Because of extreme snow conditions and high avalanche danger on the east face of Pikes Peak, this year’s annual AdAmAn Club hike to the summit for a New Year’s fireworks show took an unusual turn up the Pikes Peak Highway. For the first time since the 1940’s, Club members and their guests were forced to abandon the Barr Trail route and instead rerouted up the Pikes Peak Highway from Glen Cove to the summit.
Our new member, Patrick Naughton, led the climbers up the 7.5 mile route to the summit, leaving Glen Cove at around 9:30 AM in grueling weather conditions and high winds. All arrived safely on the summit at about 2:30 PM in plenty of time to prepare the annual midnight fireworks show. Club President Ted Lindeman said “I think there were some people that thought we were just going to drive to the top of this mountain”.
After arriving safely at the summit and make necessary preparations, 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, 2006.
Under clear skies and high winds, our climbing party 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.
Our newest AdAmAn Club member, Patrick Naughton, is the 89th member inducted into the AdAmAn Club, a Pikes Peak area tradition since 1922. He has made the trek up Barr Trail ten previous times as a guest, so the climbing party this year was in experienced hands.
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!