Traveling with an experienced, local guide offers many benefits over traveling alone in unfamiliar terrain.

• You’ll stay found, whether you hike on trails or on an undeveloped, cross-country route.
• Your guide will offer instructional tips for safe and controlled travel on uneven terrain, such as talus.
• Colorado mountain storms can be unpredictable. Your guide knows how to read the signs of changing mountain weather and will make decisions based on his/her assessment. We start our day early to avoid thunderstorms and allow for plenty of time descending.
• Your guide will help keep you healthy, hydrated, and in-tune with possible physical difficulties that can come with high altitude exertion.
• You’ll learn about the local and natural history of the area.
• Your guide is certified in wilderness first aid.

You need to be in decent shape. Hiking a 14-er isn’t for beginning hikers. Hiking down a mountain can be more difficult – on your legs, knees, and feet and balance – than hiking up. That’s why we encourage all our guests to use hiking poles. A 1999 study in The Journal of Sports Medicine found that trekking poles can reduce compressive force on the knees by up to 25 percent. Sometimes even physically fit individuals can encounter headaches and other physical challenges at high altitude. Your guide is well aware of these symptoms and can help monitor their effects and offer advice dealing with altitude issues. If you have concerns about your fitness or skill level, give us a call.

Peak ascents require stamina and strength, but they also require that you’re comfortable hiking in uneven terrain and have good balance skills. Depending on the route, you may be required to hike up and down rocks of all sizes, cross a scree or talus slope, or navigate alpine water crossings. Keep in mind that getting up the mountain is only half the hike. Going down is the other half, and after a strenuous climb, it can often be more challenging. We recommend all participants use hiking poles.

The level of difficulty for most peaks ranges from Class 1, Grade 1 to Class 2, Grade 2:

Class 1: Hiking

Class 2: Simple scrambling, with the possible occasional use of the hands

Class 3: Scrambling; a rope might be carried

• Grade I:  Normally requires several hours; can be of any difficulty.
• Grade II: Requires half a day; any technical difficulty

Yes. In fact, we highly recommend a multi-day peak ascent in order to have additional options for reaching the summit, if prevented by weather or other factors. Base camp can be set up with the assistance of our llamas to bring in gear.

Hike length and weather concerns require that we pick you up at your hotel early in the morning – what we call an ‘alpine start’ – sometime between 4 and 7 a.m.. The precise time depends on hike length and difficulty, group size, weather forecast, and travel time to the trailhead.