Red Peak & East Red
Red, East Red and East East Red offer some of the best skiing around. Although these peaks are close to Silverthorne, you will have to put in some work to reap their rewards.
What's In A Name: East Red or Pink?
I was talking with my friend Jason Kilgore over beers one evening and mentioned that I was hoping to ski Pink Peak. Jason wasn't familiar with the name Pink and asked "don't you mean East Red?"
When I asked my friend Brandon Chalk about it he had only heard the name Pink from me.
Both of these guys have been doing extensive missions in the Gore for a long time... so this started me off on a mini research project. What should be the "official" unofficial name of Pink / East Red?
The first place I looked was in Joe Kramarsic's 1989 book, "Mountaineering in the Gore Range". I found no mention of either Pink or East Red.
From there, I reached out to Joe himself.
Joe told me that East Red, and East East Red were names applied in the 1990's by climbers and skiers on the Red Peak massif and went on to say...
"I am a history guy, and names should follow local climbing traditions and usage. In addition, Red Peak, "Pink Peak", and East East Red seems totally awkward. It will always be Red Peak, East Red and East East Red in my mind and usage".
Joe later confirmed with Stan Wagon that the names East Red and East East Red were being used in the 1990's.
In 1995, Stan traversed the Red Diamond Ridge connecting Red and East Red. At that time they had long been using the names East Red and East East Red. So East Red would then predate "Pink Peak" by many years.
After learning about East Red's history from Joe, I reached out to John Kirk of LoJ to inquire about the source of the name 'Pink Peak'.
John responded that a Gerry Roach guidebook published in the early 2000s refers to East Red as 'Pink Peak'.
However we have not been able to find the name Pink in print from this time period.
Gerry's "Colorado's Thirteeners", 2001 edition does not have a Twelvers list, however the second edition in 2018 does, with "Pink Peak", 12,945' with a 285-foot prominence. In the 12er notes Roach writes, "We have introduced nicknames for a few summits and contributed to the notes."
Joe then mentioned that "Gerry is well known for applying names to peaks and since he climbed 12,945', I have no doubt the "Pink Peak" name came from Gerry Roach. When he climbed 12,945' is unknown but it was probably early in the 2000's. Whenever he climbed 12,945' is when "Pink Peak" started appearing on his website".
So in conclusion, while "Pink" is a more colorful name, it is tough to ignore the local history of the East Red name established by Summit County locals and Gore Range OGs such as Joe Kramarsic and Stan Wagon.
