<\/p>\n
MOUNT ANTERO \u2013 The road is even worse than before, steep and slim and boulder-strewn as always, but now with avalanche debris adding an extra crunch and rivers running wider and deeper.<\/p>\n
Sandra Gonzales slams on the accelerator. The Jeep blasts through the water, and her mom in the passenger seat, 83-year-old Viola Padilla, lets out a loud \u201cwhoo!\u201d like a child.<\/p>\n
And the ascent continues on one of Colorado\u2019s most notorious roads \u2013 the jagged, bone-rattling, white-knuckling, heart- pounding track toward Antero\u2019s 14,269-foot summit. The switchbacks start on the tundra, skirting sheer dropoffs. Dead Man\u2019s Curve is named for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cSee,\u201d Padilla says here, \u201cthis tells you how crazy we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRock crazy,\u201d the duo calls themselves, along with other pilgrims drawn by the talisman locked in this granite.<\/p>\n
The mountain boasts North America\u2019s highest gem field, as the nation learned in \u201cProspectors,\u201d the reality TV show of 2013. Though brief in its run on The Weather Channel, the show has had a lasting impact. More seekers have come for the ultimate prize: aquamarine crystals considered world-class.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a movement we\u2019re witnessing,\u201d says Craig Cardwell, a \u201cProspectors\u201d subject and one of the mountain\u2019s preeminent claim holders based in Buena Vista.<\/p>\n
Gonzales and Padilla were here before this pop-culture wave, every summer of the 12 years since they staked their first claim. They scour mountains elsewhere, but Antero poses their ultimate treasure hunt.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what drives them. \u201cThe treasure hunt,\u201d says Gonzales, who had a successful career as a therapist before retiring to pursue her childhood hobby of scrounging in the dirt. For Padilla, the mountain makes her feel young, \u201crejuvenated.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Colorado natives figure prominently in the state\u2019s rockhound scene. Come Sept. 6, they\u2019ll greet dealers at Denver\u2019s Mineral & Fossil Show, among the biggest of its kind in the country and owned by Gonzales.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s been a mentor for newcomers to the field, including Jason Roys and Ian Schimpfle \u2013 \u201cthe rising stars\u201d on Antero, she calls them.<\/p>\n
She guided them here five years ago, watched them straddle a ridge amid fierce, blistering wind to stake their claim. On the rough road now, the guys are ahead in their Toyota truck, getting amped as they do on electronic music.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re friends going back to sixth grade. Now Roys is 40, Schimpfle 39, but their looks belie their age. They both wear flat-brim caps, Schimpfle with a cherubic face and soft-spoken, analytical tone that contrasts the bearded, tattooed Roys\u2019 straight talk \u2013 get on the former boxer\u2019s bad side, and he\u2019ll let you know.<\/p>\n
But get Roys laughing, and he dissolves, as if a boy. So he did alongside Schimpfle on their first Antero dig of the season a few weeks ago. They came away with aquamarine they later measured to be 831 carats, estimating the worth between $20,000 and $60,000. The stash is kept in a Ziploc bag.<\/p>\n
And they show it to Gonzales now during a stop at their mosquito-infested home for the summer, the forest above 11,000 feet where several other tents have been pitched \u2013 a modern day mining camp.<\/p>\n
They keep the bag close to the chest.<\/p>\n
\u201cFlash things for people,\u201d Gonzales says, \u201cand they go crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney signs in their eyes,\u201d Schimpfle says.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlue fever,\u201d says Roys, a pistol on his belt. \u201cThat\u2019s what we call it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It could only be called mild then, as aquamarine was more of a curiosity than a market force, but blue fever might\u2019ve been detected as early as 1885. Mark Jacobson, a geologist and author of \u201cAntero Aquamarines,\u201d traces pioneer awareness to that year, when a letter of discovery was penned.<\/p>\n
Access to the gem field was hard-earned on foot. Then, following his World War II service, Grady Cardwell and a rugged bunch got the idea to carve a road, their interest being the beryllium up high that had some demand at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did you get it done, granddad?\u201d Craig Cardwell recalls asking the old man. The response: \u201cLots of whiskey, lots of dynamite, lots of fortitude.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grady Cardwell\u2019s beryllium venture was short-lived. But the road was blazed for the next generation of rockhounds, including his grandson. Craig and his wife oversee Mount Antero Treasures, where they craft jewelry from their finds above timberline.<\/p>\n
Aquamarine has been Craig\u2019s focus since the new century, as it has for many dreamers \u2013 some with ill intent.<\/p>\n
Robert Spomer, the owner of Buena Vista Gem Works whose Antero interest dates to the \u201870s, has observed a cultural shift. Once, \u201cno one much cared if you went up there and prospected around, unless you went poaching directly in the active hole they were working in,\u201d he writes on his website. Now, \u201cclaim holders tend to be much more \u2018in your face\u2019 and confrontational.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes, it seems the Wild West has caught up to Antero.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of these guys in the business, man, they\u2019re pretty sketchy,\u201d Cardwell says. \u201cThey catch you on their claims, we\u2019ve heard horrific stories of gunfights, people being beat up pretty bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tents have been seen ripped by apparent rivals. Some lose sleep at camp, fearing a \u201chigh grader\u201d above, a thief in the night snatching riches from half-dug pockets. On the road, claimants look for friends and possible foes, strangers with picks and shovels in tow.<\/p>\n
Amy Titterington, a U.S. Forest Service geologist assigned to Antero, has seen the shouting matches, the tense standoffs. She\u2019s seen more miners daring the extreme elements and more flights for life. Other conflicts have come from an increased number of fortune-seeking vagrants, she writes in an email.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn increased Forest Service or law enforcement presence would help alleviate some of these issues, but ultimately it\u2019s up to the claimant to protect their claim.\u201d<\/p>\n
To an extent, under the terms of \u201ccasual use\u201d defined by law, outsiders can scavenge federal ground without a permit. But land managers warn of intruding, especially with Antero\u2019s slopes proliferated with claims, some marked, some not. To be sure of their locations, one is directed to the county courthouse to pull records and maps.<\/p>\n
Or, one can try for a claim. It\u2019s a fairly straightforward process through the Bureau of Land Management, which handles applications for Antero and charges $225 for plots up to 20 acres. But in the wake of \u201cProspectors,\u201d regulators deem space on the mountain extremely limited. The BLM counts about 180 claims across Antero and neighboring Mount White.<\/p>\n
From Spomer\u2019s view, the show caused \u201ca mineral claiming frenzy \u2026 blanketing the area with claims of unknown, uncertain and erroneous validity.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the show struck fear in conservationists watching along, including Loretta McEllhiney, the Forest Service\u2019s fourteeners program manager. She watched rocks moved over slopes, sent crashing down to potentially unsuspecting travelers. \u201cIt makes me crazy to think they\u2019re doing that,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
The job hasn\u2019t taken her to Antero lately, but she wonders about widespread digging. \u201cAnytime we do anything that makes the land less stable,\u201d she says, \u201cit has the potential for impacting the waterways below, it has the potential for impacting wildlife.\u201d<\/p>\n
She wonders, too, about the General Mining Law of 1872 that still largely dictates regulation \u2013 or lack thereof. \u201cI think it\u2019s worth another look.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cardwell hears the critics of \u201cProspectors.\u201d On the issue of the environment, \u201cI embrace that conversation,\u201d he says, \u201cbecause one of the things we\u2019ve taken pride in for many years is being good stewards.\u201d<\/p>\n
He wants to demonstrate that in the show he\u2019s trying to bankroll himself. While his production company shops the concept around, the first episode of \u201cMount Antero Treasures\u201d dropped on YouTube this year.<\/p>\n
It features Schimpfle and Roys, who on their packs carry the principles of Leave No Trace.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people think we\u2019re destroying the land out of greed, but that\u2019s definitely not the case for me or Jason or the majority of people we know up here,\u201d Schimpfle says atop the mountain. \u201cYou know, when I\u2019m up here, I think about Chief Antero. He was known as a peacemaker between his people and outsiders, and I still think his spirit lives here.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd yeah, some people think this mountain causes people to go crazy. Blue fever. And that\u2019s definitely true to an extent, I\u2019ve seen it. But for the majority of us, I think this brings us together more than anything. Like a family.\u201d<\/p>\n
So it appears at the end of the road, where the group finds a pair of hairy, dirt-stained rockhounds named Billy and Greg, who wears a cap proclaiming \u201cTHIS LAND IS YOUR LAND, THIS LAND IS MY LAND.\u201d<\/p>\n
He shares his collection so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cOoh, big phenakite,\u201d Schimpfle says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is a big one,\u201d Gonzales says.<\/p>\n
\u201cDouble terminated, too,\u201d Roys adds.<\/p>\n
They geek out like this for a minute. Then they part ways to dig \u2013 only for so long, with dark clouds rolling in.<\/p>\n
Gonzales and her mom start down the road, following the other two in their truck, which soon hits a rock and stalls dangerously above 13,500 feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is all part of Antero,\u201d Gonzales says, stuck behind the bickering boys.<\/p>\n
They swear in the mud, toiling under the truck for the problem. Almost a half-hour passes. It might be time for Plan B, time for a long slog down for help.<\/p>\n
But then they\u2019re on their feet, rejoicing with greasy high-fives. They rumble down, almost out of the woods.<\/p>\n
Then Roys realizes he\u2019s lost a pin from his hat. Lost in the river, he suspects.<\/p>\n
He looks defeated when he tells Gonzales to go ahead. He\u2019s going back, and his partner and friend is going back with him, despite Gonzales\u2019 advice. \u201cJason, it\u2019s gone,\u201d she tries telling him.<\/p>\n
But the pin is precious to him, and he won\u2019t be stopped, no matter the cold, rushing water. He\u2019ll keep his eyes peeled, as he always does, for that glimmer in the muck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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