The U.S. Army Pikes Peak Research Laboratory, or simply the "Pikes Peak Lab", is a modern medical research laboratory for the assessment of the impact of high altitude on human physiological and medical parameters of military interest. It is a satellite facility of the

U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine The U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) is the U.S Army’s main institution and facility for military environmental medicine and exercise physiology research. It is located at Natick, Massachusetts, within the U ...

(USARIEM), located in

Natick, Massachusetts Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. ...

. The Pikes Peak Lab is at the summit of

Pikes Peak Pikes Peak is the List of mountain ranges of Colorado#Mountain ranges, highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in North America. The Ultra-prominent peak, ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest ...

in central

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, USA. The summit is approximately of relatively flat, rocky terrain and is directly and easily accessible by automobile via the

Pikes Peak Highway The Pikes Peak Highway is a toll road that runs from Cascade, Colorado to the summit of Pikes Peak in El Paso County, at an altitude of . It is at least partially open year-round, up to the altitude where snow removal becomes excessively di ...

. The lab has been maintained by USARIEM since 1969 and is a building of . floor space divided into a kitchen and dining/day room, common area bathroom and shower, and common area sleeping quarters accommodating up to 16 research volunteers, a wet laboratory, a research area, and a mechanical room housing steel storage tanks for water and sewage. The building is well insulated and protected from the elements, supplied with electrical power, and heated by

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

. Also occupying the summit is the commercially operated lodging, the

Summit House A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

, for the 500 to 3000 tourists who come daily to the summit in the summer time by

car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

cog railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with ...

, or trail

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

US Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

ranger A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

s of the

Pike National Forest The Pike National Forest is located in the Front Range of Colorado, United States, west of Colorado Springs including Pikes Peak. The forest encompasses 1,106,604 acres (4,478 km2) within Clear Creek, Teller, Park, Jefferson, Douglas and E ...

have general administrative oversight of the greater area. The Pikes Peak Lab was renamed the USARIEM Maher Memorial Altitude Laboratory in honor of John T. Maher, Ph.D., director of USARIEM's Altitude Research Division from 1981 to 1983. file:Pikes Peak Army Research Laboratory.jpg, The front door to the Lab file:Pikes Peak Army Research Laboratory Plaque.jpg, Plaque on the side of the lab

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:United States Army Pike's Peak Research Laboratory Buildings and structures in El Paso County, Colorado

Pike's Peak Pikes Peak is the highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in North America. The ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest, west of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. The town of Manitou Spr ...

Pikes Peak Pike National Forest Medical and health organizations based in Colorado Military installations in Colorado 1969 establishments in Colorado