VISITORS

west of Buena Vista, which hosted 11,500 fewer hiker days, followed by the San Juans at 10,000 fewer hiker days. The Front Range peaks, including some of the most accessible fourteeners like Grays and Torreys, Mount Evans, and Mount Bierstadt, lost about 3,000 hiker days, while the Sangre de Cristos rounded out the losses with 1,500 fewer hiker days.

Athearn isn’t unsympathetic to the concerns of local communities.

In rural mountain towns, residents face the consequences of high visitor numbers— acutely felt in labor and housing prices — and a loss of the serenity that many moved there for in the first place. Last month, a report by Montana’s Headwaters Economics outlined the paradoxical challenges of living in a mountain town so plentiful with natural features that its allure brings in crushing numbers of visitors and second-home owners, thereby degrading the quality of life for locals. The report called this type of town an “amenity trap.”

Those fears carry over to natural spaces. The dialogue about “over-loved” natural resources is well-founded in Colorado, and many heavily trafficked areas have implemented strict permit systems to try to do some damage control.

What Athearn is wary of is the knee-jerk reaction by local communities who see more people and immediately want to regulate rather than invest in better infrastructure.

“Some people think we need to permit everything, but you have to think, who are the people that really benefit? People who have flexible schedules, who can book a trip six months in advance,” Athearn said. “What about someone who works a retail shift and might not know they can get out until the day before? Who are the people that will get access to public lands, versus those who will feel locked out or that the system is too Byzantine to navigate?”

With so much focus on diversifying public lands, and on reducing barriers to entry like cost, Athearn finds it strange that communities also want to start charging people for something that was traditionally free.

“We’re at this crosscurrent,” he said about the future of the fourteeners. “What do people actually want?”

This year, the heavy and latestaying snowpack is going to have an impact on the hiking season. That much CFI is expecting. Overlaid on those natural conditions are an increase in parking and reservation fees, and an increase of private land closures — more than

10% of the fourteener’s summits are on private land — due to liability issues. The way that those three forces will impact hiker numbers this year concerns Athearn.

“I worry that we’re going in this negative direction where people are just saying ‘there’s too much. Too many people, too many dogs, too much whatever, and so let’s just stop,’” Athearn said during a recent fourteener safety panel. “Is this a canary in the coalmine for our recreation-based economy?”

Another driver of what Athearn called the knee-jerk, “shut off the tap” reaction, is the fallacy that more people means more damage.

In 2015, CFI’s trail condition report card, an assessment that they conduct every four years, gave the Quandary Peak trail a C+. That year the trail hosted 18,000 people, according to the hiker use report. CFI used that information to prioritize the Quandary trail’s improvements. In 2018, the next iteration of the report card, the trail received an A-. It hosted 38,000 people that year.

“There were more than twice the amount of people on it, but the trail was better,” Athearn said. He emphasized that high numbers don’t necessarily mean high impact. “If you have a good trail, people are going to follow it like cattle. Nose to tail,” he said. “And that’s a good thing, right? That means they’re not going to be going off trail, picking flowers, damaging the ecosystem.”

Higher concentrations of visitors on popular peaks is also a boon for local search and rescue crews. “From a rescue standpoint, to go back up the same trail again to rescue someone with a broken ankle, it gets a little monotonous,” Jeff Sparhawk, executive director of

Colorado Search and Rescue, said. “But, if we had to go search for people all over the place, searches take a long time. And that’s volunteer time. That’s time away from work or time away from family.”

Sparhawk added that locals go wherever they want to go. They understand traffic patterns, and know where they can find solitude. The majority of rescues that COSAR conducts are for out-of-state visitors. Sparhawk hesitated to say it aloud, but added that keeping those travelers on a few consolidated peaks makes COSAR’s job easier.

Athearn recently had the opportunity to talk with climbers on Grays while a helicopter flew logs to the summit. While he was holding the foot traffic back, he asked where all of the climbers were from. “I recall only about five people from Colorado,” he said. “There was an extended family from St. Louis, a woman from Maryland, a man from Wisconsin, some people from Los Angeles, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee.”

Ultimately, Athearn encouraged Coloradans to think more broadly. “The thing that’s always hard for communities to understand is that these are our national forests and our national parks,” he said. “They may be located largely in the West, they may be in our backyards, but they’re really owned by all the people in the USA.” charges, equipment upgrades/add-ons, and certain other add’l fees & chrgs. See directv.com/directv-fees/ for additional information. $10/MO. AUTOPAY AND PAPERLESS BILL DISCOUNT: Must enroll in autopay & paperless bill within 30 days of TV activation to receive bill credit starting in 1-3 bill cycles (pay $10 more/mo. until discount begins). Must maintain autopay/paperless bill and valid email address to continue credits. DIRECTV SVC TERMS: Subject to Equipment Lease & Customer Agreements. All o ers, packages, programming, promotions, features, terms, restrictions and conditions and all prices and fees not included in price guarantee are subject to change without notice. Package, Advanced Receiver Service Fee, Regional Sports Fee (varies by zip code) and equipment fees for TV connections are included in two-year price guarantee. Taxes, surcharges, add-on programming (including premium channels), protection plan, transactional fees, and Federal Cost Recovery Fee are not included in two-year price guarantee. Some o ers may not be available through all channels and in select areas. Di erent o ers may apply for eligible multi-dwelling unit. Visit directv.com/legal/ or call for details. Access HBO Max through HBO Max app or hbomax.com with your DIRECTV log-in credentials. Visit directv.com to verify/create your account. Use of HBO Max is subject to its own terms and conditions, see hbomax.com/terms-of-use for details. Programming and content subj. to change. Requires account to stay in good standing. Upon cancellation of your video service you may lose access to HBO Max. If you cancel your service,

This story is from The Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support The Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun. com. The Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

BY CORINNE WESTEMAN CWESTEMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

For the nal game of its regular season, the Golden-based Colorado Summit was hoping to hand the New York Empire its rst loss since 2021.

However, the Empire players showed why they’re the reigning American Ultimate Disc League champions, dominating the second half to win 19-15.

About 2,000 fans packed into Colorado School of Mines’ Marv Kay Stadium for the July 14 game, intent on lifting the home team over its opponents. Summit supporters sported signs, noisemakers, jerseys and more to help give their team the biggest home eld advantage possible.

e Summit had a strong start, keeping pace in the rst quarter and taking a two-point lead in the second. However, the Empire’s secondhalf state of mind was too much for the Summit to handle. e visitors outscored the Summit 13-8 after half-