Richard Bolt of the American Trail Running Association talks about the $50,000 Google Trekker and the challenges of carrying it to the top of Pikes Peak. Bolt gave a presentation at the Colorado Running Company on Monday, Aug. 14. The Trekker will provide a 360-degree view of Barr Trail, which begins in Manitou Springs and ends at the Summit of Pikes Peak.
More information here: The Colorado non-profit, American Trail Running Association (ATRA,) will be mapping the entire length of Barr Trail, bottom to top, through a unique project dubbed the Pikes Peak Trekker expedition. Bolt, along with a team of volunteers began hiking up Barr Trail on Tuesday (Aug. 15) morning.
The event was scheduled during Pikes Peak Marathon week, when mountain runners from around the world gather to celebrate and compete in the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon on August 19-20.
Led by Bolt, ATRA’s Director of Online Marketing, the expedition is comprised of three to four trail runners who will hike approximately six miles each day for two days with the 40-pound backpack-mounted camera system. The expedition will be documented with photos and video to be publicized through http://trailrunner.com/and our media partners.
Using Google Map’s backpack-mounted camera system, the team will capture panoramic “street-view” imagery of the Barr Trail, which is the route for the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon course. The resulting imagery will enable fans of the Pikes Peak race to view the entire length of the trail from the comfort of their home, or on the go with any mobile device. Currently, only a limited number of people per year have the fitness and privilege to race Pikes Peak. But with the Trekker's technology, anyone with a computer can see what the runners see during their journey from Manitou Springs to the 14,115' mountain summit.
After the Google Maps team has processed the image data, users will be able to view it on ATRA website at http://trailrunner.com/explore/pikes-peak-trekker/ or on one of our exclusive partner sites.
This project is a follow-up to our successful Western States Trekker project conducted in June 2016 with the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run in California. The Western States Trekker project page can be found http://trailrunner.com/explore/western-states-trekker/.
The Trekker will also be on display on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the Pikes Peak Expo leading up to the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon. Come see us at the Expo in Manitou Springs. To view images of the Trekker, click http://trailrunner.com/trail-news/join-us-for-peak-week-a-celebration-of-the-pikes-peak-ascent-and-marathon/.
Trekker Expedition sponsors include Salomon, Squirrel’s Nut Butter, Barr Camp, Colorado Running Company, VFuel, Electro-Bites, and the Pikes Peak Marathon.
Contact for the projects are: Richard Bolt, Nancy Hobbs, and Peter Maksimow.

To learn more about ATRA, visit www.trailrunner.com.