Drove up Pikes Peak - almost died lol - SRT Forums

pepsi21463 · 08-08-2007, 02:14 PM

My friend from Texas is in town and we have been hitting a lot of mountain passes in our cars. Yesterday we decided to tackle Pikes Peak, plus it's a cool place to go. Well, I was running late leaving my house and he got lost trying to find the mall where we were planning on meeting up. By the time we got to Colorado Springs the clouds were rolling in and I knew it would probably rain, but I had no idea what I was going to drive into.

Heading up highway 24 to Pikes Peak highway was a blast, especially if you know how to see the line.

We got to Pikes Peak highway and hauled ass on the paved part, the occasional tourist was smart enough to pull over and let us pass except for one jerk from Kansas. He just got in our way and did 10-15, we had been doing 50-70

Once we got to the dirt part we slowed way down (obviously) and enjoyed the scenery. About halfway up (it turns to pavement for the tight hairpins then goes to dirt again) we drove through one of the clouds. We had very little visibility but it wasn't scary, just low visibility. We stopped a few times for photo ops and kept driving up to the top where we ate lunch and looked at the cool clouds we had just drove through.

On the way down was when it got really scary, it started raining hard and I thought no big deal. We got to the hairpins and it started hailing really hard. My car does not do well on ice at all, somehow my friends Corvette was fine but my Mercedes definitely was not. It was basically a "controlled" slide the whole way down for me. Nothing like the road covered in ice, tight hairpins with sheer drop-offs that lead to death, and my car having no traction. Of all the driving I do that was by the far the scariest one ever. I love to drive, if there was one thing I could do besides trading it would be to drive on a well designed road course.

Anyways, here are some pics. The shots of the hail is right after the bad part (I couldn't stop before and get out since it was hailing way too hard). Just imagine all that hail, except you couldn't see any road whatsoever and thats what we had just gone through. It was fun though, and I can't wait to go back up.

kotu100 · 08-08-2007, 02:21 PM

wow, the scenery up there is freekin gorgeous. i know where im goin for my next roadtrip!!!

tinctorus · 08-08-2007, 02:23 PM

damn that looks like alot of fun up there i may have to take a trip out there and go for a drive and enjoy the rest of the area

**bitts** · 08-08-2007, 02:45 PM

Gotta put that on my TO DO List !

siberian57 · 08-08-2007, 02:59 PM

someday

cybr · 08-09-2007, 01:00 PM

I love that drive.

SRT4Quagmire · 08-09-2007, 01:04 PM

very nice looking up there...

srt4rmp · 08-09-2007, 04:40 PM

this is why i love Colorado!!!!

oo7srt · 08-13-2007, 12:56 PM

Have to make it up there one day!!

geekmonster · 08-13-2007, 10:53 PM

i def want to go up pikes peak someday, i am jealous of you. looks like one hell of a road and the heritage there is unparalleled. too bad they are trying to pave the whole thing, its going to kill the dirt rally crowd. i guess they'll always have hill climbs.

nice c class by the way. how does it do up there and what trim is it?

cybr · 08-14-2007, 02:07 PM

Most of the road is already paved. I witnessed the 'Monster' do the PPHC this year at 10min, and a itty bit.

SRTplease · 08-18-2007, 04:31 PM

I shall have to make that drive some time, looks fun.

HCCAFan · 08-18-2007, 04:58 PM

The last time I was there I was in a V6 Mustang rental and I didn't even bother. From the looks of it the pictures would have been worth it.