Dangerous conditions possible for Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is less than two weeks away and the race is facing a familiar obstacle, the weather.

Almost daily rain and snow storms on Pikes Peak have made driving conditions difficult, and that’s just for those obeying the speed limit.

Last year’s winner completed the 12.42 mile course in just 7 minutes and 57 seconds while hitting an average speed of 94 miles an hour.

This year, 88 drivers and riders from 17 nations are coming to America’s mountain to compete in the 97th running of The Race to the Clouds. Consisting of 156 turns and almost 5,000 feet of elevation gain, this one of a kind event attracts the bravest of competitors, making road conditions critical to the drivers’ safety.

Jack Glavan, Manager of Pikes Peak Highway said, “What we’re seeing is as the snow melts later in the afternoon, we start getting running water. But later in the evening it starts getting down below freezing again and it’ll freeze up the culverts and water will kinda go over the road. So we’ll have some patches of ice around the curves.”

Which would obviously be a huge problem come race day. But this isn’t the first time they’ve seen this problem.

“Last year, particularly at the 19 mile point, we still had ice on the road that we had to plow. And wait until it melted to start the race” stated Glavan.

A weather sensor on top of Pikes Peak has recorded precipitation 13 out of the last 14 days. This melt-freeze cycle will be something all racers will be keeping a close eye on.

The race will be held on Sunday June 30th starting at 7:30 a.m. With morning temperatures in the 20’s and 30’s on the mountain, you might want to bring a good coat. And if you don’t feel like braving the conditions, you can listen to flag-to-flag coverage of the race on KRDO News Radio. Coverage will begin at 7 a.m.