After about four years, I finally finished climbing all the fourteers this summer. Below is my list of what I felt was the easiest to hardest fourteeners.
1. White Mountain, hands down. You can take a mountain bike to the top and have a fun ride down. This mountain is a good way to get introduced to altitude. For a beginner I’d suggest spending one day at or around the bristlecone pine forest first. Camp somewhere around 11,000 to 12,000 and start at a decent time on the second day. I threw up once on the way to the top… (2x - Summer and Spring)
2. Langley is a long walk, but you do not gain much altitude along the way since the trailhead is so high. If you are in shape, it is pretty easy. The camp spots by the last lake are real nice! (1x - Summer)
3. Split Mountain seemed pretty easy to me. There are some spots with no real clear trail and a tad bit of exposure, but nothing too frightening. The hardest part was getting to the trailhead. (1x - Summer)
4. Mt. Whitney (Main Trail/Mountaineers Route/East Face) – in the summer, after getting through the mess called the permit system, this is a pretty easy hike. Just walk up the trail. The Mountaineers route is a good bit harder but more fun. Snow makes everything much harder. (4x – Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter)
5. Mt. Tyndall has a bit of exposure pretty much the entire way (above 12,000), but since I rock climb I was comfortable with it. Also, it is a damn long walk up the Shepard’s pass trailhead – that was probably the hardest part. Really pretty area though! (1x - Summer)
6. Mt. Muir is easy to miss on the way up to Whitney, but it is a fun little peak. I think for most people, it would be easier than Tyndall, but I did it in January and it was very cold with somewhat icy conditions. (1x - Winter)
7. Mt. Russell was one of my favorite fourteeners. I did the 3rd/4th class East Ridge route and it really was fantastic. There is some incredible exposure along the way, but the route felt quite secure. After climbing Russell, we had day light to spare, so we ran up the Mountaineer’s Route on Whitney for fun. (1x - Summer)
8. Polemonium Peak – I climbed this from the West Side via Bishop Pass (U-Notch) on the way up to North Palisades. It was not real difficult, but not real easy to get to either. Any peak in the Palisades involves true climbing. (1x - Summer)
9. Mt. Shasta was lots of fun for me because I am a backcountry skier. On the way down, I was able to ski from about 13,000 to the car. It was so much fun flying past all the snowshoers struggling in the wet snow
Shasta in the winter is not technical, but one MUST know how to use an ice axe and crampons. Two people slid down the same route I went up on the day I summated because they didn’t know what they were doing. I personally saw one slide by me. A second person ended up with a broken ankle from the crampon catching on the ice. It shouldn’t have happened… (1x - Winter)
10. North Palisades was a lot of fun. I did this on the same trip as Polemonium. If I remember right, it involved two roped pitches and some scrambling on top. It wasn’t overly hard, but there is no way around the 5th class section. (1x - Summer)
11. Mt. Sill – I climbed this peak via the Swiss Arete, a climb rated 5.6. It was pretty easy and in fact, my friend and I accidentally free-soloed a good share of the climb before we realized it and ended up doing only three pitches. The hardest part was again getting to the base of the climb (and the descent after the climb). You get to cross a glacier and go through a messy gully. But, once on the mountain, it is really nice. (1x - Summer)
12. Middle Palisades is evidentially not too hard for those who do it in the summer after the snow in the chute melts, but I had to go try it in the early spring. We had lots of new snow, waist deep in many places almost the whole way up. We ended up climbing through 5th class sections unroped to stay out of the deep wet snow. On the way down I was very happy to have packed a 50 meter 8 mm half rope and a bunch of hand tied slings. There were some frightening moments! (1x – Spring)
13. Thunderbolt Peak getting almost to the top of Thunderbolt peak isn’t too hard. You walk 8 miles from Bishop Pass, head up a long gully full of lose stones and boulders then you go through a small 5th class section to get to the summit block. That is when things get interesting. (1x – Summer)
14. Starlight Peak is very similar to Thunderbolt. First, walk 8 miles from Bishop Pass to the Thunderbolt pass area. During this walk, we post-holed our way through over one mile of miserable spring snow. Once at the base of the climb, head up a long gully full of lose stones and boulders until you get to the summit block. It is called the Milk Bottle. On the top, you will experience significant exposure. You will probably be scared. (1x – Summer)
15. Williamson was my hardest climb. I attempted it three times before I summated it via the South Fork of Bair’s creek. On that route there are a few sections that travel up a snow chute that are quite steep and exposed. My first attempt was spent in the nastiest brush choked valley/gully that I had ever seen. Some German guy who was too cheap to buy a map recommended it to a friend as a good route. We later learned that he was lost and meant the South Fork of Bair’s creek. Make sure you do your homework, especially on a mountain like this that really doesn’t have any trails. (1x – Spring)
