The inaugural Nolans 14, held August 27-29, 1999, was an attempt
to run over all fourteen 14ers (that is, peaks higher than 14,000')
in Colorado's Collegiate Range, between Poncha Springs and Leadville,
in 60 hours. There were three starters: Blake Wood, Gordon
Hardman, and Fred Vance (the RD), and eleven RTS's (Refused To Start).
Blake, Gordon, and Fred all made it over seven 14ers, covering about
50 miles in
times ranging between 34-46 hours, before calling it quits for a
variety of reasons. Wait 'til next year!
These photos were taken by Blake Wood and Gordon Hardman during the event (note the time stamp on some of the photos). It is hoped that these photos will be helpful to future Nolans 14 participants. Each web page has 5-8 jpeg photos, and runs between 250kb and 400kb.
A brief run report and description of the route we followed is available.
The start, over Shavano and
Tabeguache
1. Gordon, Fred, and Blake at the start.
2. The trail up Shavano.
3. Higher on Shavano.
4. Shavano summit from the saddle.
5. On the summit of Shavano. That's Antero right of center.
6. Antero and Princeton from the Tabeguache summit.
7. The ridge beyond Tabeguache.
8. Gordon, looking back toward Tabeguache and Shavano.
9. Antero and Princeton from where we cut down off the ridge.
10. Blake in a meadow between Tabeguache and Antero.
11. Gordon approaches the Antero summit.
12. Blake and Gordon on the Antero summit, looking back toward Tabeguache and Shavano.
13. Jim Nolan (yes, that Nolan) and Gordon on the 4WD road down Baldwin Gulch.
14. Baldwin Gulch aide station. That's Jim McManus on the left.
15. Gordon at the Baldwin Gulch aide station.
16. Finally! We found the climber's trail up Grouse Gulch.
17. Blake in a meadow in upper Grouse Gulch.
18. Gordon, higher on Princeton.
19. The end of Fred Vance's terrible traverse across steep scree on Princeton. "It'll be much easier than following the ridge", he said. We saw a herd of 20 mountain goats on the ridge in the center.
20. Gordon watches the heavy rain to the north, just before the lightning started. That's Yale in the center, Columbia and Harvard beyond.
21. A picturesque snag in Maxwell Gulch. Princeton's summit in the background.
22. Ruins of some miner's cabins in Maxwell Gulch.
23. Gordon and Blake in the Avalanche Gulch aide station, 10 pm.
24. Gordon on Yale's summit in the rain, 3:30 am.
25. Gordon negotiates deadfall near the bottom of the Yale descent just before dawn, the missing aide station below. Columbia in the clouds in the background.
26. Columbia ascent, with Yale in the background. We came down the deadfall-filled avalanche chute on the left.
27. Gordon on the Columbia summit, in the clouds, rain, and strong wind.
28. Blake, between Columbia and Harvard.
29. Blake starts the Harvard ascent.
30. Gordon in a rare break in the clouds, high on Harvard, looking back toward Columbia.
31. Gordon in a blizzard at 14k', consulting his GPS to figure out where in the heck the summit is.
32. The weather clears - Gordon and our route down to the missing Pine Creek aide station.
33. Oxford from the Harvard descent. Our route would have gone straight up the ridge to the left of center. It looked much bigger than this at the time!
Back to Blake Wood's running page.
This page was created on 9/22/99 by Blake P. Wood