Fifty years ago, Coloradans celebrated the state’s centennial by placing climbers on every 14,000-foot peak in a single day. On Saturday, teams of climbers will fan out across Colorado’s highest mountains to revive the tradition, this time with adaptive athletes, Indigenous teams and conservation messaging.
Organizers see the climb as a centerpiece of Colorado’s 150th anniversary: nearly 500 people spread across the state’s highest summits, celebrating the landscapes that have become central to the state’s identity.
“We’ve got thousands of people climbing peaks every day here in Colorado throughout this summer season and this one’s a little extra special because of what it means and what it’s commemorating,” said Madeline Bachner Lane, chief executive officer of Colorado Mountain Club, one of more than a dozen outdoor nonprofit groups involved in the climb.
The goal is not necessarily to put climbers atop all 58 peaks, organizers say, but to create an inclusive statewide celebration that reflects how Colorado’s relationship with its mountains has evolved over the last half-century.
Wildfires burning across the state forced trip leaders to abandon plans for some peaks — Mount Massive near Leadville and Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn peaks between Ouray and Lake City — underscoring the reality that success will be measured by safety rather than by reaching all 58 summits.
Teams assigned to some of Colorado’s most remote peaks will start hiking Friday, embarking on long approaches into backcountry basins. Others will begin early Saturday, hiking by headlamp to reach their summits before afternoon thunderstorms develop.
This year’s fourteener climb is a homage of sorts to the historic climb in 1976, when about 645 climbers stood atop 55 fourteeners in a single day. (The Colorado Mountain Club officially recognizes 54 peaks, though the Colorado Geological Society says there are 58. A 55th, Grizzly Peak, was added to the event after a persistent doctor phoned from Europe and successfully argued that the mountain had been officially recognized as a fourteener in 1876, according to the club.)
Hikers in 1976 were recruited through newspaper ads and phone calls and those who reached the top brought back a stone from the summit, the CMC said.
This time around, stewardship will be a key pillar of the effort, with organizers promoting leave no trace principles, which encourage outdoor recreationists to minimize their impact by packing out waste, respecting wildlife and staying on established trails whenever possible.
Teams led by experienced mountaineers will consist of three to 10 climbers, below the 15-person group threshold in Forest Service wilderness areas, to minimize impacts on fragile alpine environments. Smaller groups will go up the state’s most technical fourteeners, like Capitol Peak in the Elk Range, known for extreme exposure and requiring class 4 scrambling and careful route finding.
“We’re all about people enjoying and celebrating and wanting to protect the outdoors — I think Colorado is so special and the fourteeners really being the pinnacle of that,” Conor Hall, director of Colorado’s Office of Outdoor Recreation Industry said.
“This has been a colossal undertaking. The logistics of it have been wild, as you might imagine.”
Hikers applied through a system that asked about their experience hiking at elevation and overall fitness. Trip leaders then reviewed applications before entering names into a lottery designed to “take as much of the human error out of that and really be as accessible and inclusive as possible,” Bachner Lane said.
Volunteer leaders with the Colorado Mountain Club will lead climbs up about half of the peaks. The rest will be guided by experienced hikers from outdoor groups including the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, Blackpackers and Latino Outdoors. The Lockwood Foundation, which works to expand outdoor access for people with limited mobility, will lead adaptive athletes on Mount Blue Sky and North Maroon Peak.
The event will also include cultural and historical commemorations. An Indigenous youth group will head up Mount Blue Sky in Clear Creek County, where there will be a celebration for the peak’s renaming. There will also be a Southern Ute blessing on top of Pikes Peak.
“This is a commemoration, but it’s complex and sometimes very tough history,” Hall said. “And (we want) to engage with tribes and our Indigenous fellow citizens in a really respectful way.”
Organizers have worked closely with land managers, coordinating with private landowners as well as the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service. Climbers attempting to summit Culebra Peak, which sits within the privately owned Cielo Vista Ranch in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, will make their ascent Friday because hunting season on the ranch begins Saturday.
Once at the top, climbers will take a team picture with a unique commemorative 250/150 flag designed by a Colorado artist. The Colorado Mountain Club plans to cap off the day with an “alpine after-party” from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, bringing together sponsors and any climbers still awake to celebrate the historic effort.
“One very Colorado way of celebrating”
When Gov. Jared Polis signed an executive order in 2024 directing state agencies to develop ideas for commemorating Colorado’s 150th anniversary, the state’s Outdoor Recreation Industry Office embraced the idea of a historic statewide climb.
Twenty-one commissioners that represent different industries and communities have developed 13 initiatives — from drone shows to storytelling events to 150 new historic road markers — to “encourage awareness and participation across all 64 counties of Colorado,” Nathan Richie, co-chair for the America 250-Colorado150 commission, said.
“So this is just one very Colorado way of celebrating statehood,” Richie said of the fourteener climb.
While the idea has existed for several years, the work to turn it into reality has unfolded in a much shorter timeline. A group of about 30 volunteers has served as “the engine” behind the effort, organizing the ambitious undertaking over the past nine months, Ritchie said.
Coloradans not included in the climbing effort are encouraged to “find your own 14er” and get outside Aug. 1 — whether it be 14,000 feet in the sky or along a neighborhood path.
“We are trying to get folks inspired to get out and enjoy Colorado’s great outdoors,” Hall said, “which really is what makes the state so so special and why so many of us live here and love it here.”