Record Snows on Pikes Peak

Colorado Springs is nestled at the base of Pikes Peak. The mountain scenery is gorgeous. Two years ago there wasn’t a bit of snow on the Peak on the Fourth of July. This year there will probably be quite a bit.

Climbers get the cold shoulder

This is the snowiest spring on Pikes Peak in more than a decade. Barr Camp recorded 231 inches of snow this winter. (It only saw 50 inches in 2006.)
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Hikers venturing above treeline will find that the peak is more wintry this May than it usually is in January, and they should be prepared.

“The snow is still waist-deep in places, and we just got more today,” Taylor, the caretaker at Barr Camp, said Wednesday. Every day, she warns people that the trail is buried.

A couple of Air Force cadets had to be rescued when they couldn’t make the last five miles from Barr Camp to the summit. They started early in the morning expecting to make it long before the last train left at 4:00 PM. They didn’t. They did get down safely, however, with the help of a helicopter rescue team.

Temperatures at the summit have hovered around freezing for days. Snow will likely last into June or July.

“It’s been warm in town, and people think, ‘How much snow can there be?’ There’s a lot,” Taylor said. “And it’s wet, deep snow. You’re going to sink in and get soaked through.”