If you’re up for the challenge, climbing one of Colorado’s 54 peaks higher than 14,000 feet can be exhilarating. If you’re not up for it, your trek can turn disastrous.
Hiking and climbing above tree line, as spectacular as it is, contains a host of potential hazards. In winter, dangers include extreme cold and avalanches. In summer, dangers still can include extreme cold as well as lightning strikes, heat exhaustion and hailstorms. In all seasons, there is the danger of falling rocks, dehydration, hypothermia and altitude sickness, including (though rarely) pulmonary and cerebral edemas. (Hardly sounds exhilarating but, trust us, it is.)
Given all of the potential problems, we see a real benefit in a plan by Pikes Peak Highway officials to charge hikers who take on that storied mountain and then call asking for rides down.
These aren’t people in actual distress who are seeking rescue, but those so ill-trained or ill-prepared that they can’t finish the trek. Because Pikes Peak is only one of two fourteeners with a road to the top, some climbers there have discovered an exit strategy at odds with the spirit of climbing and in dangerous contradiction to good sense.
According to a report in the Colorado Springs’ Gazette, PPH officials want to levy a $500-per-person charge against those who are uninjured yet call 911 for a ride down from the summit. (If the call were made during the toll road’s hours of operation, the fee would be $100.)
We’re not advocating any impediments to rescue efforts or changes to search-and-rescue operations. Rather, we hope the fees, if implemented, help send a message to potential hikers and climbers that they read up on what to expect and plan and train and equip accordingly — no matter where they trek.
Climbing Pikes Peak means at least a 27-mile round trip and an elevation gain of nearly 8,000 vertical feet. Other fourteeners are similarly demanding.
Yet all too often, we have seen individuals and entire families huffing up a high-country trail with little more than a bottle of water and summit fever. That’s asking for trouble. Experts suggest a long checklist of gear and supplies for those who wish to summit fourteeners, such as waterproof clothing, food and water, maps and navigation tools, first-aid kits and emergency shelter should an accident mean an overnight stay.
Part of the Pikes Peak plan is to post warnings and explanations about the fees at the trailhead.
It’s a message worth heeding.
