Colorado Changes Name of Famous Mountain
A federal panel has voted that Mount Evans will now be known as Mount Blue Sky, it has several classic alpine climbs
Over the past few years, several mountains around North America have been renamed, with the most recent being a popular peak in Colorado. Mount Evans will now be known as Mount Blue Sky after a federal panel approved the name change. The U.S. board on geographic names voted 15-1 to change the name in a recent meeting.
The decision helps to settle the controversy over the original name, which was in honour of John Evans, a Colorado governor in the 1880s. Evans refused to criticise the Sand Creek Massacre, which, as the department of the interior stated in a press release, was described as: “On Nov. 29, 1864, U.S. soldiers attacked an encampment of approximately 750 Native people. As they fled, many were wounded and killed. Well over half of the 230 dead were women and children.” The Southern Ute Indian tribe and Ute Mountain Ute tribe supported the name change.
Jackie Dorothy, who is of Arapaho heritage, wrote here, “By the early 1700s, the Arapaho people had become a dominate trading group and had become nomadic buffalo-hunters. They were well respected by the other tribes on the plains and known far and wide for their trading abilities and for their valor. They called themselves, Hiinono’ei, the Blue Sky People, and today, we are divided into the Northern and Southern Arapaho as well as numerous other sub-tribes.”
Other mountains around the U.S.A. and Canada that have been renamed to new titles include Anû Kathâ Îpa (Bald Eagle Peak) in Alberta and Denali in Alaska. Over the past few years, many climbing guidebook authors have changed the names of existing routes that had racist or sexist names. In 2021, a story appeared in Gripped magazine called ‘Offensive route names and how language in climbing culture can be hurtful’, read it here. Mount Blue Sky has several classic routes, such as the five-pitch Cary Granite 5.11c, and the seven-pitch Second Apron Right Side 5.7.
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