Happy New Year 2004– AdAmAn Style
Members and guests of The AdAmAn Club lit up the summit of 14,110 foot Pikes Peak with a brilliant fireworks display at midnight on December 31, 2003.
Under clear skies and high winds, our climbing party of 16 members and 14 guests, braved harsh weather to ignite 60 shells and 40 flares. The east face of Pikes Peak was brightly illuminated and we had reports that our show was seen from Denver to Pueblo.
During our 2-day climb, AdAmAn’s newest member, Don Sanborn of Colorado Springs, had the difficult task of breaking trail over the 13.2 mile Barr Trail. At the end of the first day, our overnight stay at Barr Camp (elevation 10,200 feet) gave the climbing party a chance to get a hot meal and a good night’s sleep.
Don Sanborn is the 86th member inducted into the AdAmAn Club, a Pikes Peak area tradition since 1922. He has made the trek up Barr Trail seven previous times as a guest, so the climbing party this year was in experienced hands. Don's Grandfather, Don Lawrie, became a member of the club in 1940 and President of the club in 1941. “I'm very proud to be able to follow, literally, in Granddad's footsteps”, Sanborn said.
Our second day’s climb included the tradition of mirror flashing at the Timberline shelter, and we were pleased to report hundreds of return mirror flashes from all over the Colorado Springs area. Fierce winds and icy conditions prevailed over the final 3 miles of the climb, from timberline at 12,000 feet to the Summit.
Our thanks to the residents of the Pikes Peak Region for your continued support of the Pikes Peak AdAmAn Club. It was again a pleasure to help welcome the New Year from the summit of America’s Mountain, an AdAmAn tradition since 1922!