Board's first glimpses of Pikes Peak's south slope

You can’t make good decisions about the future of Pikes Peak’s south slope if you’ve never seen the south slope. Since the 30,000-acre swath of city-owned land has been closed for almost a century, few people have.

So members of the citizens board charged with advising Colorado Springs Utilities on the best way to open the collection of seven mountain reservoirs to the public paid a rare visit Thursday.

“It’s absolutely, spectacularly gorgeous,” said board member Dan Cleveland, who, despite being the longtime director of the Trails and Open Space Coalition and sitting on practically every outdoor-related board in the city, had never set foot in the south slope.

He snapped dozens of pictures of steep, granite slopes cascading down into still, cold reservoirs. With the rest of the group, he scanned Pikes Peak’s gentle, grassy south face, where elk and bighorn sheep are said to browse the tundra.

He also saw the extensive watershed infrastructure, including several miles of graded roads, dams, tunnels, three caretaker houses and even two old Colorado Springs bus stop signs erected by employees long ago at a few remote points as a joke.

“I had no idea how many roads were up here,” Cleveland said. “How easy would it be to just designate some of these roads as trails? Can you imagine riding your bike up here?”

The 11-member board, appointed by the publicly owned utility, plans to spend two years studying the environmental, water and recreational issues surrounding the cityowned land and drawing up a recreation plan.

The plan will eventually be given to City Council, which also acts as the utility board.

“We really need to study this; it’s uncharted territory for us. Colorado Springs Utilities has never done recreation,” said Steve Berry, spokesman for Colorado Springs Utilities, who was also visiting the south slope for the first time Thursday.

The group spent several hours touring the reservoirs that range from 9,500 feet to 12,100 feet. At many points, some members took out a hiking atlas to point out historical trails still traceable in the woods.

The board is made up almost entirely of residents who want the area to be opened to some kind of public access.

Peter Van Vuren described himself as the most reluctant person in the group when it came to recommending public access. As a resident living on Gold Camp Road, southeast of the south slope, he said he has seen the litter and vandalism in the national forest that can result from access without enough management.

“If we’re going to open it,” he said, “first we need to make sure there’s a plan and the resources in place to manage it. Otherwise, the place will get trashed.”