Pikes Peak Highway

The highway has been home to an annual automobile and motorcycle race called the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb since 1916.

[8] The environmental damage was caused primarily by the 150,000,000 pounds (70,000 metric tons) of gravel that washed away annually, the same amount that needed to be hauled up the mountain each year in order to maintain the road surface.

[9] Pursuant to the settlement agreed by the Sierra Club and the City of Colorado Springs, the unpaved portion of the Pikes Peak Highway became a hard-surface road, despite concerns that such a project would radically change the nature of the annual automobile and motorcycle race.

[10] Pike's Peak Hill Climb champion Rod Millen warned that paving the road would put an end to the race.

There is a SNOTEL weather station near the Glen Cove Visitor Center, located at the 13-mile marker for Pikes Peak Highway.

Entrance to the Pikes Peak Highway
A view of the highway as it nears the summit
Downhill drivers have to check the brake temperatures of their vehicle at this station
The winding Pikes Peak Highway, looking down from 13,000 feet (3,960 m) at milepost 16 September 2011
Suzuki Grand Vitara at the 2006 Race to the Clouds