Should unprepared, lazy, and just plain dumb hikers and climbers get rescued for free from the summit of 14,115-foot Pikes Peak in Colorado? The Colorado Springs City Council decided “No” last week when they adopted a new law that charges hikers who arrive at the summit and want a ride back down for the cost of the rescue.
Pikes Peak, towering 8,000 feet above Colorado Springs, is usually climbed via the 13-mile-long Barr Trail. This long and arduous trek ends at a rocky summit that is usually 30 to 40 degrees colder than the start in Manitou Springs. A lot of summer hikers only climb to the summit and then find a way back down by either taking the cog railroad or thumbing a ride with a Kansas tourist. Others buck up, turn around, and finish the 26-mile round-trip marathon.
But, say Pikes Peak Highway officials, there is an increasing number of folks who reach the summit, usually late, in bad weather, or when the highway is closed, and because they’re tired and cold and don’t want to hike 13 miles back down to their car, they ring 911 for a ride. Highway manager Jack Glavan told Gazette reporter Scott Rappold, “Some of the people just say, ‘I want to get to the top of this mountain,’ and they don't realize they have to get back down.”
Then there are the really dumb and ill-equipped climbers like the one who decided to ascend in mid-December. He left late in the day, reaching the summit well after dark. It was frigid with blowing winds and he was cold. So what did he do? He busted out a window in the deserted summit house (the road is closed in winter) to keep from freezing to death. The next day, highway workers busted through snow drifts and drove to the summit to pick the guy up. He was charged $500 for the rescue as well as the cost of the window.
The $500 fine is the new charge for the privilege of being rescued from the summit of Pikes Peak in the off-hours when the 19-mile-long Pikes Peak Highway is closed and an employee has to be rousted out of bed to drive up the sometimes treachous road. Hikers who call for a ride before employees have gone home will be charged $100, while those who want just a short ride down the mountain to Glen Cove will fork over 20 bucks. Of course, if you legitimately need a rescue because of injury, hypothermia, or medical emergency, you will be rescued at no charge.
It’s about time that something like this was formalized. When we hike and climb in the mountains, we need to be prepared for all kinds of weather and conditions. That’s always been part of the deal. I know that Pikes Peak, rising above a major metro area, lures unsuspecting people who figure they’re going climb that mountain but that’s no excuse for ignorance and being unprepared.
A few years ago, El Paso County Search and Rescue got tired of running "taxi missions" to the summit, and instead referred calls to the highway rangers. Now they’re tired of it too. So be prepared, folks—there’s a new fee for stupidity.
Photograph above: Now you pay for the privilege of being rescued off Pikes Peak. Photograph © Stewart M. Green
Read more about Pikes Peak:
Pikes Peak: Colorado's 31st Highest Mountain
Gazette Newspaper Article
First Woman to Climb Pikes Peak
Colorado's Fourteeners
Comments
Heh. I’ve seen snow on that mountain in July a few times, but going up late in the day in December may not end well. The guy’s lucky to be alive, and got a bargain at $500.
Damn well said! $500? Might need to be raised to $5000, especially when conditions are such that such poor judgement and self centeredness may put others at risk too…
DSD
I live in the Pikes Peak area and I am so happy to hear this! People are so thoughtless and they think oh it has a nice trail so whats the big deal? The mountain like all mountains deserves respect and people should not hike it without being properly prepared and geared. I think it should be $500 per hour taken to get their uneducated disrespectful stupid blank off the mountain.