In your experience, where are the biggest, most rugged mountains?

[Jbrow327]

In the USA, but outside of Alaska, where are the biggest, most rugged mountains you've been through?

 

[Sled]

Himalayas. I haven't spent time there but work with quite a few that have.

 

[justin davis]

Needles Colorado

 

[Customweld]

Definitely not the biggest. But the most desolate, isolated and ass kicker I’ve experienced is in the heart of the FCW. I’m sure there are many more, but this mine.

 

[squirrel]

roughest Needles in CO

Biggest absaroka beartooths Montana

But lots I haven't been too! How did I get so old so fast?

 

[HuntWyld]

FRANK

 

[Jbrow327]

Definitely not the biggest. But the most desolate, isolated and ass kicker I’ve experienced is in the heart of the FCW. I’m sure there are many more, but this mine.

FCW?

 

[HoneyDew]

FCW?

Frank church wilderness

 

[ozyclint]

West coast NZ tahr country. Steeper than any sheep or mountain goat country I've seen in photos.
Takes a long time to move around that country.

 

[Scoot]

Lots of people apparently need a geography lesson!

"In the USA, but outside of Alaska...*

 

[Yoder]

Here in PA I've been up a few that were pretty close to 1000 ft. It's not for everyone, takes a special kind of person.

 

[WeiserBucks]

There's more than a few places in Hells Canyon that'll make you question your sanity.

 

[Customweld]

I

There's more than a few places in Hells Canyon that'll make you question your sanity.

Indeed. Hells Canyon is straight up (pun intended) miserable!

 

[WeiserBucks]

I

Indeed. Hells Canyon is straight up (pun intended) miserable!

It's kinda my back yard and we hunt some portion of it every year like a couple of mental handicap Idiots.

 

[tdhanses]

Here in PA I've been up a few that were pretty close to 1000 ft. It's not for everyone, takes a special kind of person.

I can tell you haven’t been to the Flint Hills in KS, definitely at the top of the list.

 

[dutch_henry]

Great thread. I'd humbly suggest the biggest and the most rugged are two quite different categories.

The Siskiyous in Oregon aren't the biggest. Or most rugged. But they're worth a shout-out because navigation there can be a trick. Unlike a lot of US ranges (Rockies, Appalachians), they're not the result of techtonic collisions, and so they don't run an organized north-south. The jumbles and folds make them feel bigger and more remote than they maybe are.

 

[FlyGuy]

While Not the biggest/tallest mtns, the most rugged ones I’ve ever encountered were the Florida (fla-REE-da) mtns in Southern NM. Also known as “the Rock”. I Spent 6 days in there in 2020 chasing Ibex with a bow and it was STRESSFUL! I heard that ~ 1 hunter dies each year from falls. The hunt regs even suggest using “professional climbing gear”. In addition to that it’s 100% cactus and thorns, there’s zero water, incredibly high winds all day, and it’s chock full of rattlesnakes and cougars.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Kevin_t]

San Juans in Colorado for the lower 48 or NW Volcanoes, or Death Valley area. Canadian Rockies , if just no Alaska ... if including Alaska .. well ..

It's also what is biggest, purest elevation change ? Vastness ? Amount of tall peaks ?(that is where the san Juans win ) ...

Arguments could also be made for Scapegoat / BM / Glacier. Frank Church , Death Valley area.

Death Valley Telescope peak is over 11K of vertical from the valley below .. and the peaks and ridges on the other side of the valley are just sick.

I have not spent any real time in Absoraka / Beartooth so I have a bit of a blind spot there.

 

[IdahoElk]

Sawtooths in idaho

 

[MallardSX2]

Frank