Visits to Colorado fourteeners fell 8% in 2022 and are down 33% over the past two years, according to an annual report released Friday by the Colorado Fourteens Initiative.
Based on estimates of numbers recorded by automatic electronic counters, peak-specific visits to a fourteen-year-old website, and projections from a mathematical model it has used since 2015, the Fourteens’ Initiative estimates that 279,000 people hiked fourteen-year-old Colorado by 2022. That was well below the record 415,000 set in the 2020 pandemic year, and it was the second fewest CFI since annual reports began.
CFI director Lloyd Athearn could only speculate about the reasons for the drop.
“Maybe people think this is going to be too much of a hassle,” Athearn said, pointing to parking restrictions and peak closures that have come about due to liability issues.
“That would be a bucket to watch. Another possibility could be demographic issues – the bulges and the busts between Boomers to Gen X to Millennials to Gen Z. Perhaps the millennials who have boosted all these outdoor activities over the last 10 years are all kids now and are being followed by a smaller demographic cohort.”
And perhaps some hikers have found less loneliness in the 14-year experience than in the past because so many summits have become crowded in recent years, Athearn speculated.
“Once you’ve climbed a few of the 14, you might be tired of sharing the mountain with 300 to 500 people, and want to get to a more remote summit,” Athearn said. “There can be many different reasons. It’s really hard to know.”
Quandary Peak, where parking restrictions have been imposed at the trailhead, saw a 37% drop in 2022. Grays and Torreys, twin peaks less than an hour from Denver near Loveland Pass, fell 14%.
The only part of the state to see an increase was the Mosquito Range, following the reopening of the so-called DeCaLiBron Loop (Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross) near Fairplay, which was closed for half of the 2021 climbing season due to liability of the landowner. That loop has closed again, although CFI hopes to reopen later this summer.
The fourteeners’ initiative estimates that Mount Bierstadt was the busiest fourteen in 2022, with 30-35,000 visitors, with Quandary coming in second with 20-25,000. Last year was the first full season where Quandary climbers had to reserve a paid parking space or take a shuttle from town. Those restrictions were first imposed at the end of July 2021.
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