Getting a rescue ride down Pikes Peak could get pricey

The trail up Pikes Peak is an arduous, 12.6-mile slog, with 7,500 feet of elevation gain, the most of any "14er" in Colorado.

If you think that's steep, try calling for help from the summit if you're too tired to get down.

Pikes Peak Highway officials next week will ask Colorado Springs City Council to approve a $500 per-person charge to bring down the increasing number of people who call 911 from the summit and aren't injured, but just don't want to hike down the 14,115-foot peak.

"Some of the people just say, ‘I want to get to the top of this mountain,' and they don't realize they have to get back down," highway manager Jack Glavan said. The U.S. Forest Service owns the land, but the city runs the toll road.

The $500 fee reflects the cost for employees who have already gone home to come back and drive the 19 miles up the mountain, fighting fierce night-time winds and sometimes snow. If they have to plow or call in more people, the fee could be higher.

Under a fee schedule the council will vote on Tuesday, hikers who call for a ride before workers have gone home would pay $100 each, and hikers who ask for transport from one location to another, such as from the summit to Glen Cove, during regular hours will be charged $20 each.

Glavan said highway rangers and employees aren't trying to become taxis, but they need a fee schedule to get reimbursed from the increasing number of hikers who apparently get summit fever and find themselves high and dry, which happened to five people last year.

The highway has charged fees in the past, most recently to the hiker who in mid-December arrived at the summit after dark and broke into the Summit House to avoid freezing. He was charged $500 for a ride down and he paid for the window he broke.

Glavan said the council's action would formalize the fees and encourage hikers to plan better.

Highway employees aren't the only ones tired of plucking the uninjured off the mountain.

The all-volunteer El Paso County Search and Rescue has stopped running such "taxi missions," said spokesman Reg Francklyn. Calls from people who aren't injured are now referred to highway rangers.

"It got to be kind of onerous, because it basically is a two-and-a-half-hour effort to pick up a vehicle, drive to the summit, pick up someone who didn't do any planning and drive them back down," Francklyn said.

Search and rescue never charges fees for rescues, and Francklyn said the group hopes the city will "make every effort possible to educate the public as to any charges for picking up folks who find themselves on the summit after closing hours."

That's the plan, Glavan said. The city will put signs at the base of Barr Trail and at Barr Camp, about halfway up the trail, warning hikers the summit may be deserted after a certain time of day and that a $500 fee will be charged if they call to be rescued.

And if people still ask to be rescued, there will be a form that lays out the fees.

The council Tuesday also will vote on a proposal to change the system for annual highway passes.

Instead of unlimited-visit passes, individuals would be able to buy a pass good for 14 visits for $100. There also would be $100 passes good for five vehicle visits, and $100 angler passes for those who want to fish in the peak's reservoirs.