QUANDARY PEAK, Colo. — Numerous rocks on the 14,265-foot summit of Quandary Peak were vandalized with permanent marker this summer. Rocks on the summit of Grays Peak were also vandalized in August.
A campaign is underway to help clean up the summits and discourage it from happening again.
Brad McQueen is an avid mountaineer and ambassador for the Cleaner 14er project. On a climb up Quandary Peak this week, McQueen removed cardboard signs, suntan lotion bottles, bottle caps and other personal items left behind on the summit.
“#Cleaner14er strives to leave each 14er cleaner than we found them”, McQueen wrote. “This means not vandalizing rocks, not leaving bags of dog poop, toilet paper, and using existing trails that the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative and others have spent thousands of hours constructing.
“People have been respectfully climbing and enjoying Colorado’s 14ers for decades. Current climbers owe it to the next generation to leave these special places in tact. With social media, there are plenty of ways to tell the world you were there without vandalizing the mountain in the process.”
When in doubt please follow the longtime standards of leave no trace.