14ers

As most of you know, climbing a mountain over 14,000 feet is a pretty big deal for people in Colorado. There are many peak baggers who climb them just to say that they climbed a fourteener. Depending who you talk to, there are 53+ fourteeners. According to 14ers.com to be ranked, a peak must rise at least 300 feet above the saddle that connects it to the nearest 14er peak (if another exists nearby). The following peaks are not ranked because they do not fit this criteria, but are on many fourteener lists because they are named and recognized on USGS maps:

Mt. Cameron - rises 138 feet above its saddle with Mt. Lincoln
El Diente - rises 259 feet above its saddle with Mt. Wilson
Conundrum Peak - rises 240 feet above its saddle with Castle Peak
North Eolus - rises 179 feet above its saddle with Mt. Eolus
North Maroon Peak - rises 234 feet above its saddle with Maroon Peak

I was born in the state and didn't climb a fourteener until about three years ago, Mount Bierstadt. I climbed my second one, Quandary Peak, two weekends ago. I must say that I have climbed other mountains that were just as beautiful and enjoyable, but they were only twelve or thirteen thousand feet high. There is just this strange status idea in Colorado about climbing a fourteener. I think that I will continue to climb them in the future, but I won't end up climbing them all. There are too many other fun things to do in this state during the weekend.