EAGLE COUNTY — After Kris Schwietzer summited his first fourteener, the experience was so difficult and unpleasant that he swore he was done climbing. When Eric Alexander reached his first summit as a teenager, he didn't even know he was on top of a fourteener.

Yet both men, like many other mountain climbers in the area, caught the “fourteener bug” and went on to become avid mountaineers. The draw of Colorado's peaks, and especially it's “fourteeners,” or mountains higher than 14,000 feet, is strangely addicting.

Alexander, an Eagle-Vail resident, grew up climbing peaks with his church youth group, and went on to climb not only all of Colorado's fourteeners, but peaks around the world, including Everest.

On Schwietzer's first ascent, he said he was unprepared and suffered dehydration, altitude sickness, cramps and ran into an electrical storm. Still, two weeks later he found himself out to climb another one. That was 8 years ago, and this summer he hopes to complete all of Colorado's fourteeners.

Edwards resident Heather Jochl remembers her first fourteener, the Mount of the Holy Cross.

“It was not easy — it was really long,” she said. “I don't know what it was that got me hooked. It was the fact that when we went to the summit there was something about the view and being at the top of the mountain. There's nothing like it.”

Fourteener resources online Check out www.14ers.com for peak conditions, FAQs, suggested packing lists and more For a membership-based guide to Colorado's fourteeners, see www.14erworld.com.

What gets you to the top

Climbing a fourteener, according to climbers, is not a leisurely stroll on the trail. The trip often requires starting before or at sunrise, hiking for hours on end, and depending on the difficulty of the mountain and your route, some climbing and bouldering expertise.

So what's the appeal?

“Fourteeners can get you out in a variety of ways and get you to meet other people,” Alexander said. “Part of the appeal is that these are some of the highest mountains in the lower 48, and to know you are standing somewhere that many people don't get to go. You just get to take in the views and the thin air. Also, more than anything, mountains represent challenge to people.”

Some people, like Schwietzer, have a goal — he has four more peaks, Eolus, Sunlight and Windom in the San Juan Mountains, and Capital Peak, which he plans to save for last. Partly, he loves the challenge, both of meeting his overall goal, as well as pushing himself.

“I have a fear of heights, and I used climbing to get over that fear,” he said.

When he first started climbing he said he would often go alone, with his dog, as a way to remember his father, who passed away in 1995.

“I use climbing to connect with him more, and often that's why I'd climb by myself,” he said.

Others, like Edwards resident Kim Siedlaczek, said they love the social aspect of climbing. She was invited to climb some peaks three years ago and went because she didn't know many people in the area. Now, she regularly climbs with different groups and has already bagged six peaks this summer.

“You have four to six hours to hang out and talk to your friends. That's really the best part, and you can really get to know people,” she said. “I found that doing a fourteener with someone is the best way to make friends. Something about hiking really makes you cut out the chit chat and cut to the chase. And it's great because you don't have any of the distractions of TV, phones or computer.”

Alexander, who has climbed with world-class expeditions, on his own and with groups of all abilities, agrees that the relational aspect is a large part of climbing.

“It's all about my friends and the experience of the climb — and I'd say that motivation is still the same today,” he said.

Summit for a cause

Some have turned their quest to bag fourteeners into something bigger, using their climbs to raise awareness or benefit a cause. Alexander, who works with a variety of disabled athletes through mountain sports, recently guided a group of climbers with neurological disorders, ranging from brain tumors to epilepsy, to summit Mt. Lincoln.

It's fun to see people push themselves and not let their disability or sickness define their lives, he said.

Jochl said she would like to start climbing to raise awareness and money for human trafficking. She said became aware of the worldwide problem last year and felt compelled to take action. She was inspired by two British women who climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise awareness for the same cause.

“I thought, why can't we do that with the mountains we have here in Colorado?” Jochl asked. “Human trafficking is something that happens even in our own country, and I can't sit back and do nothing. For me to do a fourteener, it's great, and I feel good at the end of the day, but really what has it accomplished?”

Whatever your motivation, Alexander urges Coloradans to do some research, find someone who climbs to take you, and give mountaineering a try. The peaks are right in our backyard, he pointed out.

“I encourage people in Colorado who live here who say, ‘I want to go, but never have,' just to go get out there and do it,” he said. “Lives have been changed by climbing these peaks — people open themselves to relationships and challenging experiences.”