Summit Visitor Center

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The new Summit Visitor Center is open!

The new state-of-the-art Pikes Peak Summit Visitor Center (altitude: 14,115 feet) opened in June 2021, providing people of all ages and abilities an exciting new experience on the summit of Pikes Peak. The facility provides improved accessibility throughout the entire summit, engaging interpretive exhibits that share the history of the mountain, a revamped gift shop, and indoor and outdoor dining areas where visitors can enjoy a world-famous Pikes Peak donut and other delicious treats while taking in the expansive views. The building and outdoor walkways were designed to create a seamless, immersive experience. From arrival at the summit and through all steps, visitors are enveloped in the natural forms of America’s Mountain.

Construction Notice

Visitors will see final construction work taking place throughout the site, including paving and exterior steel work. This is scheduled to complete in September 2022. All summit parking areas are being paved and striped to help ensure maximum parking efficiency.

Menu

There are many snack and meal options available for purchase in the new Summit Visitor Center. Menu items are subject to change based on availability.

  • Breakfast items: breakfast egg burrito; sausage, egg and cheese biscuit
  • Soups: tomato basil; chili con carne; pork green chili with tortilla strips; mac & cheese
  • Sandwiches: all-beef hotdog; beyond brat; angus cheeseburger; grilled cheese; BBQ pulled pork; pizza (cheese or pepperoni)
  • Donuts: fudge; cinnamon sugar; powdered sugar

Awards

  • 2022 Columbine Award for Renovated Facility Design for the Pikes Peak Summit Visitors Center
  • 2022 Colorado Professional Award presented by ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects) for the Pikes Peak Summit Complex
  • 2022 Meeting the Challenge of a Difficult Job (Subcontractor) – Silver - ICI, LLC
  • 2022 Meeting the Challenge of a Difficult Job (General Contractor) – ACE – GE Johnson
  • 2022 Best In Business Pikes Peak Summit from the Colorado Springs Business Journal
  • 2022 PCI Design Award: Special Award: All-Precast Concrete Solution Award
  • 2022 PCI Design Award: Special Award: Sustainable Design Award
  • 2022 ACEC Colorado Engineering Excellence Award - Submitted by contractor
  • 2022 Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) Design Award: Special Award: All-Precast Concrete Solution Award
  • CSI Environmental Stewardship Award
  • 2021 Aramark Sustainability Award
  • 2021 Aramark Partner of the Year
  • 2021 Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) Environmental Stewardship Award

Our Road to Sustainability

Every aspect of the new visitor center was carefully and thoroughly reviewed with sustainability at the forefront of the entire project. It is the most sustainable high-altitude structure in the country, if not the world. Designed to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification, a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement, it also strives to achieve the Living Building Challenge (LBC), which is a two-year certification process for highly sustainable, zero-energy buildings. Currently, no other buildings in the state of Colorado are fully LBC certified.

There are seven performance areas, or petals, of LBC; elements of which are integrated into the design and operation of the visitor center. The petals, which represent the efficiency of a flower – the symbol of an ideal built environment – stand for place, water, energy, health and happiness, materials, equity and beauty. LBC is operated by the International Living Future Institute(link is external), a global nonprofit organization. To meet the challenge, the visitor center must be regenerative in nature. This means it must be self-sufficient and remain within the resource limits of its site; connect occupants to light, air, nature, community and food; and create a positive impact on the human and natural systems that interact with it.

Road to Sustainability - Intro

Project Partners: