ABSTRACT

Recorded climbing in Colorado spans almost two centuries, and the Ute and Arapahoe Indians undoubtedly climbed mountains even earlier. Zebulon Pike was the first recorded individual to aspire to climb a Colorado peak in the sense of traditional mountaineering. Though the climb was a relatively straight forward hike, Stephen Long’s party experienced it as a tremendous adventure, and their ascent became known as “the first successful ascent by white men of a major mountain in the American West.” The program would continue with a hike up Flagstaff Mountain, and eventually progress to an ascent of a high peak in the vicinity of Brainard Lake. The official photographer of the Rocky Mountain Climbers Club was Ed Tangen, who worked with the cumbersome view camera and tripod of those days, recording the activities of the group from underneath his black cloth. In 1912, James Grafton Rogers of Denver started the Colorado Mountain Club.