3'' Pikes Peak, Colorado, USA

The most well-known of Colorado's 53 "fourteeners" (mountains exceeding 14,000'), Pikes Peak rises to 14,115' from a base of around 9000' just West of Colorado Springs. The mountain is named for Zebulon Pike, an explorer hired by Thomas Jefferson to explore the newly-acquired Louisiana Purchase. He was just 26 when his expedition first saw the mountain in 1806, which he named "Grand Peak." His party attempted to climb it, but was not equipped for the cold and turned back well before the summit. A carriage road up the mountain enabled the first automobile to reach the summit in 1901, the whole trip taking just over 9 hours. Now, racers in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb use a much-improved road to make the trip in under 9 minutes.

Pikes Peak is just about driving: there is a bicycle race to the summit, a marathon up the Barr Trail, and a cog railway. In 1893, Professor Katharine Bates was so taken by the view from the top that she wrote the words to "America the Beautiful." She commented "All the wonder of America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse."

The TinyMtn model of Pikes Peak encompasses just over 15 square miles of the mountain, including most of the Pikes Peak Highway and much of Barr Trail and the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway. The Southwest-most corner of the model is just above Wilson Reservoir, but includes Bighorn Reservoir. Pikes Peak's south ridge is included all the way down to Sachett Mountain, around which the cog railway descends. Manitou Reservoir is just off the Northeast corner, but the model contains the valleys drained by North and South Fork French Creek. Glen Cove and Devils Playground, along the Northwest ridge, round out the model.

Model scale is 1:83500
Model covers an area approximately 3.9 by 3.9 miles
Altitudes covered: 9179' to 14116'
There is never any vertical exaggeration in TinyMtn models.

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TinyMtn models are most affordable in the "White Strong and Flexible" and "Sandstone" materials. This model is in "White Strong and Flexible." When you receive the model, there may still be Nylon dust on it from the printing process. Use either an airbrush, canned dust blower, or a soft old toothbrush to remove this dust. Do not get the "White Strong and Flexible" material wet, and don't prime it or use any oil-based paints on it. You can safely seal it with Polycrylic or a similar water-based clear spray sealant. Read more about this popular material here.

The "Frosted Detail" material will show more detail, but is semi-transparent and has an uneven surface texture when unpainted (due to the orientation of the model when Shapeways prints it). It may show up feeling a little greasy and with small crystals in crevasses. Clean those off by soaking the model in warm (but not hot) soapy water and brushing with an old toothbrush. To get the surface to an even matte finish, spray with a few light coats of sandable primer (white automotive primer works), and then do a baking soda grit-blast.

These models have been optimized for the above materials, and are not offered in other materials for strength or cost reasons. If you need one in another material, please contact us and we'll try to accommodate your request.

(C) 2015 TinyMtn (TM)
Model created using GDAL, NetPBM, Gmsh, Carve, MeshLab, and other custom software
Source of digital elevation data: U.S. Geological Survey
The USGS home page is https://www.usgs.gov/