward to ski season.
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Re: Teresa Gergen finishes the 11ers, Highest 1800 & 1900

Postby John Kirk » Fri Sep 19, 2014 9:21 pm

:rock:
Fabulous work.
Let me know if you'd like a list of sub-10k peaks I'd repeat and ones I wouldn't :-D
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Re: Teresa Gergen finishes the 11ers, Highest 1800 & 1900

Postby Scott Patterson » Mon Sep 22, 2014 7:38 am

Congrats Teresa! :-D

Last Saturday we found that the east ear of Rabbit Ears is definitely higher than the west summit that has the benchmark. I thought I'd mention it just in case you haven't done the east ear and it would be a shame to miss the true highpoint by mistake only to find out at a later time (such as what happened on Mt Blackburn with the Dora Keen ascent) where the highpoint was. Unfortunately, I missed to true highpoint of some summits (i.e. Roraima) I thought I had because I was unaware of where the true highpoint was until after the fact, so I thought I'd mention the east ear of Rabbit Ears just in case.

In any case, I admire your accomplishment very much! A big thumbs up!
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Re: Teresa Gergen finishes the 11ers, Highest 1800 & 1900

Postby TeresaGergen » Mon Sep 22, 2014 8:54 am

Hi Scott,
I did see your post about Rabbit Ears, and I do appreciate your pointing it out in advance of a finish. I've been surprised many times to sight level something and find that the appearance based on the horizon is not correct. If I understood your post, you didn't sight level. I know that some of the others who have checked off Rabbit Ears are quite serious about sight leveling in cases like this and figured someone else had done so in the past and found the easier ear higher. I didn't sight level this one. Can anyone else here tell us if they did?
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Re: Teresa Gergen finishes the 11ers, Highest 1800 & 1900

Postby Scott Patterson » Mon Sep 22, 2014 10:06 am

If I understood your post, you didn't sight level. I know that some of the others who have checked off Rabbit Ears are quite serious about sight leveling in cases like this and figured someone else had done so in the past and found the easier ear higher. I didn't sight level this one. Can anyone else here tell us if they did?


I did not sight level, but I was thinking of doing so to satisfy my own curiosity.

Although I didn't sight level though, I do have a few years of survey experience.

I can say with almost 100% certain that the east ear is higher than the west summit. In the photograph, the distance between Rabbit Ears Peak and the ridge in the background is ~38.27 miles. Even when taking in account the correction calculation for the earth's curvature and refraction, and given the distance and elevation of the ridgeline in the background when looking from one summit to the other and the fact that the camera was held at a higher elevation of the we summit, it should by physically/mathematically impossible that the west summit is higher than the east ear.

Anyway, I wasn't trying to start and argument or diminish your accomplishment in any way (so I hope it didn't come across that way), but only wanted to point out that I believe that the east ear is higher, just in case it becomes of interest in the future with more people chasing the elevation list (such a thing has happened in climbing history in the past, such as those who climb the 8000 meter peaks and there has been controversies of exact high points on peaks such as Dhaulagiri and Cho Oyu, for example). I very much admire what you have accomplished.

To be honest, I am also currently chasing the 10K+ list for those mountain ranges (don't think I'll ever get close to finishing the state though) and was disheartened to find out that the east ear is almost surely higher.
Last edited by Scott Patterson on Mon Sep 22, 2014 10:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Teresa Gergen finishes the 11ers, Highest 1800 & 1900

Postby TeresaGergen » Mon Sep 22, 2014 10:12 am

Scott, no worries at all, and I do appreciate your pointing it out sooner than later.
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Re: Teresa Gergen finishes the 11ers, Highest 1800 & 1900

Postby DavidDJohnson » Sun Oct 12, 2014 1:49 pm

Amazing accomplishment! Congratulations!
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Re: Teresa Gergen finishes the 11ers, Highest 1800 & 1900

Postby Jeremy Hakes » Wed Oct 22, 2014 9:51 pm

Unbelievable. Congrats, Teresa. I yearn to retire, although I'd clearly never catch up.

Bears Ears is a great summit. Really cool rocks. Lightning chased us off the summit. Not a good place to be in a storm....

I wish we had done the east ear as well. I bet there are cool rocks there also...
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