Maryann Gaug is a Colorado native and the author of Hiking Colorado and Hiking Colorado’s Summit County Area (both FalconGuides). She writes for Cyberwest e-zine and for Summit County newspapers. Sandy Heise migrated to Colorado over 35 years ago to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder. She learned to rock climb in a Colorado Mountain Club (CMC) Basic Mountaineering School course and fell deeply in love with anything related to mountains. She eventually became a Senior Instructor for the same course and also lead day trips into the mountains near Boulder. She has also assisted with the CMC's Advanced Mountaineering School, teaching ice climbing and winter outdoor skills. Sandy has climbed 51 of Colorado's 54 official “fourteeners” (peaks over 14,000 feet high) and backpacked several sections of the Colorado Trail. She has explored mountain ranges around the world. At least once a week, you can find Sandy on a trail, mountain summit, rock face, frozen waterfall, or a pair of skis somewhere in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.