Craft brewers climb Bierstadt in first event of conference, beer week

Thirst Staff Reports

River North Brewery is kicking off a week and a half of craft beer celebrations on a high note. The brewers are inviting anyone in the craft beer industry to join them on a hike to the top of Mount Bierstadt on Wednesday, Sept. 8.

Plenty of out-of-town brewers will be in Denver for the Craft Brewers Conference, which also begins Wednesday, and for Denver Beer Week, which officially starts on Friday, Sept. 10. River North is hoping to break a record for the most brewers on top of a 14er drinking a beer.

However, even an “easy” hike up a 14er can be a serious physical challenge, especially for those visiting from lower altitudes. Click here for more details on the hike, and some warnings and recommendations about hiking 14ers.

The Next Summit ranks Bierstadt as the 11th most challenging climb among the 58 fourteeners in Colorado, grouping it as a Class 2 peak, largely for a short scramble near the peak on the main route.

And lest you think “most brewers on top of a fourteener drinking beer” is a random record to achieve, raise a glass to perhaps the strangest way anyone has summited a 14er. According to the Manitou Springs Heritage Center, Bill Williams spent about three weeks in 1929 using his nose to push a peanut all the way up Pikes Peak. Singer Ulysses Baxter repeated the feat in just 9 days in 1963, to much greater international fame.

In other fourteener accomplishments:

Seth James DeMoor ran the 3.6-mile route up Mount Bierstadt, with more than 2,500 feet of elevation gain, in a record-breaking 47 minutes in 2018 (which probably didn’t leave much time for chatting with his fellow hikers, as the brewers are more likely to do).
Eric Lee included Mt. Bierstadt in his record 11 fourteener summits in 24 hours.
Andrew Hamilton was the first person to summit on all 58 mountains in one winter, and he holds the summer speed record, having once summited all the mountains in less than 10 days. He also holds the speed record for the highest 100 peaks in Colorado.
Danelle Ballengee holds the female record for a supported climb of the whole list (14½ days).

Back to that Bierstadt beer hike, email katie@rivernorthbrewery.com for more information or to sign up. Finally, we’ll leave you with a tune by that rockabilly star and peanut pusher Ulysses Baxter.