Nolan's 14

60 Hours
100 Miles on Foot
14 Summits over 14,000 Feet
90,000 Vertical Feet
15% Finish Rate

Nolan's 14 is a run over the 14 summits over 14,000 ft. in Colorado's Sawatch Range, from Mt. Massive to Mt. Shavano in either direction. You can choose your own route between summits, but the most practical routes have been estimated to be 88 to 106 miles with 44,000 ft. of climb. Cutoff is 60 hours to the last summit. Course Description and Maps

This is not a race. Anyone may climb the Nolan's 14 route at any time of year, and these records will be recognized. The object is to climb as many 14ers as you can, traveling on foot, in 60 hours. Runners (and crew if you have one) must follow all wilderness regulations. For instance, group size is limited to 15. No course markings may be used. Food and water may not be stashed on the course. Trash must be packed out. Crew access is either on roads outside the wilderness, or is backpacked in. No entry fee is charged. Where did the name come from?

Entry

The previously scheduled event for 2003 has been cancelled and no events are planned for the future. If you run the Nolan's 14 course on your own and would like your name listed here, email Matt Mahoney at matmahoney@yahoo.com. You may also send a trip report and a link to photos and I will post it. You may complete the summits in any order and don't have to finish all 14 of them.

The Rules

No pacers.
No mechanical aid (walking sticks and GPS are allowed).
No leaving the course and returning unless by foot.
The time limit for an official finish is 60 hours.

There are no DNFs (Did Not Finish). (A finish is defined in terms of the number of 14,000+ foot peaks summitted in 60 hours, or the time elapsed in completing the course in 60 hours or less. Someone not reaching at least one summit is considered a DNS or Did Not Start.) You may complete the summits in any order and may use any route you want (on foot) between summits.

Elevation profile and suggested route (13 MB JPEG map) by Tom Lauren.

To join the Nolan's 14 mailing list, enter your email address below. To post messages, send to nolans14@yahoogroups.com

Mile 41, Mt. Huron, east basin, 26 hours.

Mile 44, Mt. Missouri, west face.

Mile 45, Mt. Missouri, northwest ridge.

Mile 51, traverse from Oxford to Harvard.

Mile 55, ridge from Harvard to Columbia.

Mile 64, Mt. Yale, north ridge.

Mile 80, Mt. Princeton, northeast ridge.

Mile 81, Mt. Princeton, west ridge, 56 hours.

2002 Run Photos

2001 Run Photos

Race day - Elbert through Princeton
Elbert
Huron
Harvard, Columbia
Yale
Princeton
Antero
Tabeguache, Shavano

2000 Run photos

Massive, Elbert, La Plata
Huron
Missouri
Belford, Oxford
Harvard, Columbia
Yale
Princeton
Antero, Tabeguache, Shavano

1999 Results
Aug. 27-29, 1999, Angel of Shavano Campground to Mt. Massive (south to north). 1999 Run Details
Summits Gordon Hardman 7 (Harvard) Blake Wood 7 Fred Vance 7 Steve Simmons 4 (Princeton)

2000 Results
Aug. 12-14, 2000, Fish Hatchery to Mt. Shavano summit (north to south). 2000 Run Details
Summits Blake Wood 11 (Princeton) Matt Mahoney 10 (Yale) Eric Robinson 9 (Columbia) Gordon Hardman 3 (La Plata) Jim Nolan 1 (Massive) Joe Florio 1

2001 Results

Aug 16-18, 2001, Fish Hatchery to Mt. Shavano (north to south). Times are for the Mt. Shavano summit and Blank Cabin finish with 60 hour cutoff. Results to appear in Ultrarunning. 2001 Run Details.
Runner #14'ers Time Finish Mike Tilden 14 56:22 58:51 Blake Wood 14 57:55 59:38 John Robinson 14 57:55 60:00 Jim Nelson 14 59:07 62:09 Ginny LaForme 11 55:26 Eric Robinson 11 56:57 Steve Bremner 11 57:50 Matt Mahoney 11 61:15 Dennis Herr 10 52:30 Hans Dieter Weisshar 9 58:27 Stephen Simmons 7 52:48 Simon Shadowlight 7 56:00

2002 Results

Aug. 22-24, 2002, south to north (Blank Cabin to Fish Hatchery)
Runner #14'ers Last summit Finish John Robinson 14 52:42 54:57 Eric Robinson 13 56:37 Ginny LaForme 12 54:41 Betsy Kalmeyer 12 58:58 Matt Mahoney 11 57:06 Bobby Keogh 11 58:56 Stephen Simmons 11 59:00 Rickie Redland 9 51:26 Richard Hypio 7 40:18 Tim Erickson 5 47:24 Dennis Herr 4 17:20 Dennis Hopkins 2 3:04 Don Mosel 2 3:05
Report by Eric Robinson
Report by Tim Ericson
Report by Matt Mahoney
Report by Steve Simmons

2003 Trip Reports
No race was held in 2003. However, some people attempted the course on their own. If you would like your trip report posted here, post it to the Nolans 14 mailing list or send it to matmahoney@yahoo.com.
Report by Eric Robinson (11 summits)
Report by Ginny LaForme (9 summits)
Report by Hans Dieter Weisshaar (9 summits)
Report by Steve Bremner (3 summits)
Report by Kris Kern (3 summits)

2004 Trip Reports

Report by Fred Vance (4 summits)

2007 Trip Reports

Report by Mike Wood (3 summits)

2008 Trip Reports

Report by Eric Lee (4 summits, Shavano to Princeton)

2009 Trip Reports

Report by Eric Lee 5 summits, Shavano to Yale on Sept. 5, 2009. Stepahie Ehret, Steve McClung, and Fritjof Fagerlund made the first 3 summits (to Antero).
2010 Trip Reports

Report by GreenHorn, July 27, 2010. 2 summits (Shavano to Tabeguache).
2011 Trip Reports

Report by Eric Lee, Sept. 3-4, 2011. 9 summits (Massive to Columbia) in 34:37. Photos.
Article in Out There Colorado.
The Runners

Gordon Hardman, 49, of Boulder CO, has finished Hardrock 7 times, with a best time of 33:59:55 (6'th place) in 1996. Two of these finishes (9'th and 14'th place) resulted in being hospitalized overnight with high altitude pulmonary edema.
Blake Wood, 41, of Los Alamos NM, has finished the Hardrock 100 7 times, including first place in 1999 in 30:10:58. In 2000 he completed 90 miles of the Barkley, the second furthest distance achieved by anyone since 1985, before being turned around by a raging river after two days of rain. In 2001 he finished Barkley in 58:21 with David Horton, only the second and third people to finish in over 400 attempts. He has experience in 24 hour orienteering events and multi-day trail runs.
Fred Vance originated the Nolan's 14. In 1998 he ran Barkley, Hardrock, and Badwater in a single year. After suffering pulmonary edema at Hardrock, which slowed him to an unofficial 51:38 finish, he recovered to finish Badwater 4 days later, running 135 miles from Death Valley to the Mt. Whitney portals in 46:34, 10'th place, in temperatures up to 129 F.
Steve Simmons, 34, WV, ran Hardrock in 40:57:57 (19'th) in 1998, two weeks after finishing the Western States 100. His training for Hardrock included swimming in a partially frozen lake at 13,000 ft.
Matt Mahoney, 46, of Melbourne FL, finished Hardrock 3 times with a best time of 42:17:42 (32'nd) in 2000.
Eric Robinson, 31, of Berkeley CA, finished Hardrock twice with a best time of 36:59:03 (23'rd) in 1999. In Dec. 1999 he ran 306 miles in a 6 day race.
Jim Nolan is not a runner, but has climbed all 54 peaks over 14,000 feet in Colorado, and determined that the most peaks it is possible to summit in 100 miles is 14.
Joe Florio worked at a backcountry aid station in 1999 and climbed three of the 14 summits on the course.
Mike Tilden, 35, of Utah won Nolans 14 in 2001, running from the Fish Hatchery to the summit of Shavano in 56:22. He has finished the Hardrock 100 twice with a best time of 34:39 (17'th) in 2000.
John Robinson, OR, ran Hardrock in 35:28 (18'th) in 2001, 3 weeks after running 19:48 (13'th) at the Western States 100.
Jim Nelson, 41, UT, has finished Hardrock twice with a best time of 30:43 in 2000 (4th overall).
Ginny LaForme, 51, of Espanola NM finished Hardrock twice with a best time of 46:17 (54'th) in 1999. She has finished the Eco Challenge in 8 1/2 days. She is a rock climbing instructor and former nationally ranked weightlifter.
Steve Bremner has climbed most of the 54 14,000 ft. peaks in Colorado (see www.crosswinds.net/~stevebremner/fourteeners.htm).
Dennis Herr, 54, VA, has fininshed Hardrock 3 times with a best time of 33:37 (2'nd) in 1992. In 1993 he slept 9 hours on the course and still finished 6'th in 35:52.
Hans Dieter Weisshaar, 61, of Germany finished Hardrock in 45:23 (49'th) in 2000, one of 20 100 mile races completed that year at age 60.
Simon Shadowlight worked at the Pine Creek aid station in 2000.
Betsy Kalmeyer set a course record 29:58 at Hardrock.