Happy New Year 2006– AdAmAn Style
Members and guests of the Pikes Peak AdAmAn Club lit up the summit of 14,110 foot Pikes Peak with a brilliant fireworks display at midnight on December 31, 2005.
Under clear skies and high winds, our climbing party of 18 members and 12 guests, braved wind chills of –45 degrees 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, Rev. David Hunting of Manitou Springs, had the hard 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.
Rev. Hunting is the 88th member inducted into the AdAmAn Club, a Pikes Peak area tradition since 1922. He has made the trek up Barr Trail nine previous times as a guest, so the climbing party this year was in experienced hands. “I always tell people it’s inspiring to be on the summit of Pikes Peak at midnight”, Hunting 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!