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Commonly known as Pikes Peak we like to call this awesome mountain Sliabh Grian (shlee-oo gree-un) or "Mountain of the Sun" in Gaelic. Each morning as the Sun rises over Colorado, it is the top of Sliabh Grian that is touched by the Sun before any other mountain in the state. In the morning the peak litterally glows red in the light of the new sun. Sliabh Grian is even made up of a red/pink granite that calls to mind the hue of the burning sun at the break of day. The granite of Sliabh Grian also contains large amounts of milky quartz or "grianchloch" in Gaelic, meaning "sun-stone". The following is an old Nuche (Ute) legend about Sliabh Grian or "Great White Mountain" as it was known to them. This legend was compiled about 50 years ago by Ford Frick and is on file at the Pioneers Museum in downtown Colorado Springs. "In the nestling vales and on the grassy plains which lie at the foot of the Great White Mountain, that points the way to heaven, lived the Chosen People. Here they dwelt in happiness together. And above them on the summit of the Mighty Peak, where stand the Western Gates of Heaven, dwelt the Manitou." "And that the Chosen People might know of his love the Manitou did stamp upon the Peak the image of his face that all might see and worship him...." "But one day as the storm clouds played about the Peak, the image of the Manitou was hid ... And down from the North swept a barbaric tribe of giants, taller than the spruce which grew upon the mountain side and so great that in their stamping strides they shook the earth." "And with the invading host came grewsome beasts - unknown and awful in their mightiness- monstrous beasts that would devour the earth and tread it down...." "And as the invading hosts came on the Chosen Ones fell to the earth at the first gentle slope of the mountain and prayed to Manitou for aid. Then came to pass a wondrous miracle. The clouds broke away and sunshine smote the Peak. And from the very summit, looking down, appeared the face of Manitou himself. And stern he looked upon the advancing host, and as he looked the Giants and the beasts turned into stone within their very steps...." "And when the white men came they called the spot the Garden of the Gods...but we who know the history of the Nuche still call it 'Valley of the Miracle,' for here it was that Manitou gave aid to save his chosen people...." Sliabh Grian is the easternmost fourteener in Colorado and seems to have the following associations: The Fire of the Sun, the Spear of Lugh, the East, beginings, birth, and the coming of the dawn. TO BAD THERE IS RESTAUTRANT AND GIFT SHOP AT ITS SUMMIT. Unfortunatly Sliabh Grian has suffered more "commercialization" than any other mountain in Colorado. One day we would LOVE to see the restaurant removed, the highway used less and less (perhaps open only to the elderly and the handicapped) and the glory of this mountain restored.
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