Early Ascents on Pikes Peak

Traverse Colorado's early mountain history

Magnificent Pikes Peak rises dramatically from the Colorado prairie to a height of 14,114 feet above sea level. Visible for one hundred miles, the granite giant's magnetic appeal compelled rugged mountaineers more than a century ago to risk loose saddles, electrical storms and even murder on treacherous expedition to the summit. First known as Long Mountain by the Native Americans who sojourned at its hot springs, Pikes Peak was a full-fledged tourist destination by the 1870s. Eager men and women ventured up and down by foot, horse, burro, stagecoach, rail and bicycle. Colorado Mountain Club historian Woody Smith captures the news of the era to recount the thrill of pioneer days on America's most famous mountain. 

Product Details:

Copyright 2015 by Woody Smith

Published by The History Press

 Paperback, 138 pages

Dimension: 6" x 9"

About the Author:

Colorado Mountain Club historian since 2003, Woody has hiked to the summit of Pikes Peak twice, reached the summit once by car and once by cog rail, climbed eighty-five of Colorado's one hundred highest peaks, made a few minor discoveries including a probable first-known ascent of Kit Carson Mountain in 1883 and led a successful 2005 effort to name Colorado's seventy-fifth highest peak for Mary Cronin--the first woman and fourth person to climb all of the state's fourteen-thousand-foot peaks, finishing in 1934