San Juan Mountains Wilderness Bills: What Will Be Protected?

Companion bills introduced this fall in the House and Senate would add greater safeguards to more than 61,000 acres in southwestern Colorado. Here are five cool things that would be protected if the legislation passes:

Mt. Sneffels and peaks to its east would be protected under new wilderness legislation.

• Mt. Sneffels. Yup, this striking 14,150-foot peak isn’t covered by the existing Mt. Sneffels Wilderness—only about one-third of the mountain is currently protected. The planned 13,231-acre expansion would fix that.

• Whitehouse Mountain and the other high peaks west of Ouray. This is the million-dollar (billion-dollar?) view you get across the Double RL Ranch as you head west out of Ridgway. The newly expanded Sneffels Wilderness would encompass most of these beauties.

McKenna Peak.

• McKenna Peak. A new, 8,614-acre wilderness area will protect Colorado’s badlands, with wild horses, expansive piñon-juniper woodlands, abundant wildlife, fossil beds, and—get this—no developed trails.

• U.S. Grant Mountain. This rugged 13er, along with Pilot Knob and the other high peaks south of Ophir and west of Silverton—plus Ice Lake and the other stunning alpine tarns in this area—will be covered under the new, 21,697-acre Sheep Mountain Special Management Area.

• The Hardrock 100. The super-tough San Juans ultra is grandfathered under the proposed wilderness expansions. Similarly, heli-skiing, mountain biking, and other existing recreational uses of the Sheep Mountain area will be allowed.

Riding the 14ers

Mark Rikkers making the first known snowboard descent of Mt. Sneffels, via the Snake Couloir, in 1998. Photo by Barrows Worm

Lou Dawson was first to ski all 54 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks, and Chris Davenport famously skied them all in 12 months, in 2006–’07. But what about snowboarding the state’s highest peaks? Who did them first, and how many remain to be ridden?

The Colorado 14er First Snowboard Descents Project is a website created by Avon resident Zach Taylor to chronicle the history of snowboard mountaineering in the state. Taylor has built photo-packed web pages for most of the 14ers, with information on first known descents of each route that’s been ridden, plus links to trip reports. He’s seeking information on more descents, especially from the early days of snowboarding in the state.

According to Taylor, all but one of the 14ers has been ridden. Fearsome Capitol Peak is the lone holdout, but, as Taylor writes, “We would expect that to change in the next year.” Erik Kling from the Golden area and Jarrett Luttrell from Gunnison are the two most likely to be first to ride all the 14ers; their tick lists are both in the “high 40s.”