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– Gerry Roach

Peak Lists of Colorado’s Thirteeners

– Choose an Elevation or Range

• Colorado’s Fourteeners
• Colorado’s Thirteeners
• Colorado’s 100 Highest Peaks
• Colorado’s 1,000 Highest Peaks
• Colorado’s Soft Ranked Thirteeners
• Colorado’s Thirteeners List Fixes
• Colorado’s Peak Distribution

13er Notes by Gerry Roach

• Colorado has 832 Summits above 13,000 feet,
      of which 637 are hard ranked and 46 are soft ranked.
  Colorado has 759 summits between 13,000 and 13,999 feet,
      of which 584 are hard ranked and 45 are soft ranked.
  
  
• This online list supersceeds the lists in our published books. For the differences between the two sources, see Thirteeners List Fixes.
  
  
• List History:
  Many people contributed to the evolution of this list. Bill Graves started work on the list in the late 1960s, and Bill first proposed the 300-foot criterion. Bill’s list focused on Colorado’s 100 highest summits. In the late 1970s, Evans and Ellen Winner added their eyes and efforts. They used different criterion, but did increase the list’s scope to 13,123 feet (4,000 meters). Jim Hoerlein beefed up the list by adding named summits that did not meet the 300-foot criterion and extended the list’s scope to 13,000 feet. Mike Garratt and Bob Martin made additions and corrections to Jim’s list, then published the complete list in their guide Colorado’s High Thirteeners. We made additions and corrections to their list. Notably, we discovered and noted summits that have a “soft rank.” For an explanation of soft rank, see the introduction to this section. We added mile and rise numbers for all peaks, added the range information and also added additional minor summits with unofficial names.
  
  
• The eastern end of the summit contour on Whitney Peak has an 8-foot block that hand levels much higher than the spot elevation 13271. Whitney Peak’s given elevation is the interpolation of the 13,271 spot elevation and the next higher contour (13,280). The old 1949 Quadrangle accurately depicts the east end of the summit contour as the highpoint.
  
  

Finishers of the list of 637 hard ranked peaks in Colorado above 13,000 feet

Peak Notes

1. PT 13,477 aka “T 10” on the Ironton Quad. The map shows two summits, 0.2 mile apart, both with the elevation of 13,477 feet. Gerry handleveled from both summits, and determined that the northern summit is three feet higher than the southen summit.
   
   
2. PT 13,253 has two summits, which the Winfield Quad shows with equal elevations. Gerry’s handleveling from both summits did not determine which is higher. Since the northern summit is on the culminating point of three ridges, it is given status as the ranked peak. Gerry has named the southern summit “PT 13,253 South” and lists it as a separate, but unranked summit.
   
   
3. The summit of mighty “Peak G” in the Gore Range is not where the map indicates it to be. The true summit is 200 yards northwest of the map point that extrapolates to 13,260 feet. The difference is only a few feet, but multiple parties have verified the result with hand levels. The true summit is at the map point that extrapolates to 13,220 feet. Either Point 13,220 is missing a contour or Point 13,260 has an extra contour. It is more likely that Point 13,220 is missing a contour, and we have seen this type of map error elsewhere. If Point 13,220 is missing a contour, then it would extrapolate to 13,260 feet, so we continue to use this elevation for “Peak G.” The traverse between the two summits is rough and requires some Class 3 scrambling.
   
   
4. The Mount Champion Quadrangle shows two closed, 13,200-foot contours near the summit of Point 13,212. The northern summit has the given evelation of 13,212 feet, and the southern summit has no given elevation, so extrapolates to 13,220 feet. With only the map to go by, one would have to assume that the southern summit is higher. However, for this peak, we have definitive field measurments that show the northern summit to be higher by a whopping 30 feet. Clearly there is a map error in this case. Either the northern summit is missing a contour or the top contour on the southern summit is spurious. Since the northern summit has a definitive, given elevation, we assume that it is the lower, southern summit that has the map error. In any case, the northern summit is higher, and we list this peak as Point 13,212.
   
   
5. The summit of Gold Dust Peak has two closed contours of 13,360 feet, the centers of which are 160 yards apart. It appears that the eastern summit carries the given elevation of 13,165 feet, but there is no x in either closed contour. It is well known that the highpoint of the mountain is the western contour. Assuming that it is the eastern summit that carries the given elevation of 13,365 feet, then the true elevation of Gold Dust Peak is somewhere between 13,365 feet and 13,400 feet. Interpolating between these two numbers gives 13,382 feet, and this is the elevation we use for Gold Dust Peak. Since there is no x to go with the given elevation of 13,165 feet, then there is some chance that the above approach is incorrect. If the given elevation applies to the western contour, then the elevation of the peak should be 13,165 feet. Perhaps the USGS inadvertantly left the x off and the human-positioned given elevation is misleading. Further investigation is needed on this situation.
   
   
6. The summit of “Hancock Peak” is 280 yards northwest of the point with the numbered elevation of 13,102 feet. Multiple parties have verified this result in the field. Thus, we know that the elevation of “Hancock Peak” is somewhere between 13,102 feet and 13,120 feet. In this case, we interpolate between these two numbers to arrive at an elevation of 13,111 feet for “Hancock Peak.”
   
   
7. The summit of Cereso Ridge on the Climax Quad is 13,780-foot McNamee Peak. The summit of a named ridge may or may not coincide with a named peak. In this case it does.
   
   
8. The summit of Point 13,130 on the Maroon Bells Quad is not where the map indicates it to be. The true summit is a bump 0.2 mile southeast of the marked point.
   
   
9. The summit of Point 13,660 on the Twin Peaks Quad may well be at the southeast end of the 13,600-foot closed contour on the Blanca Peak Quad 0.38 mile southeast of the traditional 13,660-foot summit. Handleveling in both directions indicates that the 13,620-foot summit is definetly missing a contour and that it is slightly higher.
   

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