Route Climbed: Barr Trail Date Climbed: August 17, 2005
Very picturesque, and a straighforward hike if you take the cog railway back down. Unless you would like to share my experience of having an octogenarian run by you at 12,300 feet (or something similar) don't hike up the week before the marathon.
Route Climbed: Barr Trail Date Climbed: 15 July 2005
I love Pikes Peak, but Barr Trail has become a bit crazy. I had to stand aside about 20 times to get out of the way of moutain bikers coming down. Jeez. Walked with a friend, and summitted in 7 hours. Going back in late September 2005 and may try the up and down route, the full 26 miles. Stay tuned.
Route Climbed: Pikes Peak Highway Date Climbed: July 2, 2005
My wife, daughter and I reach the summit in about 40 minutes after we paid our toll. Encountered high winds, snow and lightning and had to go inside the summit house.
Route Climbed: Barr Trail Date Climbed: February 25, 2005
I have climbed Barr Trail and Pikes Peak many times; however, a winter accent was quite a different ballgame. According to the Barr Camp keeper, our party was the first to make a summit attempt in two weeks. At about 13,000, the snow was getting really deep (even with snowshoes), and the weather was moving in, so we headed back.
Route Climbed: Barr trail Date Climbed: Aug 20, 2005
Ran/speed hiked my 2nd Pikes Peak Ascent and 5th summit of Pikes. I finish just as the heavens unleashed a barrage of hail, snow, and graupel on the rest of the runners. The road was closed stranding over 600 people on the summit. Epic weather in August!
Route Climbed: Drove up! Does that count? Date Climbed: August 11, 2005
This was my feeble attempt at getting acclimated in Colorado before hiking up Mount Elbert the next day. Went from 30' to 14,110' in a day. I felt a little drunk at the top. The day was to crummy to see anything or hike around.
Route Climbed: Barr Trail - Pikes Peak Ascent 1/2 Marathon Date Climbed: August 20, 2005
Wow, what a day. Beautiful at the start, but lightning, hail, and snow near the top... wound up snowing 8"+. The race was called early due to lightning (smart move on the officials part) and the road was closed due to the snow, stranding hundreds of (mostly) unprepared runners and spectators at the summit for 4 hours. Lots of oxygen and IVs being administered to those not accustomed to spending hours at 14,000' :-) Time was a kinda slow 4hr 57min.
Time saving cheater to avoid afternoon TS. Took 8:00 AM Cog to Mountview and hiked to A-frame, reached summit at 1:20. Descended close to 3:00 PM with li'l break at Barr Camp, got to Ruxton by 8:00 PM; still a long day on trail!
Cheated my way up this one - but what a view! Took the time to find and step on the highpoint behind the, ugh, snack bar/gift shop. Also did some cragging just below the summit plateau.
With essentially no acclimitization, my friend Jeremy and I took the Crags route to the summit. The going was slow and we got a relatively late start of 6 a.m. and so ran into bad weather on the day down, which is to be expected in the mountains in the afternoon. We made the decision to ditch the trail and hitch our way back to the trailhead. See my trip report "Tour de Pikes" for the full story.
Route Climbed: Crags Campground Trail Date Climbed: July 30, 2005
Great early morning climb with some confusion in the early stages. Reached the summit at 8:00 AM and was back at the car by 10:30. Almost nobody on the way up and 40 or 50 on the way down. There was also a small herd of sheep on Pike's broad shoulder.
Route Climbed: Barr Trail Date Climbed: 8/76 band 8/91
I hiked to the summit 2 out of three attempts. Sure was a funny sensation to reach the top after passing through such wonderful and awesome landscape only to be confronted with a cog-rail, Parking lot and trading post. Though, I did appreciate the hot chocolat.
Route Climbed: Barr Trail from Manitou Springs City Hall Date Climbed: July 30, 2005
Training for the Pikes Peak Ascent, I decided to try the whole course (13.3 miles, 7800 ft. gain) beforehand so I wouldn't be surprised come race day. Absolutely brutal. I didn't run any of the trail, but maintained a strong hiking pace and didn't stop and rest at all. Managed to summit in 4:47, exhausted and amazed to see so many tourists on the top, especially 300+lb. smokers. Go figure.
Route Climbed: Northwest Slope from Crags Campground Date Climbed: September 20, 2002
If you want to visit Pikes Peak without the crowds on the Barr trail use the crags route.
We were caught in an early season snowstorm & decided to make camp at treeline, just below a series of remarkable rock formations (looked like Pikes Peak Granite). We made it to the summit the following day just before noon. The remenants of the "summer gaper factor" in the Centennial state had subsided by this time of the year to visitation to the top was sparse.
A Word About the Cog & the road:
The modernized Pikes Peak Cog Railway and the tourist road to the summit offers a lazy alternatives to hiking this famous mountains. The road sprays unnecessay carcinogens into the already polluted urban landscape of the Front Range. The Cog is worth riding once but if you are only visiting the mountain once, hike it!
The gift shop & obnoxious monument to Katherine Lee Bates detract from the overall pristine quality of this historical peak.
This was an amazing hike. Just below the summit an electrical storm moved in. We waited it out before going to the top and it was very impressive. Kind of weird to see the buildings and cars on top...
Gord Boston - Sep 8, 2005 12:02 am
Route Climbed: Barr Trail Date Climbed: August 17, 2005Very picturesque, and a straighforward hike if you take the cog railway back down. Unless you would like to share my experience of having an octogenarian run by you at 12,300 feet (or something similar) don't hike up the week before the marathon.
BeginnerClimber - Sep 6, 2005 7:37 pm
Route Climbed: Barr Trail Date Climbed: 15 July 2005I love Pikes Peak, but Barr Trail has become a bit crazy. I had to stand aside about 20 times to get out of the way of moutain bikers coming down. Jeez. Walked with a friend, and summitted in 7 hours. Going back in late September 2005 and may try the up and down route, the full 26 miles. Stay tuned.
tdoughty - Sep 5, 2005 1:56 pm
Route Climbed: road Date Climbed: sept varioussure thing
chanman - Sep 4, 2005 10:12 pm
Route Climbed: Pikes Peak Highway Date Climbed: July 2, 2005My wife, daughter and I reach the summit in about 40 minutes after we paid our toll. Encountered high winds, snow and lightning and had to go inside the summit house.
Mike Mc - Aug 28, 2005 10:43 pm
Route Climbed: Barr Trail Date Climbed: February 25, 2005I have climbed Barr Trail and Pikes Peak many times; however, a winter accent was quite a different ballgame. According to the Barr Camp keeper, our party was the first to make a summit attempt in two weeks. At about 13,000, the snow was getting really deep (even with snowshoes), and the weather was moving in, so we headed back.
Woodie Hopper - Aug 25, 2005 9:15 am
Route Climbed: Northwest slopes (Crag's TH) Date Climbed: 7/23/05Long easy hike, get early start. Hiked with Robert Flynn (Nashville) his first 14er.
shknbke - Aug 25, 2005 12:37 am
Route Climbed: Barr trail Date Climbed: Aug 20, 2005Ran/speed hiked my 2nd Pikes Peak Ascent and 5th summit of Pikes. I finish just as the heavens unleashed a barrage of hail, snow, and graupel on the rest of the runners. The road was closed stranding over 600 people on the summit. Epic weather in August!
Avsfan023 - Aug 24, 2005 10:08 pm
Route Climbed: Northwest Slopes Date Climbed: August 29, 2003Thank you Andy and Brian! What a great day!
LoriOLin - Aug 22, 2005 6:11 pm
Route Climbed: Drove up! Does that count? Date Climbed: August 11, 2005This was my feeble attempt at getting acclimated in Colorado before hiking up Mount Elbert the next day. Went from 30' to 14,110' in a day. I felt a little drunk at the top. The day was to crummy to see anything or hike around.
Chris - Aug 21, 2005 8:53 pm
Route Climbed: Barr Trail - Pikes Peak Ascent 1/2 Marathon Date Climbed: August 20, 2005Wow, what a day. Beautiful at the start, but lightning, hail, and snow near the top... wound up snowing 8"+. The race was called early due to lightning (smart move on the officials part) and the road was closed due to the snow, stranding hundreds of (mostly) unprepared runners and spectators at the summit for 4 hours. Lots of oxygen and IVs being administered to those not accustomed to spending hours at 14,000' :-) Time was a kinda slow 4hr 57min.
An unusual but fun way to climb a 14er...
01aCRViper - Aug 20, 2005 1:43 pm
Route Climbed: Road :( Date Climbed: August 15th, 2005drove up, as we were only in the area for half a day. next time i'm in the area i'll go back and get it the real way :)
Helga - Aug 20, 2005 12:34 am
Route Climbed: Barr Trail Date Climbed: 8.17.2005Time saving cheater to avoid afternoon TS. Took 8:00 AM Cog to Mountview and hiked to A-frame, reached summit at 1:20. Descended close to 3:00 PM with li'l break at Barr Camp, got to Ruxton by 8:00 PM; still a long day on trail!
cp0915 - Aug 17, 2005 1:12 pm
Date Climbed: Aug 12, 2005Cheated my way up this one - but what a view! Took the time to find and step on the highpoint behind the, ugh, snack bar/gift shop. Also did some cragging just below the summit plateau.
hoosierhiker - Aug 12, 2005 11:28 am
Route Climbed: Crags Date Climbed: July 27, 2003With essentially no acclimitization, my friend Jeremy and I took the Crags route to the summit. The going was slow and we got a relatively late start of 6 a.m. and so ran into bad weather on the day down, which is to be expected in the mountains in the afternoon. We made the decision to ditch the trail and hitch our way back to the trailhead. See my trip report "Tour de Pikes" for the full story.
kjkrow - Aug 9, 2005 4:37 pm
Route Climbed: Crags Campground Trail Date Climbed: July 30, 2005Great early morning climb with some confusion in the early stages. Reached the summit at 8:00 AM and was back at the car by 10:30. Almost nobody on the way up and 40 or 50 on the way down. There was also a small herd of sheep on Pike's broad shoulder.
Great climb overall.
woodstrider - Aug 8, 2005 5:26 pm
Route Climbed: Barr Trail Date Climbed: 8/76 band 8/91I hiked to the summit 2 out of three attempts. Sure was a funny sensation to reach the top after passing through such wonderful and awesome landscape only to be confronted with a cog-rail, Parking lot and trading post. Though, I did appreciate the hot chocolat.
davebobk47 - Aug 5, 2005 2:16 pm
Route Climbed: Barr Trail Date Climbed: September 10, 2004Very bad altitude sickness. Thank goodness I had a ride down.
bklowe - Aug 3, 2005 5:55 pm
Route Climbed: Barr Trail from Manitou Springs City Hall Date Climbed: July 30, 2005Training for the Pikes Peak Ascent, I decided to try the whole course (13.3 miles, 7800 ft. gain) beforehand so I wouldn't be surprised come race day. Absolutely brutal. I didn't run any of the trail, but maintained a strong hiking pace and didn't stop and rest at all. Managed to summit in 4:47, exhausted and amazed to see so many tourists on the top, especially 300+lb. smokers. Go figure.
Cortez - Jul 30, 2005 11:25 am
Route Climbed: Northwest Slope from Crags Campground Date Climbed: September 20, 2002If you want to visit Pikes Peak without the crowds on the Barr trail use the crags route.
We were caught in an early season snowstorm & decided to make camp at treeline, just below a series of remarkable rock formations (looked like Pikes Peak Granite). We made it to the summit the following day just before noon. The remenants of the "summer gaper factor" in the Centennial state had subsided by this time of the year to visitation to the top was sparse.
A Word About the Cog & the road:
The modernized Pikes Peak Cog Railway and the tourist road to the summit offers a lazy alternatives to hiking this famous mountains. The road sprays unnecessay carcinogens into the already polluted urban landscape of the Front Range. The Cog is worth riding once but if you are only visiting the mountain once, hike it!
The gift shop & obnoxious monument to Katherine Lee Bates detract from the overall pristine quality of this historical peak.
Scott Wesemann - Jul 27, 2005 4:44 pm
Route Climbed: Barr Date Climbed: 9/01This was an amazing hike. Just below the summit an electrical storm moved in. We waited it out before going to the top and it was very impressive. Kind of weird to see the buildings and cars on top...