NEW YEAR’S EVE PLANNER
Pikes Peak pyrotechnics
AdAmAn Club Fireworks
From the summit of Pikes Peak, at the stroke of midnight Saturday
There’s always someone willing to take the hard way to the top. In the case of Pikes Peak in winter, that someone is a band of 30 mountaineering members of the AdAmAn Club brave and crazy enough to spend two days traversing the the 12.6-mile Barr Trail to the 14,110-foot summit of America’s mountain, where they’ll set off a brilliant pyrotechnic display. There are, of course, stops along the way, including a bonfire on Friday night near Barr Camp, and a half-hour from 11-11:30 a.m. Saturday when the group uses hand mirrors to flash a greeting to Colorado Springs below. The group will test-fire five bombs at 9 p.m. to honor the original “Frozen Five” who climbed the peak in Dec. 22, 1922, and surprised the citizenry below by shooting off flares and fireworks and building a huge bonfire from railroad ties. Just as it has every year since then, the big show will go off at the stroke of midnight, providing a display that is purported to be visible for hundreds of miles up and down the Front Range and far into the Eastern Plains. We promise, this one’s worth staying up for.
MORE FOR
SATURDAY
11 A.M., NOON AND 1 P.M. Happy Noon Year | the Children’s Museum of Denver counts down the new year in Asia, Latin America and Europe with a ball drop and “safe” fireworks.
11 a.m. – Japan New Year’s ball drop followed by Japanese Taiko Drumming’s traditional New Year’s drumming performance.
Noon – Mexico New Year’s ball drop, followed by Fiesta Colorado’s traditional dance performance.
1 p.m. – Ireland New Year’s ball drop, followed by step-dance performance by the Reed School of Irish Dance. | 2121 Children’s Museum Drive, Denver | 303-433-7444
4-8 P.M. Jingle Rails Snowboard Rail Jam | snowboard rail competition for regional professional and amateur athletes. DJ and MC, plus demonstrations. | Cooper Creek Square in Winter Park | 970-726-1590
EVENING New Year’s Eve Marshall Pass Snowmobile Ride | south of Salida, sponsored by the Heart of the Rockies Snowmobile Club. | Off U.S. 285, south of Poncha Springs | 719-539-6168
EVENING New Year’s Eve Cottonwood Pass Snowmobile Ride | includes a chili dinner and a back-of-the-mountain view of the Pikes Peak fireworks show | Cottonwood Pass | 719-395-6612
9 P.M. & MIDNIGHT New Year’s Eve Fireworks Downtown|official celebration marks the start of the new year with fireworks shot off along the 16th Street Mall. | Downtown Denver
MIDNIGHT Diamonds in the Sky | fireworks display over frozen Grand Lake. | Downtown Grand Lake | 970-627-3372
