Living in northern Colorado offers amazing opportunities for mountain flying - the foothills right outside of Fort Collins (where I live) lead directly into the Rocky Mountains. There are 53 peaks in Colorado higher than 14,000’ which are known as fourteeners.

Considerations

I have read heavily and watched YouTube videos relating to good practices for mountain flying; I am a naturally cautious pilot and planned to use the capabilities of my airplane to take me well above the terrain I’d be crossing. If you came here to see someone skimming past mountain valleys, you’re in the wrong place! My plane is turbocharged and loves to climb fast on cold winter days; so I elected to go relatively high-up at more than 14,000’. Also, my plane has in-built O₂ ensuring I am legal with respect to high-altitude flying. Finally, I carry a pulse oximeter which helps confirm my blood oxygen level.

Weather

The weather was as close to perfection as you could ever wish to see. Not a cloud below 18,000’, winds calm in Fort Collins and Steamboat, and relatively light winds aloft. Although not an issue, I should note that it was cold, particularly in Steamboat Springs where it was -15ºC when I arrived.

The trip from Fort Collins to Steamboat

I prepped and departed Fort Collins at 9:22am and headed north-west towards the village of Rustic, CO on CO-14 which is the highway up through Poudre Canyon. As I progressed up the canyon, I could see that I was easily going to have sufficient altitude for the crossing at Cameron Pass so I turned towards it. There were some great mountain views of Long’s Peak (and more) off to my left hand side as I flew up the canyon:

Joe Wright Reservoir conveniently points towards Cameron Pass but I had been told (and had read) that the better alternative is a much wider ridge just to the north of the pass. The snowcapped ridge is visible at the upper right of this photo:

Here’s a photo as I was crossing the ridge:

Once past the ridge, I was able to descend before crossing Rabbit Ears Pass and entering the Yampa Valley. The KSBS airport was easy to spot towards the north of the valley and I set up for Runway 32 there.

After landing I taxiied over light snow to the ramp and went inside.

What a warm welcome!! The staff there were very friendly and we chatted for a while. They offered me a courtesy car to go have lunch in Steamboat but I had to be back home for lunchtime so had to decline; I will definitely be back however.

Returning home

After having a coffee and chatting some locals (including a fellow Irishman), I departed and climbed as I headed south through the valley before turning eastward. I had some truly spectacular views of the ski area in Steamboat:

With the tailwind and a slightly more direct route, I was back on the ground in Fort Collins a mere 45 minutes after takeoff; this is a drive of 3h30m without traffic.