The Foot of the Rockies

A few highlights of Colorado Springs: go to a CC Tigers hockey game, a Sky Sox baseball game, check out Garden of the Gods, hike Pike's Peak, eat a meal at the Broadmoore, try and get your picture on the wall at Mountain Shadows, or just sit in a park and watch the sun set over the Rockies

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

Public transportation here is terrible, and walking is out of the question because the town is physically huge. You'll have to drive or take a taxi.

The Broadmoor is one of the nicest hotels in the Western United States. Period. You could stay for a month at motel six for the same price as 2 days at the Broadmoor, which I find a little absurd, but it's still worth visiting for dessert of an all you can eat breakfast buffet, or for a walk around the grounds.

The Broadmoor is mostly a golfing resort built around a little lake and surrounded by greens. The insides of the hotel are immaculate, and the food is superb. Since I've never had an extra hundred dollars to drop on dinner, I haven't eaten a full meal there, but on special ocassionas I have been known to go to dessert or breakfast at the Broadmoor.

Dessert: Yum. Nothing else to describe it. Walk into the upstairs dining room and be seated, and pig out with anything the chef concocted for the day. Afterwards, stroll around outside with your significant other and finally take a seat in front of a huge fire pit burning on their patio. There's usually lots of comfy seats.

For breakfast, it's all you can eat, with lots of crepes and fresh fruit and berries, the main reason I went there. If you eat correctly, you can actually get more than your money's worth!

Normally, I wouldn't say anyone should bother going here, but if you're goal oriented or like doing bizarre things, here's a good little-known place with quite a history.

Mountain Shadows.

On their menu, there's caption below the pancakes: eat 3 and you're immortalized with a picture on their wall and a free t-shirt (sized XXL).

Easy enough, right? I figured I'd try it one day after skiing. I was up for some nighttime pancakes, so I stopped in there with some friends. We were hungrier than we'd ever been. I ordered three pancakes -- how hard could it be, right?

'Yes, I'd like three pancakes, please.'

She told me I didn't know what I was getting myself into. She told me that in order to have my picture on the wall I'd have to finish them in 4 hours. She told me they were big. I didn't believe her. Then she brought out a snow shovel: 'We flip them with this.'

Oh my! At any rate, I conceded, and she brought out 2 pancakes. I managed to eat HALF OF ONE pancake, and I couldn't eat anything else for a few days. They're nearly two feet in diameter and about two inches thick; the people on the wall are champions.

If you're in Colorado Springs, by all means, you have to stop at the Garden. GOG is literally one of the most bizarre geological formations in all of Colorado, and rightfully so.

Here's the deal: There was a lot of sandy deposit, and then some more and some more. Over the years, it was smashed into sandstone, and then some sort of uplift occured, so this entire horizontal layer of sand was now a vertical layer of sand. As time passed, the softer sand eroded away until what you see at the Garden was left over: the hardest of the hard sand layers, sticking straight up in the air, up to 400 feet. What's even more bizarre is that these plates are sometimes as narrow as 6 feet! It looks as though someone took a few dinner plates, broke them in random places, and then stuck the shards sideways in a sandbox, and that's Garden of the Gods.

As far as climbing here goes, be warned: you'll feel like you're part of a zoo exhibit. Thousands of the tourists will think you're insane, take your picture, and hang your image on their walls when they return home. Good! You're famous. The other objective dangers are loose rock and lots of sand. I learned to climb in the Garden, so I am used to it, but if you're normally on granite, beware. Cams have been known to skate 6 inches on long falls, nuts frequently blow the rock out, and ropes have been shredded on sharp edges. Use caution and be prudent, and you'll be okay.

The climbing, frankly, is superb. A lot of people complain about GOG climbing, but that's beause they're not used to it. The rock is soft friable sandstone, but it's at the base of the Rockies in a very accessible place that is extremely strange. Anyone who climbs there will surely remember it for a long time.

Recommded routes:
Montezuma's Revenge: 5.8 (climbs the knifeblade of a fin for 200 feet, need 2 ropes for the rap.)
Any of the sport climbs on Kindergarden Rock (5.8 - 5.12) the rock here is very hard and compact.

Tigers Hockey is an event.

Colorado College is a tiny liberal arts college set in the heart of Colorado Springs, part of El Paso County. El Paso County is the fourth most Republican county in the entire nation. This says something about the relationships between the townfolk and the college kids.

However, all differences are set aside during the hockey season, because Colorado College is home to one of the very best collegiate hockey teams in the entire nation. In 1995, my freshman year, we lost by one point in overtime in the NCAA finals to a school with 20 times as many students. Not too shabby! The players are excellent, and usually wind up being signed to major NHL teams after they graduate -- recent grads are playing in LA, Philly, etc., and one is even playing pro in Italy.

At any rate, be prepared for a spectacle. The students go to the games and get rowdy, shouting taunts at the opposing team, and they're usually joined in by the several thousand other local fans. A good time is had by all, except of course the opposing teams which invariably lose, and the refs, who get bullied all night long.

Here's one of the best mountain bike rides in Colorado Springs, which is famous for great biking. May I remind you that the Olympic Training Center is in the town, so there are lots of professional cyclists all over everywhere.

Begin your ride anywhere, and go to Cheyanne Canyon. It's a steep uphill grunt, probably will take between 20 and 40 minutes depending on your fitness, to get to the parking lot at the top. From there, follow a fire road straight towards Pike's Peak and loop it around until you go up and over a tunnel. Directly after the tunnel, veer off to the right and follow a single track up about 2 or 3 miles till you get to a huge waterfall -- St. Mary's Falls. Turn around here and burn your way back to the fire road, cross back over the tunnel, and cruise back towards the parking lot. Along the way back, there's a 150 degree right hand turn: after you take the turn, cruise about 100 - 200 yards and be on the look out for a single-track on your left. Follow it up, perhaps 20 more minutes, till you crest at a saddle. Take a rest here, and drop in to Captain Jack's, a rip roaring thrill back towards town. Huge berms make the descent like a roller coaster. You'll wind up on a rood soon, and the single track picks up on the other side of the road and to the left a little bit. Follow it down to the next road -- beware of motorcycle guys -- and go left for several miles. The gravel turns to pavement, and at this point be looking for a singletrack off to your right, this is the Chutes. Hit the Chutes, and you're back to the bottom of Cheyanne Canyon. Total time around an hour and a half.