For the first time in 40 winters, Julie Holmes must abandon her isolated home high on Guanella Pass because Clear Creek County officials decided not to plow the winding mountain road from Georgetown.
“I don’t like the idea of being forced from my home, but there doesn’t seem to be much of a choice,” the 63-year-old widow said from her modest cabin, which sits 11,200 feet above sea level, just inside the county line.
“Right now, I can get in and out, but last week we had a storm and they had to come and get me, as a one-time deal. So I guess it’s time to batten down the hatches here and leave,” she said, adding that sometime in the next few days she will pack up a few key personal possessions and her two dogs and move to a friend’s house in the Denver area.
The matter came to a head last week, when county commissioners determined they could no longer afford the estimated $75,000 cost to keep Guanella Pass Road open from the winter closure at Naylor Lake to Holmes’ house a few miles farther up, said chairman Kevin O’Malley.
“I wish there was a way. But the idea of continuing to do it is not something we can justify,” he said.
Among other concerns, officials said, they want to avoid a recurrence of last winter, when snowplows caused $30,000 in damage to new guardrails installed by the Federal Highway Administration as part of a major improvement project.
“All of the roads need more than they can get,” O’Malley said. “It’s real difficult to look somebody else in the eye and say, ‘Well, I can’t justify spending another $10,000 or $12,000 or $40,000 in your area but I can justify spending $80,000 to get to one home.”‘
Holmes said she understands the economics behind the decision, but she contends that keeping the pass open has many other benefits.
“I see what their point is, but I think the commissioners are making a mistake from an economic standpoint, because I firmly believe that a lot of people would use this road all winter,” she said, noting the route’s popularity for winter recreation and day trips.
Guanella Pass, at 11,669 feet, is a popular jumping-off point for high peaks such as Mount Bierstadt, one of the state’s most accessible 14,000-foot peaks, attracting thousands of hikers each year – primarily in summer.
“It will have some impact on us,” said Steve Bonowski, who spearheads the Colorado Mountain Club’s access committee. “We have several climbs of Bierstadt and Square Top over the winter, and if people can’t get up there easily, those trips might not go.”
Just this past week, Norman Hunter Jr. of Woodland Park and his adult son, David, had planned to camp near the pass and climb nearby Gray Wolf Mountain.
“If the road is open, it’s really a very attractive winter playground,” Hunter said.
But just outside of Holmes’ cabin, the Hunters encountered the berm of snow marking the current closure on the Park County side, a couple of miles below the pass.
As they turned their vehicle around in her driveway, she characteristically came out to greet them, welcomed them in for a cup of coffee and invited them to stay in one of the empty cabins on her property, which they then used as a base camp.
Such hospitality is not uncommon for Holmes, a well-known local personality and former county employee.
“Julie is a longtime resident … and she’s well-loved by people in Clear Creek County,” O’Malley said. “And that, in truth, probably had some impact on why the road has been kept open as long as it has.”
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
