Privately owned 14ers... Who knew?? Interesting article.

Durango Herald, Friday, Jul 22, 2022 4:00

Increasing traffic is stressing a tenuous deal with landowners concerned about liability...

MOSQUITO RANGE – Colorado Fourteeners Initiative trail builder Sarah Barringer looked up from her trail work on the switchback heading to the ridge below Mount Bross.
A man was taking a shortcut, causing the kind of erosion that she was repairing.

“Please stay on the trail,” Barringer said.
“Don’t tell me what to do,” the man answered. “It’s a free mountain.”

Actually, it’s not. The top of the 14,178-foot Mount Bross is owned by several people who are worried about liability and do not want hikers on the summit.
Owners of the summits and trails leading to next-door 14ers Mount Democrat and Mount Lincoln share the same concerns, worried they could be sued if a hiker is injured in one of the many mine shafts and dilapidated mining structures on the mountains.