Mount Belford: The Sawatch triple-summit day

Mount Belford is the central peak of one of the most-popular triple-14er linkups in Colorado: Belford + Oxford + Missouri Mountain. From a single trailhead at Missouri Gulch, climbers can tag all three summits in a long day — about 12 miles round-trip with 6,000 feet of gain. Most parties just do Belford and Oxford, leaving Missouri Mountain for a separate day; the strong commit to all three.

The peak at a glance

• Elevation: 14,203 ft (4,329 m)
• Rank in Colorado: 20th of 56 peaks above 14,000 ft
• Range: Sawatch Range — Collegiate Peaks
• County: Chaffee County
• Coordinates: 38.9606° N, 106.3608° W
• Standard route: Northwest Ridge from Missouri Gulch (Class 2) — 8 mi RT solo or 11 mi as Belford-Oxford traverse
• Public land: San Isabel National Forest

How Mount Belford got its name

The peak was named for James Belford, a Colorado attorney and U.S. congressman from the territory's first delegation in the 1870s. The naming dates to mining-era records; the peak appears as Belford in the Hayden Survey's catalog.

The standard route

From the Missouri Gulch trailhead off Clear Creek Road south of Granite, the trail climbs through aspen and old mining ruins to the upper basin, then ascends Belford's northwest ridge on a steady Class 2 line. The Oxford traverse adds about 1.5 miles round-trip from Belford's summit.

When to climb

The Colorado fourteener climbing season is short. The standard window runs from late June through mid-September — after the snow has melted off the trail and before the first serious autumn storm. Outside that window, you're committing to a winter ascent: snow travel, avalanche assessment, post-holing through drifts, and route-finding without a visible trail.

Inside the window, the rule that has saved more Colorado lives than any other is be off the summit by noon. Afternoon convective storms build over the high peaks almost daily in July and August. Lightning is the leading weather killer in the Rockies. Plan for a pre-dawn start — most experienced climbers leave the trailhead between 4:00 and 5:30 AM.

Where it sits

What climbers wish they'd known

The trailhead road is passenger-car friendly. Missouri Gulch is one of the better-accessed Sawatch trailheads.

Before you go

A 14er is a long, exposed day at altitude. Read these first if you haven't already:

• Planning your first multi-day backpacking trip — same logistics apply to a long single-day summit push.
• How to choose the right trail difficulty — converting class ratings into honest fitness estimates.
• Leave No Trace, in one minute — alpine tundra heals on a geological clock. Stay on the trail.

Looking for the standard route on the map? Browse Colorado trails on the Outdoors App or jump to the Near Me view if you're already in-state.

If you liked this peak

• Mount Oxford — the traverse partner
• Missouri Mountain — the third summit
• Mount Harvard — the Collegiate high point

Hero photograph: View of Mount Belford in the Sawatch Range, Colorado. by Hogs555, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.