Pikes Peak Marathon history tidbit

August 10, 2009 By

This weekend is the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon, the annual race where thousands of runners attempt to run up Pikes Peak (and down again, for the marathon).  It’s a serious deal to those who participate, and many spend years preparing to enter the Ascent or Marathon and hopefully get to the top.

Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon course route

One of the bigger challenges is altitude, and serious runners have been known to travel to Pikes Peak and the surrounding mountains several days or weeks before the race in order to camp out and let their bodies adjust to the altitude as much as possible. There is a 7,815 elevation gain from start to summit, and even for those of us who live in the area that’s quite an adjustment when you’re trying to race.

Interestingly, the Pikes Peak Marathon originally began as a challenge between smokers and non-smokers!  Dr. Arne Suominen challenged smokers to race him up the peak and on August 10, 1956, fourteen men headed up the mountain.  Eleven were non-smokers and three were smokers.  Just four runners actually finished the course completely (up the mountain and back down), and all were non-smokers.  One smoker, Lou Wille, did actually make it to the top but didn’t do the descent.

The winning time in 1956 was 5:39:58, and the overall record was set by Jon Raveling in 1979 with a time of 5:04:08. Pretty impressive!

You can read more about the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon.

How tall is Pikes Peak?

July 30, 2009 By
The "back" of Pikes Peak from Woodland Park

The "back" of Pikes Peak from Woodland Park

It’s America’s most famous mountain, but apparently no one knows how tall it really is!

For decades, Pikes Peak was said to be 14,110 feet tall, based on a national geographical survey that took place in 1929.  In fact, the official Pikes Peak Highway website still touts it as 14,110 feet above sea level, and all the signs, t-shirts, and everything else still say 14,110.  But in 1988, the National Geodetic Survey remeasured the Peak and found it to be 14,115 feet. And, the National Elevation Dataset claims America’s most famous mountain is 14,117 feet.

Still, the official sign on top of Pikes Peak claims just 14,110 feet, and it’s unlikely they’ll begin printing new t-shirts soon.  And if you manage to climb all the way to the top of the mountain, whether it’s 14,110 feet or 14,117 feet, you’ve still accomplished quite a feat!

Of related interest is the National Geodatic Survey data sheet for Pikes Peak.

Shhh… Manitou Springs’ secret

July 23, 2009 By

manitou springs cliff dwellings3 by shutter_nutter on flickrManitou Springs Cliff Dwellings by shutter_nutter on flickr

“The Manitou Cliff Dwellings is a rare historical treasure. Preserved under a protective red sandstone overhang, authentic Anasazi cliff dwellings, built more than 700 years ago, await you here. There are no “Do Not Touch” signs. You are free to touch and even go inside these fascinating architectural remnants of an American Indian culture that roamed the Four Corners area of the Southwest from 1200 B.C. to A.D. 1300.” – from the official site.

It’s sounds for real, but, in fact, the Manitou Cliff Dwellings are not really real.  Or at least, they’re not authentic.  Notice it says that the Anasazi roamed the Four Corners area, which is hours away from the Pikes Peak Region.

So why are there cliff dwellings in Manitou Springs, then?

In the early 1900s, a group headed by W. S. Crosby was formed to haul tons of cliff dwellings from private land in southwestern Colorado in order to “transplant” them to their current spot in Manitou Springs for the purpose of opening a tourist attraction!  They were called the Manitou Cliff Dwellings Ruins Company, and they spent over $100,000 to transport and reconstruct the dwellings.

General William Palmer, the founder of Colorado Springs, is said to have “watched with anonymous amusement as the Manitou Cliff Dwellers Ruins Company hauled forty carloads of prehistoric Basketmaker apartment houses from Southwestern Colorado for reconstruction near Manitou as a tourist attraction.” (From Newport in the Rockies by Marshall Sprague, page 340.)

The dwellings in Manitou are supposedly set to resemble some of the more famous structures in Mesa Verde National Park, and  Crosby spent a great deal of time convincing authorities that he had not taken the structures from the Mesa Verde National Park area, as some accused.

Regardless of whether or not you can truly consider them authentic, the scheme worked, because the Manitou Cliff Dwellings have been attracting thousands of tourists for decades now!

If you want to see real cliff dwellings in their original state, head southwest to Mesa Verde.  We went there a couple of years ago, expecting to make it a quick 2-hour stop (we’re not much into history), and ended up spending almost all day at the park.  It was fascinating!

Random facts about Colorado Springs

July 16, 2009 By

Here’s a few random questions that I’ve been wondering about and finally found the answers to:

Where do Colorado Springs block numbers start?  (Also known as zero point.)

zero point in colorado springs and in the broadmoor

Zero point in the Broadmoor part of Colorado Springs

Point zero in Colorado Springs is at Pikes Peak and Cascade Avenue (downtown, of course). However, that’s somewhat complicated, because there’s a second point zero at Lake Avenue and First Street in the Broadmoor area.  It’s really hard to tell how far that area extends, though it’s certainly not out of the Broadmoor area.  It looks like that grid extends north to around Cheyenne Blvd and south to Marland Road, maybe?

Either way, in general, street numbers are based off of the starting point of Pikes Peak and Cascade.  That’s good to know, but it’s also not helpful with streets like Union Blvd that twist and turn like a ride at an amusement park.  We tell newbies to just remember that the mountains are to the west.  If you can remember that, and have accustomed yourself to what Pikes Peak looks like from different parts of the city, you ought to be able to determine where you are and where you need to be pretty easily.

How is the elevation in Colorado Springs determined?

The official elevation in Colorado Springs is 6,035 feet, but exactly where is that elevation located?  I thought it might be an average of the whole town, but found out it’s measured from the south steps of City Hall.  Relatedly, according to the Gazette, the lowest point in Colorado Springs is along Fontaine Blvd, between Marksheffel Rd and Powers (5,706 feet), and the highest point within the Springs city limits is the northern part of Cheyenne Mountain, know as “The Horns” (9,212 feet).

And where is Cheyenne Mountain, anyway?

Cheyenne Mountain is the mountain to the south of Pikes Peak – the one with all the radio towers.  Yep, you know where that  mountain is!  Here’s an article with some interesting history about Cheyenne Mountain.

An amazing homesite up for sale

February 13, 2009 By

Just over thirty-seven acres of an amazing part of Colorado Springs just went up for sale: you can own the incredible address of 1 Gold Camp Road for $1.75 million. If I were to describe my dream for the perfect place to build a home, this would be it:

1-gold-camp-road-colorado-springs
City view?  Check.
Mountain view? Check.
Waterfall? Check.
Borders national forest? Check.

This piece of land was originally owned by the founder of Colorado Springs, General William Jackson Palmer. He willed it to an administrative assistant and it was passed down from there until it was sold to Rare Properties, LLC for $900,000 in 2005.  Rare, indeed!  I doubt there’s any privately-owned land in Colorado Springs that’s as unique as this one.  There’s even part of a cabin the general used remaining on the property.

Here’s one of our personal pictures of Helen Hunt Falls, the waterfall this property overlooks:

dsc03380

Gold Camp Road is one of our favorite easy drives in Colorado Springs, and the falls are really a beautiful spot – I hope whoever buys this treasure will preserve its natural beauty and serenity!

Read more about the history and future of this piece of land at The Examiner.

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