Into Thin Air

A good book, recommended by a friend.

Brought to mind yesterday when I drove up Pikes Peak. The 19 1/2 mile road to the summit is interesting, and you have to stay on your toes, as there's no guard rail on a good part of it. I recommend the audio guide on CD ($7), it lasts about 50 minutes, which is the average (ahem) duration of the drive up from the entry.

14110 feet of altitude is noticeable, you have roughly half the oxygen available per lungful, as compared to sea level. Also of note was the temperature, since it was 70-ish (Fahrenheit) at the base when I started up at 10 am, and 43 degrees at the summit, though since the mostly-nitrogen has a lower heat carrying capacity than the almost-sea-level air I'm used to, I was somewhat comfortable in short sleeves.

Pictures to follow, soon...I took about 50.

In related links, looks like there's going to be autonomous vehicles climbing the Peak soon:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/13/the-darpa-pikes-peak-robot-hill-climb/

The annual road race up the Peak took place recently:
http://www.ppihc.com/