Bagging Pikes Peak
Hi there,
Well what an action packed week I’ve had.
After working flat out for the week training at the Thermo office in Colorado Springs, I wanted to do a bit of site seeing.
I decided to climb Pikes Peak near Manitou Springs. Known as ‘America’s Mountain’, Pikes Peak stands at 14,110 feet (~4300 metres) above sea level! To hike to the top, I trekked to Barr trail. The trail to the peak from Manitou Springs is 13 miles (~21km) long and starts at an elevation of 6,607ft (~2014m). Now for a comparison, Adelaide is around 350m (~1,148ft) above sea level and Brisbane is around 650m (~2,132ft).
For those of you who don’t know, the greater the elevation, the less oxygen there is. This means it’s very difficult breathe when you’re already struggling for breath climbing to the top.
Anyway, I set out at about 5:35am at Manitou Springs. The reason for starting so early was to try and make it to the peak before the unpredictable weather changed. It was a brisk morning, but then again I was leaving right on sun rise!
I made it to the first flat section of the trail (approx. 2.5 miles) in about 70 minutes or so. To get there I had to trek through about 30 or 40 switch backs. GRRR and I thought they were pretty hard; I had no idea what I was in for.
As I got cracking on Barr trail again, I met some folks from the USAF (United States Air Force). Two of them were seasoned hikers, having climbed higher altitude peaks before. They offered for me to hike with them to the peak, I was thankful for the company and to hike with some experienced hikers.
We made it to Barr Camp (3,100m above sea level) at around 8am. I had the ‘lovely’ photo below taken in front of the hut. You can buy drinks and energy food supplies there. The hut is also accommodates overnight hikers. After a 20 minute break we headed of for the half way point at ‘Timber Line’.
Timber Line is just as its name suggests, the point were trees can no longer grow due to the altitude (this is where the ice cap extends to during the winter months). The last shelter before reaching the peak is here in the form of a little A-frame hut. The hardest part of the hike was to come. Timber Line is around 11,500ft (~3,505m) from sea level and about 3 miles (~4.8km) from the peak.
This was the hardest four and a half k’s I’ve ever walked. Out of the trees, the air seemed to be almost twice as thin, making breathing hard. As we got to around 3.2km from the peak, I was at a real energy low. Thankfully JD, one of the USAF guys, had a spare protein bar. So I wolfed it down along with about half a litre of water. I finally got some energy back, and was able to push on. We made our way across several snow melts and numerous switch backs, and I had to take lots and lots of rests to catch my breath.
Finally after almost 8 hours of hiking this ‘flat lander’ made it to the top of Pikes Peak. At the peak, there is a gift shop and a café. This is because there’s a road and railway to the top. But I decided to get there the old fashioned way, and take the shuttle bus down!
By this time the batteries of my camera had died, and I forgot to pack my spares. So I purchased a disposable camera and took some more photos. I also got someone to take a photo of me at the peak. After doing a bit souvenir shopping I went to catch the shuttle, only to find out I missed it by 10mins! I had to wait almost another 2 hours before I began my decent. An hour or so later I arrived back at Manitou Springs and drove back to the motel.
Below are some of the photos I took on the way up. Enjoy!
Cheers for now,
Damo
P.S. Pikes Peak is NOT the highest mountain in Colorado. It is 31st out of the 54 mountains in the state over 14,000 feet, the highest being Mt. Elbert at 14,433 feet.
Well what an action packed week I’ve had.
After working flat out for the week training at the Thermo office in Colorado Springs, I wanted to do a bit of site seeing.
I decided to climb Pikes Peak near Manitou Springs. Known as ‘America’s Mountain’, Pikes Peak stands at 14,110 feet (~4300 metres) above sea level! To hike to the top, I trekked to Barr trail. The trail to the peak from Manitou Springs is 13 miles (~21km) long and starts at an elevation of 6,607ft (~2014m). Now for a comparison, Adelaide is around 350m (~1,148ft) above sea level and Brisbane is around 650m (~2,132ft).
For those of you who don’t know, the greater the elevation, the less oxygen there is. This means it’s very difficult breathe when you’re already struggling for breath climbing to the top.
Anyway, I set out at about 5:35am at Manitou Springs. The reason for starting so early was to try and make it to the peak before the unpredictable weather changed. It was a brisk morning, but then again I was leaving right on sun rise!
I made it to the first flat section of the trail (approx. 2.5 miles) in about 70 minutes or so. To get there I had to trek through about 30 or 40 switch backs. GRRR and I thought they were pretty hard; I had no idea what I was in for.
As I got cracking on Barr trail again, I met some folks from the USAF (United States Air Force). Two of them were seasoned hikers, having climbed higher altitude peaks before. They offered for me to hike with them to the peak, I was thankful for the company and to hike with some experienced hikers.
We made it to Barr Camp (3,100m above sea level) at around 8am. I had the ‘lovely’ photo below taken in front of the hut. You can buy drinks and energy food supplies there. The hut is also accommodates overnight hikers. After a 20 minute break we headed of for the half way point at ‘Timber Line’.
Timber Line is just as its name suggests, the point were trees can no longer grow due to the altitude (this is where the ice cap extends to during the winter months). The last shelter before reaching the peak is here in the form of a little A-frame hut. The hardest part of the hike was to come. Timber Line is around 11,500ft (~3,505m) from sea level and about 3 miles (~4.8km) from the peak.
This was the hardest four and a half k’s I’ve ever walked. Out of the trees, the air seemed to be almost twice as thin, making breathing hard. As we got to around 3.2km from the peak, I was at a real energy low. Thankfully JD, one of the USAF guys, had a spare protein bar. So I wolfed it down along with about half a litre of water. I finally got some energy back, and was able to push on. We made our way across several snow melts and numerous switch backs, and I had to take lots and lots of rests to catch my breath.
Finally after almost 8 hours of hiking this ‘flat lander’ made it to the top of Pikes Peak. At the peak, there is a gift shop and a café. This is because there’s a road and railway to the top. But I decided to get there the old fashioned way, and take the shuttle bus down!
By this time the batteries of my camera had died, and I forgot to pack my spares. So I purchased a disposable camera and took some more photos. I also got someone to take a photo of me at the peak. After doing a bit souvenir shopping I went to catch the shuttle, only to find out I missed it by 10mins! I had to wait almost another 2 hours before I began my decent. An hour or so later I arrived back at Manitou Springs and drove back to the motel.
Below are some of the photos I took on the way up. Enjoy!
Cheers for now,
Damo
P.S. Pikes Peak is NOT the highest mountain in Colorado. It is 31st out of the 54 mountains in the state over 14,000 feet, the highest being Mt. Elbert at 14,433 feet.
WEB LINKS: www.pikespeak.com
posted by Unknown @ 8:42 pm
<< Home