Climbers scored an access win last week when an energy project succumbed to snags in the world’s only two-mouthed canyon — for now.
Besides its inherent natural resources and unmatched status among the planet’s canyons, Colorado’s Unaweep Canyon is home to around 2,000 rock climbs and boulder problems.
On Monday, the Access Fund reported that a land use review it performed helped obstruct an energy development project seen as a threat to those climbs.
Xcel Energy’s plans in the canyon revolved around a substantial hydropower dam, the Colorado Sun reported. But conflicts involving Access Fund-owned land introduced discrepancies. And on Nov. 2, Xcel Energy killed its proposal.
The move effectively protects climbing in Unaweep “for now,” the Access Fund said in a news release. In the release, the nonprofit noted that Xcel Energy’s next moves are “unknown.”
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Xcel’s Lasting Presence in Unaweep Not Finalized
Energy development in the canyon’s future could still loom. Xcel had obtained permission to continue studying the project from regulatory officials as late as the day before it halted progress.
Unaweep stretches about 15 miles along State Highway 141 just south of Grand Junction, Colo. It contains a patchwork of public and private land.