Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts tagged as “Fourteeners”

The Costs of Altitude: A brief history of how “bagging Fourteeners” became a powerful force in the regional economy and the expense of hosting swarms of hikers

The Costs of Altitude: A brief history of how “bagging Fourteeners” became a powerful force in the regional economy and the expense of hosting swarms of hikers

December 10, 2024

(This is the second part in a series of mountaineering articles the Tribune has compiled from regional authors about the mountains that draw, and have kept, many to live in the Valley; this is from Ed Quillen’s 2010 article.) If the United States had adopted the metric system in 1820, then Colorado’s highest country might be in better condition today with much less in the way of trail erosion, trampled tundra and disturbed wildlife. Why 1820? The metric system had been devised by the French Academy of Sciences in 1795, so by 1820, Americans certainly knew about it. And 1820 marked the first recorded climb of a 14,000-foot peak in America. Consider that “4,267.21-meter summit” lacks the resonance and romance of “14,000-foot peak” or just…