On Colorado Day, Aug. 1, 2026, SLV GO! Executive Director Mick Daniel led a team up Blanca Peak and Ellingwood Point in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, part of Colorado’s statewide Sesquisemiquincentennial (150-250) 14er climb. The event marked 150 years of Colorado statehood and 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, echoing the original 1976 Centennial 14er Climb.
More than 500 climbers across the state summited Colorado 14ers this year in an event organized by the Colorado 150 Commission, the Colorado Office of Outdoor Recreation Industry, and the Colorado Mountain Club, with a focus on conservation and Leave No Trace practices in place of the souvenir-taking encouraged in 1976.
The San Luis Valley team started the climb at 5 a.m., having camped overnight at Lake Como, reaching Blanca’s 14,351-foot summit by 8 a.m. under clear skies before continuing to Ellingwood Point’s 14,057-foot summit by 10 a.m. This allowed the summit team to beat an afternoon lightning forecast by just a few hours. For Mick, a former search-and-rescue team member who once led student climbs at Adams State University, the ascent was a full-circle return to a route he knows well.
