Forest Service bans USA Pro Challenge camping atop Independence Pass

The USA Pro Challenge's Independence Pass party won't roll through the starry night as it did last year. Forest Service officials have banned roadside camping atop the 12,095-foot pass during the Wednesday and Thursday stages of the stage race. All campgrounds on the Aspen side of the pass are open, but camping is prohibited on the top 5 miles of Colorado 82 on both sides of the pass, between mile markers 56 and 66. Last year, more than 3,000 campers lined the race course atop the very peak of the pass, sparking a starlit alpine party. Down the road in Aspen, as many as 15,000 visitors crowded city streets to welcome the racers. But this year, with racers descending from Independence Pass into Aspen on Wednesday and then climbing back up Thursday, Forest Service officials were concerned that many more spectators could be trampling tender tundra...more