Mountaineer Toni Taylor beginning the pre-dawn climb of her final Centennial, Trinity Peak, with Vestal Peak in the background. Courtesy photo

BY WILLIAM PRIEDHORSKY
Los Alamos Mountaineers

At the Sept. 24 Mountaineers meeting, Toni Taylor will describe her journey to climb the Centennial Peaks in Colorado. These are the 100 (actually 101) highest peaks in the state,
ranging from 14,438-foot Mt. Elbert to just above 13,800 feet, and stretching from just north of the New Mexico border to the northernmost summit, Long’s Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park. Long’s Peak was in fact Toni’s first Colorado ‘14er’ summit, in 1984. With her husband, Stuart Trugman, she finished climbing all the 14ers in 2002 and continued to reclimb many of these peaks with her children, Anna and Daniel, until they both climbed all of them as well. Toni and Stuart then started to climb the Centennials, with Toni finally finishing the last in September 2023. In addition to lots of photos and stories of these climbs, Toni will provide helpful tips (mostly learned the hard way through experience) for those considering undertaking this challenge.

Toni Taylor lives in Los Alamos where she recently retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory. She enjoys hiking, climbing, mountaineering, canyoneering, cross country skiing, and backpacking. In addition to climbing the Centennials, Toni has climbed high peaks in Wyoming, Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia and Nepal. Toni has been involved with the leadership of the Los Alamos Mountaineers (LAM) for the past several years, including serving as Secretary, Vice-President and President. In 2024, she served as Past-President and as the coordinator for the LAM climbing school.

The Mountaineers welcome all to their meeting on the regular fourth Tuesday of the month. The social hour, with cookies, begins at 6:45 PM and the program at 7:00 PM. The presentation will be streamed at Los Alamos Nature Center; the slides will be live- streamed on Zoom. Registration (free) is required to Zoom and recommended for in-person – we would love to see your smiling face. Registration for in-person and on-line participation is at
https://peecla.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/peecla/event.jsp?event=55923&.