Pikes Peak Highway
Nineteen miles from the gateway at Cascade to the top of Pikes Peak, gaining more than 5,500 feet on the way. It is open year-round, weather permitting, which in practice means the gate opens most mornings and how far up you get depends on what the mountain did overnight.
Does Pikes Peak Highway close in winter?
Open all year
Pikes Peak is open year-round, weather permitting. There is no spring opening date to wait for — but there is no guarantee of the summit either, and gate hours move with the season.
The highway is closed on Thanksgiving Day, on Christmas Day, and on the third Sunday in June for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Everything else is weather: on a bad day the gate opens and the road turns you back partway up.
Conditions change by the hour at 14,115 feet on Pikes Peak Summit — check Pikes Peak's status page before you drive. This page is trip-planning history, not road status.
The road itself
It is not one of the 184 roads in the federal byway collection. The city runs it as a fee road with its own gates and hours.
The drive
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Gateway Mile 3 8,540 ft
Where the fee is collected and the climb starts.
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Crystal Reservoir and Visitor Center Mile 6 9,160 ft
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Shuttle lot Mile 7 9,300 ft
Where the summer shuttle starts and ends.
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Glen Cove Visitor Center Mile 13 11,440 ft
The century-old cabin, and where rangers check brake temperatures on the way down.
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Devils Playground Mile 16 12,780 ft
Above treeline, on the tundra.
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Pikes Peak Summit Mile 19 14,115 ft
The Summit Visitor Center, and the view that prompted 'America the Beautiful'.
What's on the road
- The speed limit is 30 mph unless posted otherwise, and uphill traffic has the right of way at all times.
- Use a low gear for the first two miles past the Gateway, and keep it low on the steep grades — rangers check brake temperatures at Glen Cove on the way down, and a car with hot brakes gets pulled over to cool.
- Start with at least half a tank of gas. There is no fuel on the mountain.
- Conditions change fast enough that the operator keeps a recorded road-conditions line, updated about fifteen minutes before opening and again as the day changes.
Nearby: Mount Blue Sky Scenic Byway · Trail Ridge Road
Pikes Peak Highway is one of the roads on our scenic byway and seasonal road index — every road here, with its designation, length and winter in one table.
Where these facts come from
- Pikes Peak — America's Mountain: hours and rates
- Pikes Peak — America's Mountain: mountain driving
- Pikes Peak — America's Mountain: the mileposts and their elevations
- FHWA: America's Byways, the designated roster
Last checked August 25, 2026.
Pikes Peak Highway: closing and opening questions
- Does Pikes Peak Highway close in winter?
- Pikes Peak is open year-round, weather permitting. There is no spring opening date to wait for — but there is no guarantee of the summit either, and gate hours move with the season.
- What closes Pikes Peak Highway?
- The highway is closed on Thanksgiving Day, on Christmas Day, and on the third Sunday in June for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Everything else is weather: on a bad day the gate opens and the road turns you back partway up.
- Is Pikes Peak Highway open right now?
- This page is the road, not its condition this morning. City of Colorado Springs — Pikes Peak, America's Mountain publishes the current state of Pikes Peak Highway, and that is the one to check before you drive.
Watching a spring trip? The opening watch board follows every road we keep a record for at once.