Brief by Central Staff
Outdoors – May 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
We’ve all seen those “adopt a highway” signs, and now there’s an opportunity to “adopt a 14er,” thanks to the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, a volunteer organization which works to restore Colorado’s highest mountains.
Groups are being asked to host annual work projects on the mountains. At least eight people would be involved for two days a year, and the adoption would include maintenance along the standard route, repair of structures, and monitoring new impacts (like “social trails” through fragile meadows).
That’s a new program from CFI; its traditional program of restoring trails on a few fourteeners each summer remains, and this year’s plans include Mt. Evans, Mt. Sneffels, and in our realm, Mt. Massive.
Massive, at 14,421 feet the state’s second-tallest peak, will get some work on the North Halfmoon Lakes route, which is steep and “rapidly eroding.” The plan is to build a “sustainable route” with native construction materials.
It’s a big mountain, so this is a big project, with work dates scheduled for June 20-22, June 27-29, July 18-20, July 25-27, Aug. 1-3, Aug. 15-17, Aug. 22-24, Aug. 29-31, Sept. 5-7, and Sept. 12-14.
To participate in one of these weekend work sessions, you need to be in reasonably good shape, and provide your own camping equipment; CFI provides food, water, tools, and instruction. You need to be at least 18; though youngsters down to 14 can participate if they’re with their parents.
Mt. Massive will also host a CFI “Peak Steward Training” session on Aug. 2 and 3.
If you’re interested in volunteering for any of this, you can contact CFI at 303-278-7525 or www.14ers.org. And as usual, if you do this and want to write about it, we’d love to hear from you.
