Crews will be working to maintain the trails that lead hikers to the summits of some of Colorado’s most popular 14,000-foot peaks this summer.

The Colorado Fourteeners Initiative has projects planned at Mount Democrat, Mount Bierstadt, Mount Blue Sky and Mount Shavano — peaks that draw tens of thousands of hikers every year.

With hand tools and muscle, trail crews — sometimes assisted by volunteers — do the dirty work of moving rocks and dirt to build, restore and maintain the trails, Fourteeners Initiative Executive Director Lloyd Athearn said.

The nonprofit brought on 32 seasonal employees this summer, Athearn said.  seasonal workers have been brought up to speed on how to work in the alpine, where rare and fragile native ecosystems exist, he said.

The crews recently horse-packed into remote areas and started setting up the camp that will be their home this summer, installing solar panels, bear fences and lighting. One crew living on Mount Shavano this year will be hiking 3,000 vertical feet to work each day.

The 3,000-vertical-foot mark, sometimes called the “Colorado Rule,” is often considered the minimum elevation a hiker must gain to claim to have “climbed” a 14er, although ultimately it is up to the hiker how they count their ascents.

“This year we have the unique distinction of even working from an advanced base camp on the mountain,” Athearn said. “Every single day they go to work, they will be passing that magical 3,000-foot mark that people use to denote as having climbed a 14er.”

Mount Democrat

One of the most exciting new projects this season is at Mount Democrat, which is part of the 7.5-mile DeCaLiBron that consists of four 14,000-foot peaks, including Cameron, Lincoln and Bross, Athearn said.

Due to liability concerns from private land owners, the summit of Mount Democrat had been closed to public access on and off over the past few years, including 2021 and 2023. But last year, the U.S. Forest Service, supported by groups including the Fourteeners Initiative, acquired nearly 300 acres of private land leading to the summit, ending public access issues.

Athearn said the public land acquisition also allowed the Fourteeners Initiative to obtain grant funding, which typically requires trails to be open and accessible to the public, so it “can put money into that trail which desperately needs it.”

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The Fourteeners Initiative this year will focus on redoing the western half of the trail up to Mount Democrat. A four-person crew, along with Rocky Mountain Youth Core workers, plan to install 110 timber and rock check steps, 1,200 square feet of wall and 140 linear feet of drainage over the two-year project.

The work will address erosion and trail braiding. It will also create structures adjacent to sensitive plant species — including eight documented in the area that “are particularly imperiled and vulnerable” — so that hikers don’t wander through the tundra, according to the Fourteeners Initiative.

Mount Bierstadt and Mount Blue Sky

Another Fourteeners Initiative crew will split its time between Bierstadt and Blue Sky over the summer.

Bierstadt is one of Colorado’s most popular 14ers, attracting between 25,000 to 30,000 hikers annually in recent years. But the mountain has not received significant trail work in nearly a decade, according to the Fourteeners Initiative.

The work will focus on replacing the boardwalks in a flat wetland area, where spring snow melts or heavy rain often doesn’t drain, and installing an elevated causeway where the drainage is the worst, Athearn said.  

At Mount Blue Sky, the crew will focus on a section of trail just above Chicago Lakes that was impacted by heavy rains and mudslides in 2013. Athearn said crews have previously made small-scale attempts at restoration in the area, but this aims to be a more permanent fix.

The nonprofit plans to install 34 stone steps and 250 square feet of tundra support wall in the area.

Mount Shavano

The Fourteeners Initiative will have two independent crews working on Mount Shavano this summer, continuing work on “the biggest, burliest, most expensive project we’ve ever undertaken,” Athearn said.

The Fourteener Initiative’s Sustainable Trails Inventory in 2012 gave Mount Shavano’s summit trail an “F” grade, noting significant problems including overly steep grades, extensive erosion and trail braiding on the approach to the summit.

But because the trail crossed three private mining claims, trail improvements in the area didn’t happen for many years, until the Fourteeners Initiative raised $50,000 to purchase the parcels. Trail construction kicked off in 2022.

One crew will focus on construction below treeline to complete the final leg of the lower reroute, which Athearn said he hopes will be open by mid-summer, as well as trail restoration work higher on the mountain.

The second crew will build a new trail in the alpine, at an elevation of roughly 14,000 feet, Athearn said.

“They’re climbing 3,000 vertical feet to then begin working — working at some of the highest levels we’ve ever worked on 14ers,” he said. “It’s quite a grind to be doing that 8 days in a row.” 

Nomad crew

An eight-person team known as the “nomad crew” will serve as a “roaming maintenance crew,” Athearn said. This crew works independently at times but also will facilitate volunteer groups — working with 14er enthusiasts, local businesses, youth summer camps and college programs — on projects at about 10 different peaks,

One of the projects the nomad crew will be working on is the lesser-hiked west ridge trail up Quandary Peak from the Blue Lakes Reservoir, Athearn said. This official U.S. Forest Service trail has multiple trail braids and sensitive riparian areas that people cross through, he said.

This year, the Fourteeners Initiative plans to host more than 40 volunteer projects with the goal of completing more than 1,000 volunteer days of trail work this season.