Erik Weihenmayer and his climbing party top a ridge on Wilson Peak. Photo: Ryan Ross

The world's premier blind mountaineer joins TPL's effort to protect access to one of Colorado's grand "fourteeners."

By Joshua Zaffos

We catch our breath at 13,000-foot Rock of Ages Pass, a high-country saddle that separates two drainage basins along the rocky trail up 14,017-foot Wilson Peak, about ten miles from the chic mountain town of Telluride. After a grueling hike that began before daybreak—several hours earlier and 3,000 feet below—our party of sixteen climbers enjoys a breather and a sweeping vista of the San Miguel Mountains of southwestern Colorado.