Susan Joy Paul went for her first hike at the ripe old age of 43 and never looked back. Soon after, she joined a small group of friends on a hike to the top of Colorado’s Pikes Peak. At 14,115 feet, it was Susan’s first experience with “high altitude” mountaineering, and she soon discovered that you don’t have to be young, or an athlete, or a man, to be a mountaineer.Susan then climbed all the peaks over 14,000 feet in Colorado. Along the way, she took courses in hiking, camping, high altitude mountaineering, rock and ice climbing, glacier travel, and international travel. She put everything she learned to good use, summiting over 600 peaks across the United States. Susan also enjoyed unguided, successful climbs on California 14ers Mount Whitney, Mount Russell, and White Mountain Peak, as well as glaciated Washington state highpoint Mount Rainier. In Wyoming, she trekked 50 miles in the Wind River Range, culminating in a successful summit of snow-capped 13,809’ Gannett Peak. In Mexico, she summited 17, 126’ glaciated volcano Iztaccihuatl and 18,405’ Pico de Orizaba, the highest point in the country. In 2009, she climbed in the Andes of Ecuador, hitting a personal altitude high on the 20,562’ Veintimilla summit of country highpoint Chimborazo.In the meantime, Susan shared her knowledge with others. She joined the Pikes Peak Chapter of the Colorado Mountain Club (CMC) where, as a Council Member, she assisted with the management and administration for that non-profit organization and was a volunteer Basic Mountaineering School instructor. Susan also wrote the lead articles for the monthly newsletter and in 2006 was awarded the CMC Service Award for increasing attendance to events by 35% through her newsletter contributions. Today, Susan continues to share her knowledge of the backcountry with thousands through her FalconGuides: Climbing Colorado’s Mountains, Touring Colorado Hot Springs Third Edition, Hiking Waterfalls in Colorado, and the upcoming Best Hikes the Colorado Front Range.
