Spotlight on Gary Swing!

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Q: At what point did you decide to go for the Highest Hundred?
When I was about halfway done climbing the Colorado fourteeners, I went into a bookstore in Denver that was holding a “going out of business sale.” Among other things, they were selling some guidebooks for fifty cents each. I bought a copy of Garratt and Martin’s guidebook to the high thirteeners with the idea of climbing some of the thirteeners close to Denver or close to my remaining fourteeners. By 1995, I had climbed all but four of the most difficult fourteeners (Mount Wilson, El Diente, Capitol, and North Maroon). At that point, I shifted my focus to climbing high thirteeners and put off climbing my last four fourteeners. When I finally finished the fourteeners in 2000, I decided to go for the two hundred highest as a goal, without distinguishing between the hundred highest and the second hundred highest as objectives.

Q: What are some of your favorite centennial routes?
My favorite centennial route was the route I made up on Thunder Pyramid. I started out climbing the couloir leading up to the saddle between Thunder Pyramid and Unnamed 13,722. It was a drought year -- very dry -- so I didn’t bring my ice axe and crampons. Nevertheless, I discovered that the couloir was choked by hard snow and ice that I couldn’t climb without appropriate tools. So I exited the couloir to the right and climbed steeply up ledges instead. That was great fun on a peak that Gerry and Jennifer Roach’s high thirteener guidebook described as “a hidden horror.” My other favorite centennial thirteener routes include the Loft Route on Mount Meeker, followed by a traverse to Longs Peak via Clark’s Arrow; the rocky ridge traverse between French and Casco Peaks; and my free solo climb of Dallas Peak.

Q: How would you compare the technical difficulty of climbing the 14ers verses the technical difficulty of climbing the Highest Hundred?
While many of the centennial thirteeners are quite easy, a few of them are technically harder than any of the fourteeners: Dallas, Jagged, and Teakettle. Generally, the high thirteeners involved more route finding than the fourteeners, where climbing routes are much more heavily traveled and tend to be more clearly marked.

Q: How would you compare the danger of climbing the 14ers verses the danger of climbing the Highest Hundred?
I think the danger is generally greater on the high thirteeners because most of the fourteeners have trails or well-defined routes. But overall, the most dangerous part of climbing fourteeners or thirteeners is driving to and from the trailhead.

I was scared when I climbed Maroon Peak and Pyramid, but I was quite inexperienced at the time I climbed those mountains. Capitol Peak was my final fourteener. I was also quite scared when I climbed it, but I did it solo in an autumn snowstorm. The rock on the Kilpacker Basin side of El Diente was rotten. I fell and hurt one of my legs there. Later I was afraid of falling when I downclimbed a fourth class section of the standard route on Dallas Peak and when I free soloed Jagged. I nearly fell while downclimbing the crux on Jagged. The closest that I ever came to dying on a peak climb was when I went on a Colorado Mountain Club trip to Teakettle Mountain. I had no trouble with the lower fifth class summit climb, but our trip leader was extremely slow. For the descent, he had us go down a wretched loose rock slope. Three of us who were faster hikers went on ahead, while the other three people far behind us kept knocking streams of rock loose, sending them bounding down the slope. I tried to stay as far to the left as I could, but at one point, a bulge in the rock wall forced me out more into the line of fire. I waited until there was no rockfall to make my move around the bulge. Then I heard the climbers above me yelling Rock! Rock! I turned around to see a shower of rocks bounding down straight towards me. I started running to try to get out their path, but a rock nailed me squarely in the back, so hard that it knocked me down. I felt like I had been shot, and I was sure that I was about to die. Other rocks bounced around me on both sides. Still alive, I didn’t hesitate, but got up again to keep running until I was out of the rockfall path. Then I opened my backpack to see if my camera had been destroyed. It hadn’t. I figured that I had been protected from the impact by the extra clothing, including my jacket, which was stuffed inside my pack.

Q: In your opinion, what are the most beautiful centennial peaks?
Cathedral Peak was a spectacular backdrop for a 4^th of July hike of Electric Pass Peak. The towers on the ridge between Cathedral and Electric Pass were impressive, and the meadows were filled with a rainbow assortment of wildflowers. Wham Ridge on Vestal Peak, Apostle North, Ice Mountain, Organ Mountain and Jagged Mountain also stand out as some of the most beautiful centennial peaks to me.

Q: During the time it took you to finish the centennials, did you ever have any moments of doubt?
Sure. I had serious doubts the first time I went to hike up Casco Peak. I was walking alone in a snowstorm with near zero visibility, but I kept plugging away, determined to get to the top. My doubts were confirmed when I finally reached the summit, wet and cold, to discover that the peak register said “Mount Champion.”

Q: What is the single most important piece of advice that you would give to someone just finishing the 14ers and thinking about doing the highest 100?
Always look on the bright side of life.

Q: Which group was more fun to climb, the 14ers or the centennials?
The centennials were more fun to climb because the routes were less developed and far fewer people were climbing them.

Q: What was your final centennial and why did you save it for last?
I saved Jupiter Mountain for last because it was the easiest centennial thirteener that I had left to climb by 2004. I wanted to climb it with my girlfriend, ride the narrow gauge railroad with her into Needleton, backpack with into Chicago Basin, and hike up Jupiter. However, she broke up with me last fall, so we didn’t climb Jupiter together. I put off climbing it for a little more than a year, until I hiked it alone on August 25, 2005.  It was the 152nd new ranked thirteener that I had climbed since June 7th as part of my “Homeless on the Range Expedition,” attempting to climb 200 new ranked Colorado thirteeners within a four month period. In my summit register entry on Jupiter, I wrote: “I dedicate this climb to my wonderful father. I love you, Dad!”

Q: Do you have any plans for future mountain lists?
In addition to the hundred highest, I have been to the highest point of every county in Colorado and hiked up all the ranked summits over 11,500 feet in the area covered by Gerry and Jennifer Roach’s guidebook to the Lost Creek Wilderness Area. So far, I have climbed 200 out of Colorado’s 202 highest summits, so I might try to complete that list some day. I hope that some day will be September 18th, when I have signed up for a climb of Pilot Knob. I have now climbed 459 of the 637 ranked Colorado summits over 13,000 feet, including 157 as of August 31st on my Homeless on the Range Expedition. Eventually, I would like to finish the thirteener list, assuming that I don’t get attacked and eaten by a roving band of cannibalistic cartographers in the meantime. I don’t plan to continue with the twelvers, but I would like to hike the entire Colorado Trail, either by segments or as a through hike. I am also interested in hiking at least the Colorado section of the Continental Divide Trail. Sometimes, I entertain grandiose fantasies of walking or bicycling across Canada or Europe.