DeCaLiBron Closed to public access?

[John Prater]

This video from the CMC provides some good info on this, including the perspective of the owner of Earth Energy Resources (starting around 19 minutes in).

[pizza-sandwich]

Takeaway message: COMPLY WITH THE CLOSURE. Take a deep breath. Access likely will be affected temporarily. Failing to comply with the closure may jeopardize long-term access for everyone.

Do whatever the people with money say because they'll be annoyed if we don't. Great message.

The willingness of people to meekly submit to gross inequality, inequity, and iniquity constantly baffles me.

I'll take some solace with the fact that unless buy in from local and/or federal agencies is obtained this likely isn't enforceable.

i have no intention of “respecting” their closure. mining companies can kiss my ass.

[headsizeburrito]

Bummer. While user impacts are certainly part of the problem it sounds like liability issues are a big part of it. Hopefully that can get cleared up to restore access, but what I'd prefer to see is permanent public easements or eminent domain used to just make it public land. What are the odds of this land ever being mined? Functionally zero I imagine and the owners can't complain about hikers leaving some trash (still an issue and certainly pisses me off) if they are going to tear the place up mining it. Otherwise this is just more land hoarded for no reason just because it was bought for pennies 100+ years ago.

Glad I did Decalibron back in December, if you pick a weekday with wind strong enough you have trouble standing upright at times you get the whole place to yourself!

[peter303]

I thought Colorado had a AYOR backcountry liability law modeled after the skier's version:

https://www.americanwhitewater.org/reso ... tatute.htm

(I havent had enough beer tonight to read past all the legalese.)

[Scott P]

i have no intention of “respecting” their closure. mining companies can kiss my ass.

29:20 in the video.

[Gandalf69]

It sucks, but let's face it, bross isn't the most scenic 14er. Maybe we can organize a counter protest and not hike any of those 4 at all?

[Alrightmax]

It sucks, but let's face it, bross isn't the most scenic 14er. Maybe we can organize a counter protest and not hike any of those 4 at all?

Democrat and Lincoln are real mountains though. The other two are just piles of gravel

[MaxmimumMills4]

The owners don’t have a chance! If you are used to high peaks and appreciate the position of the CFI maybe you won’t hike it but the vast majority of people will do the loop for the clout of a “four 14ers in one day *muscle emoji*” Instagram post.

[Burkart]

Do whatever the people with money say because they'll be annoyed if we don't. Great message.

The best part is that these clowns don't even have money. Nobody with deep pockets (or a functioning brain) is going to squat on worthless mining claims for seventy years while waiting for the silver boom of the 1880s to return. Last I checked, reenacting the Sherman Silver Act is not in either party's platform... Earth Energy Resources LLC might have turned a tidy profit if Maury Reiber had just poured his savings into the S&P 500 instead.

Heck, if an organization like CFI wanted to play hardball and pay an attorney to bandy about some documents pertaining to RS 2477 or prescriptive easements, they might even be able to strongarm a sale. As it stands, indulging the irrational fears of irrational investors doesn't seem to have gotten us very far in resolving the access issue.

[aholle88]

It sucks, but let's face it, bross isn't the most scenic 14er. Maybe we can organize a counter protest and not hike any of those 4 at all?

Democrat and Lincoln are real mountains though. The other two are just piles of gravel

In case you haven’t noticed, all mountains are just piles of rocks. Some big rocks, some small rocks, some still consolidated, some decomposed. Sometimes covered in snow. But at the end of the day, they are all just big piles of rocks. These 4 are no different. Yes, there are routes on Democrat and Lincoln, that when covered in snow, have inherently higher risk than the other 2 piles of rocks, which makes those 2 piles a bit more exciting, but they are no more or less real than the others.

[Scott P]

The best part is that these clowns don't even have money. Nobody with deep pockets (or a functioning brain) is going to squat on worthless mining claims for seventy years while waiting for the silver boom of the 1880s to return. Last I checked, reenacting the Sherman Silver Act is not in either party's platform... Earth Energy Resources LLC might have turned a tidy profit if Maury Reiber had just poured his savings into the S&P 500 instead.

Heck, if an organization like CFI wanted to play hardball and pay an attorney to bandy about some documents pertaining to RS 2477 or prescriptive easements, they might even be able to strongarm a sale. As it stands, indulging the irrational fears of irrational investors doesn't seem to have gotten us very far in resolving the access issue.

I don't know how they make their money, but there are only two people in the company and somehow they make $137,000 a year on their mining claims. They are the 8th largest landowners in Park County. Apparently they only pay $167 a year for their claims.

[EigenDylan]

A mining company concerned about LNT. Hilarious. There should be consequences for trying to weaponize private land to close off public land like this. Maybe Deb Haaland can go to the CEO's house and punch them in the face. In all seriousness, the state government should do more to prevent landowners from acting like this. Right to roam laws would be super cool.