Can we hurry up with more mountain renaming (Evans, San Luis: live in, cabin)

[Phil P]

So glad to see Evans finally got renamed to Mount Blue Sky. Took WAY too long for this to happen.

It's gross that we have so much of of the Rockies christened after egotistical idiots who thought their last name is what everyone should reference these wonders of nature after.

Good mountain names:
Mount Massive
Mount Shavano
Mount Blanca
Fairview Peak
Tater Heap
Uncompahgre Peak
Castle Peak
Mount of the Holy Cross
Mount Silverheels

Stupid names:
Greys and Torreys
Pikes Peak
Mount Sherman
Mount Elbert
Mount Wilson
Sheep Mountain (literally 500 named that)
New York Mountain
Mount Oklahoma

Just cause that's what dad called the mountain doesn't mean we should be stuck with the system of a mad dash to see who could get their name put up their first in 1895.

[ben young]

Angry often ?

[interloper1138]

Originally Posted by Phil P

It's gross that we have so much of of the Rockies christened after egotistical idiots who thought their last name is what everyone should reference these wonders of nature after. .

While I do understand the motivations to rename Evans, I feel like the context of when these mountains were named is important. Most people aren't particularly creative and are rather boring, especially in the 19th century. (How many Mt Baldy's and Grizzly Peaks are there??) I don't think there's any part of the country that was exempt from this phenomenon of naming places after someone important at the time. This still happens today in terms of highways, roads, airports, etc, and 100 years from now people will likely find something they consider atrocious about those figures, too.

The mountains don't care what we call them. As of yesterday I've hiked 155 of them, and I can't think of a single summit where its name was meaningful to me, either. Their beauty is, comparatively, eternal while our existence is fleeting.

[Parnassia]

So, its all about what YOU want? You feel you have the right to impose your preferences on everyone else?

Something that might throw a monkey wrench into your dream to get rid of what you consider stupid labels is land designation. Named features (such as mountains) that have subsequently ended up incorporated into designated wilderness won't be re-named. If they didn't happen to have a name before designation, they will never get one.

[Phil P]

Originally Posted by interloper1138

While I do understand the motivations to rename Evans, I feel like the context of when these mountains were named is important. Most people aren't particularly creative and are rather boring, especially in the 19th century. (How many Mt Baldy's and Grizzly Peaks are there??) I don't think there's any part of the country that was exempt from this phenomenon of naming places after someone important at the time. This still happens today in terms of highways, roads, airports, etc, and 100 years from now people will likely find something they consider atrocious about those figures, too.

The mountains don't care what we call them. As of yesterday I've hiked 155 of them, and I can't think of a single summit where its name was meaningful to me, either. Their beauty is, comparatively, eternal while our existence is fleeting.

But it should be an ongoing effort, and not one that is static once people feel like they've published a map. These Grizzlies and Baldy's should get renamed as well to something more exciting.

Originally Posted by Parnassia

So, its all about what YOU want? You feel you have the right to impose your preferences on everyone else?

Something that might throw a monkey wrench into your dream to get rid of what you consider stupid labels is land designation. Named features (such as mountains) that have subsequently ended up incorporated into designated wilderness won't be re-named. If they didn't happen to have a name before designation, they will never get one.

I'm saying the 1890s shouldn't dictate what today's world is. Not saying I should be the naming council, just that we should be proactive about this. Names carry a lot of meaning. Every time they're uttered, it establishes a little bit of element of the name to the conversation.

That sounds like another aspect of the wilderness designation that's foolish.

[interloper1138]

Can I ask why the name of an arbitrary pile of rocks is so important that they must be renamed on an ongoing basis to cater to current cultural tastes? There are hundreds of unnamed peaks in Colorado and it's rare that you see anyone getting up in arms about what to call them. They're free to be called whatever, yet no one cares about them.

To reiterate, I'm not stating that Evans should not have been renamed, I'm wondering why it actually matters in the first place. The Spanish were in Colorado long before the Arapaho were. And thousands of years before the Spanish, people we barely know anything about called Colorado home. Do you understand what I'm getting at?

It's the 'significance' and 'importance' of the debate itself that I find silly, not the arguments for/against any specific name.

[COcheesehead]

Learn from history, don’t cover it up.

[interloper1138]

Also I find it interesting that you mention Mount Blanca as one name that you're okay with. I live in the San Luis Valley, Mount Blanca is important and symbolic to me and many other valley residents. I've hiked it twice. It dominates the skyline regardless of where you are in the valley.

But hundreds of years ago the Navajo named it Sis Naajinį́ as one of their sacred peaks delineating the eastern boundary of what they regard as their traditional homeland. 'Mount Blanca' literally means 'Mount White' or 'White Mountain' - a decidedly boring and uninspired name. And yet I haven't seen any serious campaigns arguing for it to be officially renamed for the sake of honoring Navajo traditions or 'jazzing it up' to something more creative. Were it to be renamed I wouldn't care, but I would question any sort of urgency behind the campaign.

It's the selective nature of this debate that I find so baffling.

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by Phil P

I'm saying the 1890s shouldn't dictate what today's world is. Not saying I should be the naming council, just that we should be proactive about this. Names carry a lot of meaning. Every time they're uttered, it establishes a little bit of element of the name to the conversation.

That sounds like another aspect of the wilderness designation that's foolish.

Obviously, you've never read the act or what it is intended to preserve. I've linked to the 1964 public law. I'm not going to repeat it for you. Of course the point will be moot if some mountain you're upset about is not within designated wilderness, but let's continue for those that are:

https://wilderness.net/learn-about-w...ct/default.php

If you bother to read it (pretty darned short and sweet for a federal law) you will note that the purpose for wilderness designation is to preserve unimpaired the area's primeval, primitive, ecological, biological, recreational, AND historical values that existed at the time of designation. If some value was degraded at that time, attempts can be made to improve it's condition but only in specific circumstances and by limited means.

There is a history behind placenames whether you happen to feel that history is worthy or not. As long as some feature received its official name (and I mean as recorded in the USGS Board on Official Names) prior to the area's designation, the name stays. Just as an old historical use cabin stays (but may be left to rot into the ground in most cases). Just as a trail stays (it may be maintained in a limited fashion). Unnamed features stay unnamed. To keep changing names on a whim (and frankly, what you want sounds a lot like a whim) to please someone results in what is referred to as trammeling. It is a derivation of a word meaning a type of trap: to confine, restrict, to deprive of freedom of action, to tame. Trammeling results in degradation of a wilderness area's existing value.

[Monello]

Originally Posted by Phil P

So glad to see Evans finally got renamed to Mount Blue Sky. Took WAY too long for this to happen.

What will they rename it in 100 years when the great windmill fireball of 2122 burns all the wind generators on earth and the skies take on a permanent grey tinge?