Pikes Peak and Mount Evans climbing

Pikes Peak and Mount Evans
Climbing is dangerous, and each individual should approach these peaks with caution. Conditions can vary tremendously depending on time of day and time of year. The route descriptions here assume good summer conditions.
Environmental, safety, and social concerns have risen sharply in recent years. Tread lightly and carry your trash out. Use established trails when possible and don't cut switchbacks, especially in the tundra zone above timberline. Turn around when conditions or weather are against you. Respect other people and wild animals.
Before charging forth with your city energy and competitive urges, take some time to understand the mountain environment you are about to enter. Carefully study your chosen route and don't be afraid to retreat if your condition or the mountain's is unfavorable. Better yet, do an easier climb nearby and gain knowledge of the area. When both you and the mountain are ready, come back and do your dream climb.

Colorado s peaks

Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks offer the hiker and mountaineer one of the finest arrays of alpine challenges in the Rocky Mountains. You can be in the heart of Colorado's fourteener country in a few hours from its metropolitan areas, and the peak's proximity to population centers makes them even more precious. There is a lifetime of adventures waiting for you in Colorado's mountains. Climbing fourteeners has become increasingly popular in recent years, and the challenge of climbing all the fourteeners captures many people.
Besides the often-climbed standard routes up Pikes Peak and Mount Evans, there are many alternative routes and several technical routes. Most of the routes on Colorado's fourteeners are walk-ups (Class 1, Class 2, Easy Snow), but there are many wonderful scrambles (Class 3, Moderate Snow) and technical climbs (Class 4, Class 5, Steep Snow) on these peaks. Many of these beautiful routes have never been adequately described before. Most climbers on Colorado's fourteeners climb the standard routes and they are becoming crowded. However, you can still spend days climbing fourteeners and never see another person.

Lovers Leap

Lovers Leap is a fine granite formation smack dab in the middle of California. Located on highway 50, just outside of the Lake Tahoe Basin, Lovers Leap is only an hour and a half from Sacramento and twenty minutes from South Lake Tahoe.
Lovers Leap is mostly a traditional climbing area. Though full of stellar vertical crack systems, the area is great for beginners due to the horizontal dikes that run sideways across the walls. This creates jug sized hand holds located in the middle of many of the difficult crack climbing sequences. The climbing is comprised mostly of multi-pitch climbs of moderate length, usually between 3-5 pitches.
The best season for Lovers Leap is during the Spring and the Fall. The middle of summer can be quite hot, though usually it is climbable in the shade.

Glossary of Therms
Aid climbing is the practice of using Active and Passive protection to scale an exposed rock face. This is a time consuming process where the climber places a piece of protection in the rock and applies his or her full body weight. This process is repeated numerous times, with each piece bringing the climber higher up the rock face. Aid is most commonly used on vertical shear cracks and faces where free climbing is not humanly possible. The creation of aid climbing is what made the summits of the largest "Big Walls" in the world a possibility. Aid climbing was created by the pioneers of climbing in the first half of the 19th century.
A bivouac is usually a small and uncomfortable place to sleep mid-way up a climbing route. A bivouac can be planned for, or it can be unplanned and be referred to as an open bivouac. Generally, an open bivouac affords little comforts and can be sloping, dirty, wet, cold and/or all of the above. They can be prone to avalanche, rock fall and extreme winds. To avoid unplanned bivies, bring a mountaineering tent.