Back in the Spring of 2021, Michael Wirth set an ambitious goal for himself: to climb and then ski back down the 52 peaks in the Elk Range of Colorado with summit elevations that are above 13,000 feet.
The journey to pulling this off was arduous, but he got it done. Ultimately, he finished climbing and skiing the fifty-two peaks in just sixty days. Michael just posted a video of this challenging feat yesterday, and the film is truly an immersive watch.
Video Description via Michael Worth: In the spring of 2021, I set out to ski from the summits of all the 13,000′ mountains of the Elk Range in Colorado. Why? Well, the 14ers are known, but the 13ers still have a lot of adventure left within them.
The Elks are my home mountain range, so this project was a close journey to reach deeper into my home. In search of new lines, some rarely or never done. This is a snippet into that journey.
In sum, there are 52 peaks in the 13,000′ category and 7 above 14,000′. Over a 61 day period, I was able to climb to the summits of all 59 peaks in total and ski off them. It was a magical time of building an understanding of the range and watching my fitness and technical capacity become dialed – a true flow at home.
Special thanks to Luke Tornare who filmed this and edited it with me.
A special thanks also goes out to Julian Dysart for his wonderful music.
Neal Beidleman and I connected for the first time after I wrapped up this project and shared some nice thoughts about our mutual love for these mountains. There is a full filmed conversation between us. Would you like to see an uncut version of that uploaded to YouTube?
A final special thanks to James Brundige for camera gear and inspiration for filmmaking.
Image/Video Credits: Michael C Wirth
