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The area colored red has been acquired by speculator Tom Chapman, who has declared it off-limits to trespassing.
The area colored red has been acquired by speculator Tom Chapman, who has declared it off-limits to trespassing.
TELLURIDE – Tom Chapman, a real estate speculator notorious for his involvement in controversial land trades with the federal government, has purchased mining claims in the Upper Bear Creek Basin, closing public access to parts of popular backcountry ski and hiking routes, effective immediately.
The Gold Hill Development Company in which Chapman is a partner, purchased three contiguous claims, the Modena, Gertrude and Little Bessie Lodes that run west from Delta Bowl, as well as a half interest in the separate Euclid Avenue Lode, last Friday, March 26, for $246,000, according to a public records search.
“GHDC intends to enforce its right to exclude people from its private property by using Colorado trespass law if necessary,” states a press release hand-delivered to The Watch by Chapman on the afternoon of Thursday, April 1.
The action affects ski routes including “Deep and Dangerous” and “Graveyard,” that travel through the GHDC claims.
“In a basin widely known and recognized for hazardous and dangerous skiing, with several recorded avalanche deaths, GHDC has full cause to exclude all parties from its private lands for reasons of liability for injury and/or accidental death,” the press release reads.
For “privacy and safety reasons” access to the claims will also be closed during the summer, affecting hiking on the Wasatch and East Fork of Bear Creek trails.
The no trespass closure also applies to commercial permit holders authorized to operate on U.S. Forest Service land in Upper Bear Creek, including the Telluride Ski and Golf Co., which recently secured a controversial permit to operate guided ski and snowboard tours in the drainage.
“I’m still trying to digest this thing that’s in front of us,” said Telski Chief Executive Officer Dave Riley, who said he had not yet learned of the transaction when The Watch reached him.
Still, Riley’s initial reaction was that it would have little effect on its guided trips.
“We can still access lots of other terrain,” he said.
As for how GHDC will actually enforce its no trespass policy is another issue.
“Unless they post somebody up there I don’t know how they’re going to stop the public,” Riley said.
Asked whether GHDC could indeed stop the public from using portions of the long established hiking trails and routes that enter its private property, USFS Norwood District Ranger Judy Schutza suggested it could.
“[GHDC has] legal rights and we do not, as the Forest Service, have a right of way or easement through that property,” she said.
She added that the situation is similar to when landowner Rusty Nichols closed his private lands in and adjacent to Silver Pick Basin to public access. This action closed a segment of the Silver Pick Trail, a route that many climbers used to access the Lizard Head Wilderness.
The southwest ridge of Wilson Peak, the traditional approach to the popular 14,000-foot-peak, was also impacted by the private land closure.
No one The Watch spoke with yet knows what Chapman and GHDC intend to do with the property, but he is notorious for beginning to build a luxury log cabin on a pristine in-holding in the West Elk Wilderness near Paonia that he stopped only after negotiating a land trade with Forest Service in which he got 105 acres near Telluride.
Neither Chapman nor his GHDC partner, Ronald Curry, immediately returned phone calls.
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Unmatched per acre or mining claim!
Thanks Chapman, your greed will stop BC Development!
Great analysis!
Given that the idea of an expansion into Bear Creek has been "floated" to the community by Telski, I don't believe it is a big leap to assume that Telski might have engaged in a due diligence process to determine what obstacles might exist which might prohibit an expansion approval by the NFS. Maybe one of the big hurdles was the existence of these claims held by a "third party". If this is the case, then a goal might be to somehow get these claims under Telski or NFS ownership to allow full egress as a condition of an expansion approval.
The question then becomes: did Riley REALLY need time to "DIGEST" what he may have allowed us to believe was NEW information?!?
As an example, people like a quick non-Sysco food choice, ie crepes...which TSG tried to legislate out of business...
So, we can all stay away from your business and let TSG carry you, which business are you operating?
hold your breath and be like a boiling lobster..you wont know its over until it is over.
When Karma comes back around to this fella, (and it will, because it always does), and he trips and falls off the South Rim of the Black Canyon - a peoples park he intentionally defiled & one of America's best ideas that he vaingloriously tries to destroy. The world will be better off for his absence, and who will really miss him? How can his children, or parents, have any respect for this man who acts in direct opposition to the stated preference of the people?
thcpa raises an interesting issue regarding what he has alluded to as "Plan A". The general thought crossed my mind as well ... or at least I wouldn't be surprised.
The way I see it, there are two individuals (Riley & TC) who have apparently taken on a role in trying to shape the course of how BC is accessed and utilized ... yet one the most special places on the planet happens to be mostly under the "ownership" of the american people. Why should two people get to force THEIR agendas onto millions?!?
For starters, I believe the NFS needs to cut the weird and twisted umbilical cord by which they seem to be attached to Telski, and speak up for the HIGHEST AND BEST USE for the American public in the long run, and pursue the preservation of what could easily have been a portion of a larger National Park (but by the way history unfolded, currently under USF control).
Second, I think the NFS needs to take due diligence to determine the all possible avenues which might pertain to TC's no-tresspassing demands. Are there egress routes through and/or around TC's claims? Are there any legal tools at it's disposal to force easements by virtue of an "adverse possession" (or any other applicable argument)? Could eminent domain be used by the NFS to take control of the claims?
If this does result in some sort of realization of what thcpa alluded to as a "plan A", then I believe the NFS needs to take a step back from it's prior decision re: guided service and open the whole process up for full public review. I'd even go so far as to say it would be prudent to bring in some sort of internal administrative oversight by the NFS to insure a set of fresh eyes are able to steward the process in the most unbiased manner possible.
I think we all need to keep our eye on the ball in so far as being suspicious of ANYTHING which encroaches up on the preservation of the upper BC basin ... whether it's TC or Telski.
and to say Riley has not fed this fire..you must be a sycophant for Riley and TSG..
Your continued fascination with Bear Creek, the entire slippery slope (last year, avalanche studies, this year guiding, next year, LIFT!) has fueled this pirate Chapman...
Or, will you purchase Chapman's claims and go back to Plan A?
Lead or exploit? That is the question
NickDG: you can't count on the county website to determine your path. Nor can you count on the above map that was hand-drawn and submitted to the Watch by GHDC. Only a land survey can provide a clear picture to the routes you can take.
Go back and look at the history of his moves - his applications to mine, getting estimates of his mineral holdings that were upwards of $400M, charging hikers to pressure the 14eer crowd and get national attention, making hikers who were found nowhere near his cabin take out self-demeaning ads in the paper. He's still obstructing the completion of a re-routed trail, even after having posed for pictures with the Trust for Public Land people who bought most of the claims when his extortion play failed.
The things these types (Nicols, Chapman) will do to make a buck (or a few million bucks) by holding the Forest Service hostage are simply shameless, and have nothing to do with protecting a cabin from vandalism or avoiding skier liability.