The Most Sustainable High-Altitude Structure in the U.S. Features S-5! Snow Retention

Standing at 14,115 feet above sea level, Pikes Peak is home to majestic views, a National Historic Landmark, more than a half a million visitors per year, and for the past three years, the highest ongoing construction site in North America. Mounted on its new $60 million, 38,000-square-feet Pikes Peak Visitor Center’s standing seam metal roof is S-5! ColorGard.

All pre-fabricated building components used in construction meet and exceed green, sustainable certifications, including its new sate-of-the art mechanically seamed metal roof (with a service life of 70+ years) and S-5!'s ColorGard snow retention (warrantied for the life of the roof).

The weather on Pikes Peak is cold, icy, windy and generally unforgiving.  By October, temperatures can plummet to zero, with wind chills falling even lower. Snowstorms sweep in quickly, with wind gusts reaching over 150 mph. During the winter, temperatures can drop to -40 degrees. Roof design snow loads are 125 pounds per-square-foot on the Peak vs. an average of 30 pounds per-square-foot in nearby Colorado Springs. 

S-5! ColorGard was custom-designed and engineered for this project to withstand these extreme winter conditions and mitigate potential rooftop avalanches, dramatically reducing the risk of sudden and unexpected release of snow slides while providing a long-term solution for the life of the 22-gauge, DMC 200S, 2” mechanically seamed metal roof.

Roof Project Team:

• General Contractor: GE Johnson Construction 
• Architect: GWWO Architects 
• Architect of Record: RTA Architects
• Roofing Contractor: Weathercraft Co. of Colorado Springs
• Snow Guard Supplier: S-5!