Colorado 14ers: Mt Harvard & Mt Columbia Virtual Hike Trail Guide

[@OspreyFlyer]

Thanks for taking me along! I was on those trails and summits in the late 90s. Brought back wonderful memories. 👍

[@stephensmith6599]

Hey. Thanks for the videos and inspiration. Had not done a 14er since 2009 ... so I went up La Plata last week. Was ugly as I am in my mid-50's now and was not ready but still a blast. All the best.

[@grantskidmore6921]

Excellent source of content and appreciate all the well documented information!

[@toddlash4782]

What a beautiful day! Thanks for taking us along. Didn't make our yearly Colorado hiking trip this summer due to COVID, but it was awesome to experience it vicariously!

[@jamesdean1994]

Loved the video! I appreciate all of your videos and I like the direction you are heading with them. This really felt like a thorough guide. Thanks for the insightful commentary and videography. Just did my 20th this weekend!

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

Thanks James, really feel like I am finding my "voice" and theme for these trail guides.

[@rogerraguse9846]

Thanks for the in-depth walkthrough! I plan on doing this exact route tomorrow! Cheers!

[@georgesheffield1580]

Tanks for the comments on sustainable hiking .

[@beattrixkiddo2725]

Thanks for this man. Doing this tomorrow

[@hordboy]

Thank you. I am planning on this hike next week.

[@abuhnerkemper]

lmao that "no where to go" feeling hit us at the exact same spot as dark clouds were forming overhead.

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

Absolutely the worst spot to happen too haha

[@NickandRachel]

Gorgeous views!

[@crath3570]

Oh yes. Did this one this summer. Heading from Harvard to Columbia was the roughest. I was dumb enough to go down the cruddy gully with really bad footing. I saw people heading in the opposite direction head up what would have been a much earlier right for me.

[@crath3570]

Moral of the story. The further you go before making the major descent on the traverse, the steeper and worse the ground gets

[@crath3570]

Ps. I followed the trail on AllTrails closely.

[@jimshorts5970]

Didn’t know about that being a “two fer”. Good info.

[@BlakeMusfeldt]

I love this guy

[@eddieoweis2233]

Thanks for the invaluable information Sherp, summited Harvard yesterday with the wife but decided the traverse was a little too much for us with your vid. We will day hike Columbia eventually. Greatly appreciated.

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

How was the air up there?

[@eddieoweis2233]

@@TheVirtualsherpa it was a light haze day, beautiful mountain. Greatly appreciate the trouble you took with theses vids, they'll keep a lot of us out of trouble.

[@MrJoeTheShow23]

30 miles with all the back and forth camera work! Lol good stuff

[@bboypapilujeis]

What a great video. I'm just starting to collect 14nrs and c this video vis very helpful. I wish you works include time to each summit. How long did it takev you to get to Mt Harvard summit from trail head?

[@spoonne]

thanks for all you do!!

[@beastofalbeasts1]

Great video. I’m just getting the hang of route finding and your videos help so much on what makes a good route. Any special tips for hitting this in early October?

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

Be prepared for some snow - microspikes are key. Otherwise enjoy, October is fantastic to hike.

[@sleepy.philly]

you should do a vid on elingwood ridge, it’s a tough one

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

100% in the plans

[@sleepy.philly]

The Virtual Sherpa if you stay close to the ridge it’s legit climbing but you get cliffed out many times, it’s super fun climbing though

[@sammymartinez763]

You also added a lot mileage going back to get your camera. Appreciate the effort though

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

Try to pause the watch for those, but always seem to forget to unpause or pause at some point

[@captainace4987]

That's awesome, mount princeston was a challenge for me.

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

This was a slog for sure.

[@ravioli9728]

Been their done that

[@RockTheParkOfficial]

Epic!

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

Thanks guys 🙌

[@njosborne5540]

Great videos - thank you. For a day hike, which collegiate peak do you consider the easiest?

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

If you can get up to the Radio Towers- Princeton. If not, probably Huron.

[@carsoncrain9690]

Maybe it was due to the rock being wet on the summit block of Harvard but I started into class three climbing Wetterhorn, Kelso ridge, and The sawtooth yet I found this summit block to be the most technical thing I did all summer. Poor path I suppose?

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

That would be my guess - if you stay left at the top you can certainly make it spicy but staying right is pretty mellow class 2

[@cameronhammond9532]

We did this last year but backwards

[@x_leg3nd_430]

Would you do Harvard first if you were to do it again?

[@nigelduncan7841]

this is filmed survivor man style for sure haha

[@austenmuth5804]

How far is this from Denver ?

[@RColorado007]

So what are some of your favorite 14er hikes? Not necessarily the highest or hardest, just in your opinion. I've done Elbert and Longs twice. Would appreciate your opinion on options for a lifelong hiker that will likely only get a chance to do one or two 14ers a year (Florida boy). I ask because you mentioned in this video that this wasn't necessarily the best in your opinion.

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

Basically anything where A. I can be around as few other hikers as possible and B. I get to have some fun scrambling. Wetterhorn, Lindsay, Pyramid , el Diente - mt Wilson, crestones etc.

[@RColorado007]

@Timothy Brown Punta Gorda on the SW coast

[@RColorado007]

@@TheVirtualsherpa I agree on both counts. The second time I did Longs it was like ants to spilled ice cream on my lanai. Thanks for the reply and for the great videos 👍

[@spojce9]

i hated every second of climbing columbia behind harvard. pretty brutal

[@eddiej7259]

I'll be out in WY/CO for the first time ever last weekend in august through labor day. I'm eyeing middle and south tetons, and sneffels, handies, wetterhorn/uncompahgre down in CO. Are there any good class 2/3ish traverses for a first timer like me that would be good to get my feet wet, so to speak?

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

I'd be hesitant to recommend Middle as your first Class 2/3 hike - but you could try for South as its way less popular and a bit less technical. In Colorado, I would recommend reading my ranking the 14ers blog for notes on everything: www.thevirtualsherpa.com/ranking-the-colorado-14ers-by-difficulty/ CO is huge so it depends on where you are staying, but the ones you mentioned are good for down south with the exception of Wetterhorn. Its a fun hike, but a pretty big step up from Class 2/3 as its exposed 4.

[@eddiej7259]

@@TheVirtualsherpa I hike up in NH and the adirondack Highpeaks every weekend, So Class 2 stuff and some class 3 isn't foreign to me, and I did "cheated" class 5 stuff out in europe (permanently fixed chains for assists on class 4/5 routes). Watched your middle teton video and didn't see anything that would sketch me out. I'm sure in person its a lot different, but I also know when its time for me to hang it up.

[@matthewsherman4360]

Bear Lake.

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

Oh yeah……

[@dsingalls]

When did you do this hike? I didn`t think there would be that much snow. If it was earlier in the year, do you think the creak will be running? Also, do you think the sawtooth ridge is harder than longs peak?

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

All of my hikes have a link to the full trail guide in the description where I have my GPX linked which includes the date hiked. I believe this was late June though. Sawtooth and Longs are similar IMO, just typically much less people and a much less pleasant descent down Mt Evans.

[@ryanr6656]

I don't know about you but 16 miles and 6000feet elevation change is not a day hike. id plan to make that a two day haul

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

All relative my friend - but lots of options to camp and split it up. Check out the guide listed in the description for camping spot info.

[@georgesheffield1580]

All relative , make it fun .

[@rockytopwrangler2069]

Amazing views !! ..Respect the effort....... But struggle with the "Why" .......NO FISH !!........ ..... Stay Safe and God Bless.....

[@EsotericSyncretism]

Why not

[@squirlmy]

2:14 about drones just confused me, although I never had a drone, never have flown a drone, so this has little relevance to me. When you say "straight up regulation in any wilderness area"... Do you mean some specially designated "Wilderness Areas"? Because, as far as I know, any little patch of woods or fields, even within large cities, is a "wilderness area". What you say only makes sense if there's a special designation, perhaps within State and Nat'l Parks, or... IDK? I mean, when talking about hard and fast rules and "straight up regulation", you really need to also be exact also as to what you mean by "wilderness". It's also ironic you mention this after telling people to ignore the sign "parking to the right" and instead going left with a low clearance vehicle. lol. It seemed to me you were almost breaking your arm while patting yourself on the back about announcing these "important regulations". IDK, maybe the "drone community" has some idea what you mean, it's clear as mud to me.

[@TheVirtualsherpa]

I’ll ignore all the backhanded digs and answer your question: wilderness area is a federally protected area by the government where no motorized vehicles , including and specifically stated, drones, aren’t allowed. www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/wilderness/wilderness-stories - it’s relevant because unlike what it seems to you, I’m trying to spread responsible use of public lands. Drone flying is great in areas where it’s allowed and I do exhaustive research before any hike where I’m not familiar with regulations - but many do not. The last thing I want is a bunch of people flying irresponsibly.