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About
Gerry Roach

 

Gerry Roach hiked to the top of his first mountain in 1953, moved to Boulder Colorado as a lad in 1954, and started climbing rocks and high mountains shortly thereafter. He continues pursuing his mountaineering passion with all the energy he can muster over four decades later.

In the intervening years, Gerry became a world-class mountaineer. After climbing Mount Everest in 1983, he went on to become the second person to climb the highest peak on each of the seven continents in 1985. In over 50 years of mountaineering that span 6 different calendar decades, Gerry has climbed in dozens of states and countries. He has been on sixteen Alaskan expeditions, ten Andean expeditions, and seven Himalayan expeditions, including first ascents in the kingdom of Bhutan. In 1997, he summited 26,360-foot Gasherbrum II in the Karakorum. In 2000, Gerry became the first person to climb the ten highest peaks in North America. In 2003, Gerry became the first person to climb every major peak over 16,000 feet in North America. Gerry is a member of the American Alpine Club.

Closer to home, Gerry has climbed more than 2,000 peaks in Colorado, including all the fourteeners, which he completed for the first time in 1975. In September 2010, Gerry completed all 637 of Colorado’s ranked summits over 13,000 feet. He finished climbing every named peak in the Indian Peaks Wilderness and Rocky Mountain National Park in 1978. He has also climbed every peak in the Colorado counties of Boulder, Gilpin and Clear Creek, and every named peak in Jefferson County. He completed visits to all 64 Colorado counties in 2001, and became the tenth person to achieve this feat. He is also a member of the coveted Highpointers’ Century Club for visiting more than 175 county summits nationwide, and he has done all the US State Summits. Gerry has also completed the 99 classic desert peaks on the Sierra Club’s fabled Desert Peaks List.

Gerry is also an accomplished rock climber. His first book, Flatiron Classics, is a guide to the trails and easier rock climbs in the Flatirons above Boulder. His second book, Rocky Mountain National Park, is a guide to the classic hikes and climbs in the park. His guide Colorado’s Indian Peaks, now in its second edition, remains the definitive mountaineering guide to that special area. In his guide Colorado’s Fourteeners, Gerry conveys his intimate knowledge of, and love for Colorado’s high peaks. In Colorado’s Lost Creek Wilderness, Gerry expanded the scope of his guidebooks, and continued to convey his love for Colorado’s mountains. His most recent guidebook is Colorado’s Thirteeners, which he co-authored with Jennifer. After returning from his numerous expeditions, Gerry climbs in Colorado’s mountains to re-hone his skills, and write about his experiences. His first narrative is Transcendent Summits. Mountaineering in his rugged and beautiful home state forms the foundation for his successful expeditions to Earth’s great peaks. Gerry lives with his wife Jennifer in Montrose, Colorado.

 

Gerry’s complete climbing resume

 

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