The head of the nonprofit Colorado Fourteeners Initiative will talk about ongoing and upcoming projects on Fourteeners in Southwest Colorado during a visit May 20 to Durango.
Executive Director Lloyd Athearn will give the latest on a project that will continue this summer near El Diente Peak and a project planned for 2016 on Mount Eolus.
“It’s kind of a farther corner of the state, and we don’t get down there that often,” Athearn said in a phone interview.
In the summer of 2014, the Fourteeners Initiative rerouted a 1.2-mile stretch of trail in the Lizard Head Wilderness that accesses El Diente Peak through Kilpacker Basin. Durango-based Southwest Conservation Corps provided workers, as did Colvig Silver Camps, Fort Lewis College and Western State College.
That project is 95 percent done, Athearn said, and the new section of trail will be opened up in June. Crews will continue trail work in the area until September.
Eolus is one of the Fourteeners in the Chicago Basin, commonly accessed via the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and a several-mile backpack. The Fourteeners Initiative did work in 2009 and 2010 on Sunlight and Windom, the other two Fourteeners in the basin.
He called the Chicago Basin area “one of the most logistically complicated areas where we work.”
In 2010 Athearn climbed Eolus, and the Fourteeners Initiative surveyed damage and took photos. In 2013 limited work was done. For 2016, the plan is to do a half-mile reroute to take the trail away from a fragile, loosely vegetated area onto a talus field where a more durable route can be created, Athearn said.
The Colorado Fourteeners Initiative works to protect the state’s 54 peaks over 14,000 feet high through work projects and education. Last summer, the initiative placed infrared sensors near the summits of seven Fourteeners to get a more accurate count of visitation.
In the San Juan Mountains, Fourteeners Redcloud, Sunshine and Handies all had infrared sensors. On a day in early August, the sensor on Redcloud counted more than 300 visitors near the summit. The average in July was about 90 on Redcloud/Sunshine and about 120 on Handies. Numbers dropped quite a bit in August.
Hiker numbers will help the Fourteeners Initiative with its Sustainable Trails Program now being developed. The program will track on-the-ground trail conditions and maintain a database that will help decide which peaks are in the greatest need for maintenance. The infrared sensors give more reliable counts than other methods, such as trail registers or volunteer head counts.
johnp@durangoherald.com
This story was changed from its original version to correct outdated information taken from the 14ers.org website.
If you go
Lloyd Athearn, executive director of the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, will talk about upcoming projects in Southwest Colorado from 5 to 6:30 p.m. May 20 at Backcountry Experience, 1205 Camino del Rio. Fourteeners Initiative sponsor Osprey Packs, with Backcountry Experience and Trails 2000, is providing food, a band and a cash bar at the event.
