A fresh attempt to rename Colorado’s signature summit has hit a bureaucratic wall, while a separate push to restore an Indigenous name is stuck in a much longer queue. Pikes Peak is not changing names anytime soon, but the latest filings have reopened a larger argument over who gets to name Colorado’s mountains — and what those names should represent.
D’Arcy Straub, a former Denver patent attorney and current federal employee, submitted proposals two years ago to rename 97 Colorado mountains. The Denver Gazette reported that the U.S. Board of Geographic Names rejected all of Straub’s submissions, including his proposal to rename Pikes Peak Fluorite Mountain.
The rejection was based on shortcomings in the application rather than on a formal debate over whether Fluorite Mountain was a better name. The federal board said Straub had not established local support, consulted Colorado’s resident tribal nations, or determined whether federal land managers supported, opposed, or remained neutral on the proposed changes, according to U.S. Geological Survey guidance.
A Second Name Change Is Stuck In The Queue
Another proposal would take Pikes Peak back to Tava Mountain, a name associated with the Ute word for Sun Mountain. That proposal was forwarded by the national board to Colorado’s Geographic Naming Advisory Board, but the Denver Gazette reported that it has not been formally placed on the state board’s agenda…