September starts snow season on Pikes Peak

Fall doesn’t officially begin for a few weeks but the change of seasons is being reflected on Pikes Peak.

Snow can fall on America’s mountain at any time of the year, but September is when we start seeing more snow and lingering accumulation on or near the summit.

“It snowed last Labor Day weekend and again this Labor Day weekend,” said Jack Glavan, manager of Pikes Peak. “That’s about normal. We saw 4 to 5 inches but much of it melted. It snowed Sunday and Wednesday. There was enough to plow between the summit and Glen Cove.”

On Wednesday afternoon, snow forced the closure of the Pikes Peak Highway above Glen Cove, and did it again Thursday afternoon.

The snow makes the summit a sloppy mess when combined with construction on a new summit house to be completed in 2020.

The snow excites visitors who rarely see it or don’t see it in their home states until later in the year.

In a related matter, Glavan said that, despite construction and the loss of the Cog Railway, attendance at Pikes Peak is 15 percent above last year’s record number.

Glavan also said the new shuttle bus service, created to offset the Cog’s absence, will run two weeks longer than originally planned and will continue through the end of September.