Pikes Peak International Hill Climb
Saturday, June 26, 2004
www.ppihc.com
The mountain is not run by the National Forest Service, since it's such a big tourist attraction, it's run by the city of CO Springs. So, unfortunately, the usual NFS rules don't apply. Camping on the mountain hasn't been allowed for a few years, so I think we should just drive down the day of the race.
They close the top portion of the road at 7:15 am, so we need to get there very early, the bottom of the road opens at 4:00 am. Stage 4 and 5 of the SCCA Pro Rally are on Saturday afternoon too. The road is closed during the race, so we’d be stuck at our viewing point until the race is over, the FAQ says anywhere from 3 – 6 pm.
A few of us went down to check things out Saturday, June 5. The weather was great while we were up there, but by the time we got down, you couldn't even see the mountain because of the cloulds that moved in. A good example that the weather can change very fast. We'll need to plan for weather that ranges from sunny and 60 to freezing rain and 30.
We've decided to watch the race from Devil's Playground, you can see many turns from there, but you'll need binoculars to see the lower ones. We'll be no more than 100 yards from the parking area, so we have access to food, water, alcohol, and whatever else we bring along.
We also got more information from a ranger. We should get to the entrance by 3:30am to get a good spot at Devil's Playground, the road up there opens at 4am. He said there will already be a line of cars waiting at that time and that they usually get 8,000 spectators. The race doesn't start until 9:30am, so we'll have plenty of time to try to get some sleep (or at least try to).
I have some pics that show what part of the course we can see from Devil's Playground, but can't figure out how to attach them. Email me at
mattsfeir@comcast.net and I'll send them to you or someone could host them for me.
Let me know if you're interested in or any other questions you have.
