Of the 58 14ers in Colorado, 50 are on public lands and 8 are on private property. This private land looks different for each mountain. Some of them have mining claims that surround the summit. Others are completely located on private land. These mountains are: Mount Democrat, Mount Lincoln, Mount Bross, Mount Sherman, Mount Shavano, Mount Lindsey, Wilson Peak and Culebra Peak.
The public lands sell off proposed by Mike Lee would have put 26 of the 50 publicly owned 14ers into private hands, either by selling off the summit or the surrounding land, leaving citizens with no right of access.
No matter how you define the word mountain, I think we can agree that no one person or entity should be able to own one. Especially one of great cultural significance. In the context of Colorado that would mean our 14ers, and maybe even all the peaks in the Highest Hundred.
None of these mountains are “productive”. No one is growing food on them or generating any real revenues mining them - given that there is never any work being done on these 14ers. Allowing recreation on all of these summits would not financially impact any current owner.
Mike Lee and the Project 2025 goons initially proposed a massive sale of public land, and then back pedaled to say just some of the land around population centers. That may sound like a “win”, but it’s not. It’s how the ultra-wealthy and many politicians on the Right operate. They move the Overton Window by proposing or doing something so outlandish, that the result feels like a win, but really it’s a huge loss which ultimately benefits the instigator.
The left doesn’t do this well. The biggest Overton Window shift I can think of is “Medicare for All”. Bernie Sanders worked hard to push and push on that idea, and it seems to have stuck around now and become an expectation of voters, and something future candidates have to address.
“Power comes in two forms - organized people and organized money. Organized people always beat organized money - which is why organized money always seeks to disorganize people.” - Katal Center.
We, the people of Colorado, who hold the power, need to be intentional with how we advocate for our public lands. The ultra-rich are going to continue to try and take it from us. If they can’t sell it, then they’ll log it. Or they’ll mine it. Or they’ll lease it to themselves for a resort. Once it’s “undesirable” (aka destroyed) then maybe they can get lawmakers to sell it to them. There’s always a move.
There is a disclaimer on the 14ers website:
“Please respect private property: 14ers.com supports the rights of private landowners to determine how and by whom their land will be used. In Colorado, it is your responsibility to determine if land is private and to obtain the appropriate permission before entering the property.”
The conversations we have around access always revolve around “respecting private property”. What does that mean? Let’s look at Culebra Peak, which is completely on Cielo Vista Ranch. I’m singling this one out because it is the only one that charges you to hike it - $150. The owner of that ranch, William Harrison (a billionaire who inherited his money from his dad who made his money heating up the planet and drilling for oil) doesn’t seem to respect the property rights of the people that have a legal claim to the property he “owns”. The descendants of the original Spanish settlers were granted access to the property for hunting, gathering wood, and activities of the sort. He tied them up in court trying to get that access taken away. He’s also been in court for building a game fence that impacted the migration of wild animals.
We’ve been fed this narrative about private property that has been intentionally convoluted in popular culture. We think of private property as our home, or maybe it’s a farm, or a family business that pays our bills. And rightly so, we want to do anything we can to protect that. In public legal battles the majority of support seems to be for the property owner - because we want to strengthen laws that protect us from losing our home or the places that we rely on to live.
But when the ultra-wealthy get tied up in these fights, they leverage those legal norms and that sentiment of support towards land owners - but to a huge excess. Here’s a quote from a Colorado Sun article about Harrison that highlights that:
“Harrison, 37, was forced to stop before finishing the perimeter along his 88,000-acre property, which a previous owner named Cielo Vista Ranch, or view of heaven. Locals say they never see him in town and only speculate that he’s arrived when they see his helicopter. They estimate Harrison built about 20 miles of fence line before a judge ordered him to stop.”
We see this with other ultra-wealthy people who buy large swaths of land and use the courts to bully the residents that call that land home. Harrison doesn’t live at this ranch. You can’t even see his house from the summit of Culebra. If I hiked up there from the other side and he was hosting a BBQ, he’d have no idea I was there, nor I him.
This is what needs to change, because it’s only going to get worse as the population grows, wealth disparities increase, and land becomes even more coveted. People deserve protections for their private property, but only to an extent. Once you have more money than God, and are buying land to hoard it, you’re not entitled to that same level of protection.
We need to shift the Overton Window by demanding that the state of Colorado eminent domain all of the private 14ers and a trail to their summit. Let’s stop begging for table scraps and being profusely appreciative that this billionaire is allowing us to pay him $150 to hike a mountain that he shouldn’t be able to own.
Colorado state law gives the state the power to do this. Which means it gives us the power to do this.
Now we need to get organized. Mike Lee might not have sold our 14ers, but that doesn’t mean we can put our feet up and take it easy. The next step isn’t to hire a lawyer and try to sue the state to do this. It’s not to send emails into the black hole of inaction that is Polis’s inbox. We need to start by changing the culture. Here are a few ways to do that:
- Get the private 14ers out of sport. We shouldn’t have to engage with billionaires in our recreation. The 14ers Fastest Known Time shouldn’t involve Culebra, or other inaccessible peaks. Billionaires want to steal our public lands, the places we train and recreate. We don’t owe them anything. Support athletes who are having this discussion when you see it happening.
- Get involved with the Colorado 14ers Initiative. I’m not sure what opportunities they have beyond building trails, but let them know that you think they should take a more active approach to getting access to Culebra that doesn’t involve pandering to billionaires. Send them emails and let them know what you think. Don’t withhold your donations; I think that’s a counterproductive approach because they are a great organization that does a lot of good. Get more involved and help change the message. Run for positions of power and influence in the organization. If you know the folks who hold the reins now, have respectful conversations with them about this.
- Tell all of your friends about Culebra. Many people don’t know about it or its history. Read this well documented history on the peak on Summit Post. The more people that know about it and are angry about it, the easier it is to make change.
- Maybe we’ll get to a point one day where enough folks organize a protest hike up Culebra demanding that it be set free and returned to the people, the way the British fought for their Right to Roam in the early 20th century.
Many people will argue that keeping Culebra private will keep it “pristine”. But it’s not pristine. Pristine is a fallacy. The idea of “pristine” held by someone born in 1780 would blow our mind. They’d look at our “pristine” and piss on it because it’d be garbage to them. That mountain peak and the surrounding area aren’t going to have huge roaming herds of buffalo, elk populations, grizzly bears, or indigenous people. These don’t exist in Colorado anymore the way they once did. So it’s not pristine. This argument is lazy.
Some may say that keeping Culebra private cuts down on crowds, and that protects the nature. Okay, I can see that. So when we make it public, let’s not build a parking lot at the trailhead. Let’s make it shuttle only. Or bike in. Or only accessible on a multi-day backpacking trip because the approach is so long. We don’t have to make the mountain easy to climb. Here’s a trip report of Operation Dark Snake, the clandestine way to climb Culebra that doesn’t involve using the ranch’s driveway. Let’s make that the official route. It’ll be a challenge, but you’ll be legally allowed to attempt it if you want.
A lot of people are going to read this and say things like “don’t politicize the 14ers” and “keep your politics out of the backcountry”. They’re going to try and cut you down for “being political”. But this idea of not being political is just you giving your power away. People will say they aren’t political as if they’ve transcended something, but really they’re just abdicating from participating in society. And it’s what the ultra-wealthy want. Our public lands are political. You don’t have to be engaging in politics out in the woods when you’re recreating. Relax and unwind. But when you come back to town, lock in. Someone far richer than you is always going to be trying to steal your land, or supporting someone who wants to.
The best defense is a good offense, so let’s change the way we talk about these issues and demand more. If we can change the culture around public land access, it’ll become so much harder to try and take these lands from us in the future. Do you like the weekend? Minimum wage? The right to vote? All of these things are political, and they exist because the people before us worked to create them and make them into the norms they are today
Post script
I was doing some reading about land access in Colorado when writing up my thoughts on Culebra and learned a bit about river access in Colorado. This is something that also needs to be changed and goes hand in hand with access to Culebra. This passage summed it up nicely:
“Colorado’s river access laws will remain clouded, unlike other states in the West. The New Mexico Supreme Court earlier this year upheld public rights to access rivers through private property. The Utah Supreme Court in 2019 upheld a 2010 recreational access law that supports floating through private property but affirmed the rights of landowners to limit access on some rivers. Montana allows access up to the high-water mark. Arizona and California have laws that allow access on navigable waters through private property. Colorado is among the few states without legislation of court decisions that clearly outline river access, forcing conflicts to be resolved on a case-by-case basis.”