A club of people who, for no very good reason beyond tradition, feel the need to backpack up Pike's Peak (location: just west of Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA) over the 30th and 31st of December, and set off a fireworks display to be seen in the surrounding area to ring in the new year, whence to ride down in the cars graciously provided by the local four-wheel drive club.

They have a tradition of adding one new member every year, hence the name "Ad A mAn"—the capitalized A's being to symbolize the Cameron's Cone, Pike's Peak and Mount Manitou (former and the latter not of much significance). Note that, as of 1997, the first female member, Sue Graham, was elected, after a series of 13 climbs with the club, setting the precedent for further female additions, though none seem particularly interested in joining at this time. No-one has considered changing the name.

Should one feel fool-hardy enough to desire to join this club, one must first complete several climbs with the group as a guest. To become a guest for the first time, one must apply several months in advance, and be found, based on CV, to be an experienced non-technical mountaineer and in good physical condition. Additionally, one must be sponsored by an existing member of the group. It does become easier the second time round, and so on. Then, once one is elected into the group, the tradition holds that the new member lead the trek up the hill, and be responsible for the actual launching of the fireworks (though not necessarily the loading and arming of the bombs).

Historically, the club was founded on December 22, 1922, when a group of five local men—Fred Barr, Ed Morath, Fred Morath, Willis Magee, and Harry Standley—chose to eschew the rather boring balls and parties of new year's to climb Pike's Peak. They would become known as the "Frozen Five", homage to the primitive equipment (by modern, gore-tex standards) they used and the extremely brutal conditions that they encountered atop the mountain that year. Of course, they did need to prove their accomplishment, and to do so, they broke into the summit house, launched off flares, and built a bonfire of railroad ties, formerly property of the Cog Railroad, that could be seen from Colorado Springs. They were not, in any way, prosecuted, and founded a club that remains quite active to this day.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.