Colorado's Thirteeners: 13,800 To 13,999 Feet, from Hikes to Climbs

Rating:
Summary: A superbly presented, full-color guidebook
Review: Colorado's Thirteeners: From Hikes To Climbs is a superbly presented, full-color guidebook to Colorado's highest mountains in the 13,800 to 13,999 feet range. Presented for the edification of outdoor enthusiasts, Colorado's Thirteeners includes 59 major peaks in six of Colorado's mountain ranges (Front Range, Tenmile-Mosquito Range, Sawatch Range, Sangre de Cristo Range, Elk Range, San Juan Range); 202 routes to the major peaks (71 routes on 71 additional peaks); 96 trailheads with detailed driving directions; twenty-two different approaches to the remote peaks; distance, elevation gain, difficulty scale, and effort ratings for each route; thirty-three full-color, annotated topographic maps; more than sixty full-color, annotated photographs; and three comprehensive tables of Colorado's highest peaks. If you are planning an outdoor vacation of hiking, climbing, and camping in the mountain country of Colorado, begin your planning with Gerry and Jennifer Roach's Colorado's Thirteeners!

Rating:
Summary: More for elite hikers and climbers
Review: First, a note of caution. If you're a casual hiker, this book will not be beneficial. This is geared more for the elite hiker or climber. However, if you're in this league, the book is informative, instructive and accurate, Gerry Roach writes well and gives the hiker all the essential information needed to make the trek. I live outside of Colorado and only visit for a few weeks each year, specifically to climb 13-ers and 14-ers. Being unfamiliar with the Colorado roads and most of their trailheads, I necessarily rely on this guide to get me to the trailhead with no hassle and accurate driving directions. Roach has never disappointed me. He gives exhaustive directions and includes a map for each trek. If you need a four-wheel drive vehicle to get to your destination, he will let you know. If you have a drive on a dirt road for 6 miles to reach the trailhead, that information will be included.

He also describes the trail conditions, whether it's rocky, has scree, is exposed and has a ranking system for how difficult the hike is. If there is scrambling involved or permanent snow fields, he lets you know. If it's a class 3 hike but listed in other guides as class 4, Roach makes the correction and explains why he feels this way.

There are separate chapters on the unique and often volatile weather in the Colorado peaks. This is imperative for out-of-state hikers who aren't familiar with the frequent, violent afternoon thunderstorms in the Rockies. When I did Pike's Peak for the first time, I photocopied Roach's chapter on this mountain and took it with me in my pack, and was glad I did. When the thunderstorms began, I descended ASAP, following his advice. This is an outstanding hiking guide. I wouldn't hike in the 13-ers in Colorado without it and neither should you. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: I RETURNED IT
Review: Forgive me for being dense; I own a number of hiking books, and I found the layout of this book hard to understand (reminds me of "Guide to the Colorado Mountains"). I'm not a climber, I'm a hiker (though I love long, difficult hikes), and I also found the Roach rating system confusing. Though I very much want another book with higher mountains in Colorado in it, I either need to take a class to learn how to use this book or buy one with a layout I prefer: individual hikes up peaks, round trip mileage and altitude gain included, and without having to do multiple cross-referencing to figure out routes and distances.

Rating:
Summary: an increadible 13er book
Review: This is the best book I have seen on Colorado 13ers. It lists at least 2 routes per mountain with a few exeptions. He tells the difficulty of each route and from that I can know if that mountain or route suits me. There are lots of coler pictures of the mountains and topo maps of each mountain showing the route up each peak. The routes are coler coded so you can see what class the routes are. It also gives a unofficial name to many of the unnamed peaks. The back of the book has 3 lists of all mounttains in colorado above 13,000 feet which also includes every point that reaches above 14,000 feet. This book with a 14er guide will tell you how to climb colorado's centenials.

Rating:
Summary: an increadible 13er book
Review: This is the best book I have seen on Colorado 13ers. It lists at least 2 routes per mountain with a few exeptions. He tells the difficulty of each route and from that I can know if that mountain or route suits me. There are lots of coler pictures of the mountains and topo maps of each mountain showing the route up each peak. The routes are coler coded so you can see what class the routes are. It also gives a unofficial name to many of the unnamed peaks. The back of the book has 3 lists of all mounttains in colorado above 13,000 feet which also includes every point that reaches above 14,000 feet. This book with a 14er guide will tell you how to climb colorado's centenials.

Rating:
Summary: Not always what I need.
Review: While filled with approach and route info, this book is less than I'd hoped for or expected. The maps are printed at such a small scale that you almost need a magnifying glass to read them, I found the route numbering system and many of the extremely detailed route descriptions confusing even on climbs I'd already done (does anyone really have a sense of what 0.1 mi is?), and few of the photos are really of much help - better captions would certainly help. Many of the routes I'd expected to see described weren't mentioned at all even though the book is pretty hefty, partly because of a lot of duplication of material. I've found the accuracy of the driving distances to various waypoints to vary considerably - sometimes they're right on, other times they're long by up to 10%. And I think they've misclassified several of the climbs, though partly this is due to a confusion over whether they're using the Colorado standard for 3rd and 4th Class climbs or the California standard.

I could also say I found the closing essay on guide books in general both puzzling and annoying. The authors write as if their's is the first book (or webpage) in this area ever revealed to the world when it's not; the essay only highlights the fact that they ignore all who have gone before.

The book is not a total waste of money, but I'll probably stick with my 1st ed Garratt & Martin and/or Rosebrough (for the San Juans) as my primary sources even if they're not the most up-to-date books out there. Perhaps a later edition will be better than this 3 - 3 1/2 star effort.