Bob Salem is somewhat of a modern-day Sisyphus. But nuttier.
Unlike the Greek legend who was condemned to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity, Salem aims to push a peanut up Pikes Peak. With his nose. By choice.
Salem will embark on his Pikes Peak peanut push on July 9, and intends to reach the 14,115-foot summit on his hands and knees by July 17.
According to a release from the city of Manitou Springs, Salem will use a “contraption taped to his nose” to roll the legume up the 13-mile long Barr Trail. He’s making the attempt in honor of the city’s 150th anniversary at the base of the 14er.
Improbable as it sounds, the journey to shell and back has been accomplished before ― not once, not twice, but three times.
In 1929, a Texan by the name of Bill Williams became the first after making a $500 bet with his friends. He and the peanut summited “America’s Mountain” in 22 days.
That record fell in 1963 when a 21-year-old rock and roll musician named Ulysses Baxter made the push in just eight days. Baxter enlisted the help of a large wooden salad spoon, which he taped to his nose, a newspaper photo taken as he neared the summit shows.
For the curious, a prior pusher’s peanut is placed, permanently, at the Manitou Springs Heritage Center and Museum: