Episode Details

For nearly a century, a handful of people have done something truly unhinged: pushed a peanut all the way up Pikes Peak using only their face. Today Carly and Lauren sit down with two guests: the reigning champ, Bob Salem, who crawled from the Barr Trail trailhead to the summit in a record seven days in 2022, plus Manitou Mike Maio, who knows every twist of this bizarre local legend.

Why you need to hear this one:

• The origin story is a 1929 lost bet. A Texas man named Bill Williams lost $50 on the 1928 presidential election, then tried to win it back by nosing a peanut 22 miles up the mountain. It took him 21 days and a lot of gloves.
• A rockabilly star did it next. In 1963, Ulysses Baxter pushed by day, performed in Colorado Springs by night, and ended up on late-night TV.
• There’s a disputed record. A 1976 college student claimed he did it in four days. With no witnesses. You decide.
• Bob’s push is pure Colorado grit. A CPAP mask and a flattened spoon. Knee padding you will never forget. Nights at Barr Camp. Chipmunks staring him down. A mysterious river of insects at 13,000 feet. A sunrise finish.
• The stakes were real. Bob opens up honestly about running out of water on the final climb and what the push cost him physically.
• The legend lives on. Ripley’s Believe It or Not bought his mask, he made the Ripley’s book, and the peanut pusher has been a Jeopardy clue. And the search for the next pusher is officially open.

We dive into all of the details and ask our most pressing questions in this episode. You’ll be telling everyone about this one for years. We already are.

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