Achievement Levels
Level 1 : holmes (1st woman up pikes peak – 1858)
Requirements: “summit” ONE 14er (a Colorado mountain with a summit greater than 14,000 feet above see level) and pay $350 annual membership fee (note: Pikes Peak and Mt Evans can be “summited” in a car)
Benefits: club recognition via wall plaque, Home crafted 30 oz mug use on site, 50% discount on beer.
Level 2 : blaurock (1st man to climb all 58 14ers – 1923)
Requirements: “summit” 10+ 14ers and pay $250 annual membership fee
Benefits: club recognition via wall plaque, stein use on site, 50% discount on beer.
Level 3 : Cronin (1st Woman to climb all 58 14ers – 1934)
Requirements: “summit” 25+ 14ers and pay $150 annual membership fee
Benefits: club recognition via wall plaque, stein use on site, 50% discount on beer.
Level 4 : Ballengee (fastest Woman to summit all 58 14ers – 14days,14hours,49minutes)
Requirements: “summit” 40+ 14ers and pay $50 annual membership fee
Benefits: club recognition via wall plaque, stein use on site, 50% discount on beer.
Level 5 : hamilton (fastest man to summit all 58 14ers – 9days,21hours,51minutes)
Requirements: “summit” 50+ 14ers and pay $5 annual membership fee
Benefits: club recognition via wall plaque, stein use on site, 50% discount on beer.
Famous Colorado climbers
Level 1 : Julia Archibald holmes (1st woman up pikes peak – 1858)
Julia and James Holmes traveled to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in 1858 with a group of gold miners. When the party arrived at the foot of Pikes Peak, the Holmeses decided to attempt to climb the mountain with J. D. Miller and George Peck. They reached the summit on August 5, 1858, making Julia Holmes the first woman to have climbed Pikes Peak. From the summit, she wrote in a letter to her mother: “Nearly everyone tried to discourage me from attempting it, but I believed that I should succeed; and now here I am, and I feel that I would not have missed this glorious sight for anything at all.”
Level 2 : carl blaurock (1st man to climb all 58 14ers – 1923)
Carl Blaurock (April 22, 1894 – February 1, 1993) was an American mountaineer. He pioneered many climbing routes throughout Colorado. Blaurock and climbing partner Bill Ervin were the first to climb all of the 14,000-foot peaks in the state of Colorado, doing so by 1923. By 1957, he had also climbed all of the 14,000-foot (4,300-metre) peaks in California as well.
Level 3 : mary Cronin (1st Woman to climb all 58 14ers – 1934)
Mary Cronin (1893–1982) was an active member of the Colorado Mountain Club (CMC) and the first woman to summit each of Colorado’s Fourteeners. She began her quest by climbing Longs Peak in the summer of 1921. The final two mountains on Cronin’s list in 1934 were Mt. Oxford (14,160 ft.) and Mt. Belford (14,203 ft.). Despite dreadful summit conditions, Cronin bagged both peaks on the same day.
Level 4 : Danelle Ballengee (fastest Woman to summit all 58 14ers – 2000)
Danelle is one of the ‘winningest’ endurance athlete in the world, having won several hundred events in various endurance sports. Included in her wins are several National and World Championships in the sports of Skyrunning, Adventure Racing, Mountain Running, Rogaining, Snowshoeing, Winter Triathlon, Triathlon, and Duathlon. She holds the female speed record for climbing all of Colorado’s 14ers in 14 days, 14 hours and 49 min. Danelle started competing in high school cross-country and continues to compete to this day.
Level 5 : Andrew hamilton (fastest man to summit all 58 14ers – 2015)
There is perhaps no one who knows Colorado’s 58 14,000-foot-plus peaks better than Andrew Hamilton. He started climbing them at age 11. He’s helped his two oldest children summit them all, including his oldest son twice. He’s climbed them all sequentially in multi-day, successful record attempts three times, in 1999, 2003, and 2015. His record is 9 days, 21 hours, and 51 minutes for all 58 peaks.