Pikes Peak - America’s Mountain, is one of Colorado’s many 14ers, but the only one with a bustling visitor’s center that serves scientifically crafted, fresh donuts. The visitor’s center, called Pikes Peak Summit House, has always used a special recipe to fry donuts at 14,115-feet, where the air is thinner, and water has a lower boiling point. To get the delicious fried treats and experience breathtaking views, visitors can hike, bike, or drive up the mountain.
In 2018, construction crews broke ground on the new replacement for the Summit House, the Pikes Peak Summit Complex. One special requirement of the project was for the Summit House to remain open during construction of the Summit Complex to keep donuts available to anyone who reaches the summit.
On an already difficult job, the team never thought that donuts would present an additional challenge. The new donut machine for the Summit Complex weighs more than 1,500 pounds and is too large to fit through most of the door openings, so the team installed the machine early in the project. Rob Clough, GE Johnson superintendent, jokes that the Summit Complex was essentially built around the new donut machine.
“It’s in the building and is a self-contained machine. We also found a backup machine that is smaller in size so it can be moved in and out of storage in the facility when needed to make sure donuts are always available,” said Clough.
The new machine, the highest fryer in North America producing more than 500,000 donuts a year, meets Living Building Challenge (LBC) guidelines that specify requirements to positively impact the place, community, and culture of the project. Aramark will be using the same donut recipe that has been passed down since 1916, which only works at the 14,115-foot elevation or higher. According to Tammy McIntyre, national director of retail operations for Aramark, the fresh donuts can be tossed with the guests’ selection of signature seasonings, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, cardamom and coriander, or sugar and cinnamon and nutmeg. This is a new feature for the Summit’s delicious baked good!
As construction crews enter the third and final winter building the Summit Complex on top of Pikes Peak, the project team plans to continue work through the winter, pushing to complete interiors. Instead of using shuttle passenger vans that were used in the summer, 4x4 SUV’s will truck workers up safely to the site through wintery conditions.
The Summit Complex project is around 65% complete, with the project team completing all exterior building slabs in October, as well as completing 100% of the exterior glazing and roofing systems in early November so the building can be weather tight. The project is currently projected for completion in the spring of 2021. The existing Summit House, constructed in 1963, will remain fully operational to visitors throughout the construction process.
The 38,000-square-foot Summit Complex will include a newly designed and constructed summit visitor center including a mechanical space and the Colorado Springs Utilities communications facility. The new center will be LEED certified and is being constructed to meet the Living Building Challenge – the world’s most rigorous proven performance standard for buildings.
Article submitted by GE Johnson