Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA

© Andrew R. Slaton/Tandem Stills + Motio

Purple mountain majesties. Rocky Mountain National Park, USA

Longs Peak reaches higher than any other mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park at 14,259ft (4,346m) and each year, thousands of climbers set off to attempt the summit. It is one of 53 ‘fourteeners’ - mountains which exceed 14,000ft - in the US state of Colorado. Some climbers will try to reach the peak of every fourteener in the USA during their lifetimes- that’s 96 different mountains.

Once the home of the Ute and Arapaho peoples, then silver miners and mountain men, today Rocky Mountain National Park teems with outdoor enthusiasts of every stripe. Birdwatchers, cyclists and hikers give way to snowshoers, skiers and snowboarders as the seasons change. The park is full of wildlife, including nearly 70 kinds of mammals and almost 300 species of bird.