"My first 14er! Lots of folks at the trailhead on a Tuesday in June, but most of them were headed to the taller and more popular Mt. Harvard. About six of us peaked Mt. Columbia separately, and we all ended up meeting at the top. I was by far the oldest, and going down was hard on my aged knees! (Trekking poles are a must if you're over 50!) Most people avoid this 14er because much of the trail used to get lost in scree. Not much you can do about the scree, but whoever maintains this trail has done a great job in recent years of erecting cairns to mark the way through the confusing parts. " — briansnyder • Jun 28, 2022

"Oh man! This was an epic! After a poor night of sleep (and a 7k ft gain day 2 days prior), we decided to do the Harvard/Columbia traverse. We were slow moving in the morning due to the lack of sleep, but we started early enough that we were arriving at Harvard around the same time as the rest of the world. After a short break, we continued on to Columbia. At first, it wasn't too bad, but then we came to the part where you have to descend to/below 12,800 ft. The descent was steep and unpleasant, but what came next was the worst - the talus filed from hell! We were already exhausted, but had to cross, then climb this ridiculously large talus field. It was the slowest and most dejected that either of us felt on the whole trip, but we kept moving. Eventually, we reached the summit of Columbia about 13 hours after we started (lol). We were joined by another group that was lucky enough to be camped below and had family waiting with dinner. Our time at the summit with them was pleasant, but we had to push on. The descent of Columbia was also slow. The upper part of the trail was super steep and we were sliding quite a bit. Luckily, CFI (Colorado Fourteeners Initiative) has be..." — Kevin • Sep 6, 2020

"Started out from basecamp at the Horn fork basin at 0645hrs. Excellent weather. Extreme wind for 75% of the hike. However beautiful views in all directions. Total time to summit from base camp was exactly 2 hours. " — jouv236 • Sep 23, 2018

"The traverse to Columbia turned this into a near epic. Snow and ice on half the route on the north slopes of Columbia with nothing holding me. Had to drop an extra 1000' to gain some solid rock and avoid the sketchy ice. Made for a rough 13 hour day. " — Christopher • Jun 13, 2017

"Mountain 2 of 2 for the day. We continued on the ridge over from Mount Harvard. When I first researched this hike I was under the impression that this was a long but fairly easy class 2 ridge traverse that took you straight to Mount Columbia. Most of it was indeed fairly easy and straight forward. The surprise came in the final section before you start ascending Mount Columbia. Rather than continuing on the ridge which becomes very technical, you drop down into the valley on the east side losing all the altitude that you had gained from climbing Mount Harvard. You basically end up starting from scratch, and that's not even the worst part of having to go down into the valley! The path down to the valley is a very steep and lose scree shoot that goes straight down to a very long and tedious boulder field. Although this doesn't up the technical rating of the climb beyond class 1 or 2, it vastly raised the difficulty, danger, and potential for injury well beyond what your would typical associate with climbs of that rating. Be prepared to slip and fall a lot on the way down, and be very wary of knocking lose rocks down on your climbing companions! We vastly underestimated the time it wo..." — IanWright • Aug 26, 2015

"The traverse from Harvard was not what I was expecting. It took much longer than we thought it would. The peak has a wind break which would be nice if you get up early, however, we were in a hurry due to weather. Luckily we had no lightening but the rain/snow got pretty cold quickly. Be prepared and be confident in your footing going down. The nature of the trail down could be very dangerous if exhaustion is a factor." — DaniB • Aug 26, 2015