He estimates that he used nearly two dozen peanuts throughout the week

July 20, 2022 9:01 AM

Colorado Springs man becomes fourth person to push a peanut up Pikes Peak with his nose
posted by Etrigan (54 comments total)

It's nose day on Metafilter, I see.

I've got ethical questions about the prosthetic and "a" peanut.
posted by clawsoon at 9:20 AM on July 20, 2022 [16 favorites]

A link that helps explain the origin of this challenge for those of us who are confused why - The first [person to complete the peanut push up Pikes Peak], Bill Williams, had lost a bizarre bet that knew no bounds and subsequently performed the feat on May 20 through June 9, 1929.

That’s quite a bet - and quite the effort to follow through on it.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 9:23 AM on July 20, 2022 [5 favorites]

I feel like that little scoopy thing attached to his face is not his nose unless he has chosen some very interesting bionic implants.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:24 AM on July 20, 2022 [7 favorites]

Someone should have told him there’s a train, like, right there.
posted by mochapickle at 9:24 AM on July 20, 2022 [3 favorites]

But ... wouldn't you want to be the first person to use your nose to push a peanut up literally any other mountain on Earth? Maybe I just don't get the mindset.
posted by penduluum at 9:31 AM on July 20, 2022 [5 favorites]

Looks like a pretty creative use of a modified CPAP mask.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:31 AM on July 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

This article provides even more detail on the first peanut push in 1929…..but here is the real story buried within which everyone is missing

The *second* person to push a peanut up Pikes Peak in 1963 claimed that there were unaware of the first peanut push 34 years earlier, and when told of the earlier effort a mile from the top, was apparently disappointed not to be the first, but finished anyway.

I’m sorry. Are people so commonly pushing peanuts up mountains with their noses that really they need to check first if someone else has already done it?
posted by inflatablekiwi at 9:33 AM on July 20, 2022 [26 favorites]

He estimates that he used nearly two dozen peanuts throughout the week

Seems to that what this guy's done is push nearly 24 different peanuts part of the way up Pikes Peak, averaging a little over 4.1666666% of the total distance with each individual nut. Disqualified.
posted by Paul Slade at 9:35 AM on July 20, 2022 [19 favorites]

Very disappointed the article linked didn't have a video. Very curious about his technique.
posted by shenkerism at 9:41 AM on July 20, 2022

Are people so commonly pushing peanuts up mountains with their noses that really they need to check first if someone else has already done it?

I'm still going "FOUR people have done this?!"
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:51 AM on July 20, 2022 [9 favorites]

Not 'A' peanut -- two dozen peanuts. And a clear use of nose-related performance enhancers.

I am not impressed.
posted by spilon at 9:54 AM on July 20, 2022 [4 favorites]

Video featuring local weirdo’s “technique”:

posted by Don.Kinsayder at 9:55 AM on July 20, 2022

https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/colorado-news/peanut-pusher-reaches-summit-top-pikes-peak/73-c4eb4c99-44d8-4e95-bc2e-bf283d5975fd
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 9:56 AM on July 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

He estimates that he used nearly two dozen peanuts throughout the week. Some fell into cracks between rocks on the trail and he wasn't able to retrieve them.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER PEANUTS? Did he just randomly eat them in a fugue of exhaustion and frustra...

Salem said he ate peanuts, pop tarts, bananas, and crackers for fuel.

Oh.

I have so, so many dumb questions. Can you imagine how mad you would go trying to use just one peanut for the whole attempt and having a crow swoop in and snatch it up?


This is also reminding me of a really dumb (but fun) art stunt I was wrangled into participating in with my then studio-mate living in an art's village, otherwise known as one of those gentrification-through-the-arts programs where the powers that be not so secretly turn a blind eye to industrial spaces being used as unpermitted live-work studios.

The project was to draw the world's longest continuous line. Ostensibly.

This involved a utility push cart he could lay down on, a mechanical, refillable carpenter's pencil that could be refilled from the back, way too many rolls of butcher paper and tape and my silly self pushing the cart along very slowly and taping down the butcher paper and refilling the rolls as we went along making meandering orbits around the blocks of the arts district.

It made an absolutely glorious mess. The paper was blowing everwhere and getting into traffic and blocking sidewalks. We even made the front page of the local paper. It was so, so dumb.
posted by loquacious at 10:01 AM on July 20, 2022 [20 favorites]

Pop Tarts? Did he bring a toaster?
And I'm with everyone else objecting to the terms 'a peanut' and 'nose' in this case.
posted by MtDewd at 10:08 AM on July 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

wouldn't you want to be the first person to use your nose to push a peanut up literally any other mountain on Earth?

Yeah, being the fourth person is an odd flex. Three people have already proved it could be done, beyond that you're just belaboring the point.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:21 AM on July 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

I'm disappointed the photo caption isn't "Masked man clutches nuts as he peaks"
posted by chavenet at 10:24 AM on July 20, 2022 [22 favorites]

Metafilter:

I have so, so many dumb questions.

posted by Hypatia at 10:38 AM on July 20, 2022 [15 favorites]

I feel like that little scoopy thing attached to his face is not his nose unless he has chosen some very interesting bionic implants.

I believe he was competing in the Unlimited class, so it's all good.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:54 AM on July 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

Loquacious, I don’t want to ruin it for you, but didn’t Harold draw that line with his purple crayon back in 1955?
posted by scratch at 11:03 AM on July 20, 2022 [4 favorites]

I'd half-remembered that nosing a peanut up Ben Nevis was kind of a thing, but on finding no evidence, I must assume that my memory of Scottish arachimonsrhinopulsarist exploits must be flawed.
posted by scruss at 11:04 AM on July 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

KCCU describes "a device affixed to his face that looks like both a homemade gas mask and the trunk of a very skinny elephant. It's made out of a mask from a CPAP machine with a black plastic serving spoon duct taped to it." https://www.kccu.org/u-s/u-s/2022-07-12/a-man-is-using-his-nose-to-push-a-peanut-up-to-the-summit-of-colorados-pikes-peak
posted by readinghippo at 11:24 AM on July 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

The first [person to complete the peanut push up Pikes Peak], Bill Williams

Given the potential for alliteration, I'm surprised and frankly disappointed that his nose was the impelling appendage involved.
posted by mhoye at 11:36 AM on July 20, 2022 [5 favorites]

This somehow reminds me of the religious act that takes place in some Catholic communities where people will go for long distances--sometime for days, on their knees, to some religiously significant site.

The Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico is one such site where this happens.

I 'm not sure pushing a peanut up a hill with your nose offers the same kind of spiritual experience, though I haven't tried it so I don't really know.
posted by eye of newt at 11:48 AM on July 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

This has me looking at my CPAP mask in a whole new way...

CPAP: "Centre Peanut And Push."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:51 AM on July 20, 2022 [11 favorites]

The first [person to complete the peanut push up Pikes Peak], Bill Williams

Given the potential for alliteration, I'm surprised and frankly disappointed that his nose was the impelling appendage involved.

That would be fuckin nuts
posted by InfidelZombie at 11:55 AM on July 20, 2022 [7 favorites]

just jumping on the multiple peanuts and face contraption bandwagon... and splitting hairs: he definitely did not use his nose he used his face at best, but really just his whole head/neck. did the three previous folks use a contraption and multiple peanuts as well? if yes, then i suppose i'm good with it. otherwise, he set some different type of record, inspired by the original record-setting(s). that is all.
posted by rude.boy at 12:10 PM on July 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

If we have seen farther, it is because we stand on the shoulders of giants.
posted by Naberius at 12:20 PM on July 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

this is fucking bullshit. the only thing he's pushing is the limits of vocabulatory credulity. he's using a scoop and lever attached to his face to flick the peanuts up the mountain with his neck and back muscles. this is a perfect example diagramming the collapse of a civil society resulting from a years-long assault on the very concept of truth. #FakeNews #NothingIsReal 🗽🇺🇸🦅😢
posted by glonous keming at 12:32 PM on July 20, 2022 [11 favorites]

That would be fuckin nuts

That's an entirely different record.
posted by Kadin2048 at 12:57 PM on July 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Three people have already proved it could be done, beyond that you're just belaboring the point.

This pretty much sums up how I feel about marathons, as well.
posted by biogeo at 1:00 PM on July 20, 2022 [5 favorites]

But ... wouldn't you want to be the first person to use your nose to push a peanut up literally any other mountain on Earth?

Strictly speaking, he was absolutely the first person to push a peanut up Pike's Peak with his nose.

The other people presumably used their own, different, noses.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 1:04 PM on July 20, 2022 [12 favorites]

Please can we make this a social influencer thing? It would be hilarious. Though I guess someone would just fall off a cliff while doing it and taking a selfie - leading to Lester Holt having to do a segment on NBC Nightly News about a “disturbing new trend with peanuts - what you need to know to keep your family safe this summer in the mountains”

I thought NPR played it well with their news article title

This prodigal person pushed a peanut with his proboscis to the pinnacle of Pikes Peak

But my favorite is the spin KKTV put on it

Man attempts to be the first person in the 21st Century to push a peanut up Pikes Peak.


First. In the 21st Century. We’re back on the Moon baby!!
posted by inflatablekiwi at 1:16 PM on July 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

I suppose it's more comfortable than trying to push a peanut up your nose with Pikes Peak.
posted by clawsoon at 1:31 PM on July 20, 2022 [3 favorites]

Pop Tarts? Did he bring a toaster? Pop Tarts are a pretty common backpacker food. They are readily available everywhere, they have a bit more than 100 calories/ounce, they don't need to be cooked (so you can get started faster), they remain edible(assuming you find uncooked pop tart "edible") when smashed. I prefer cold-soaked instant oatmeal.

As for peanut pushing, If you can use a contraption strapped to your head in the general vicinity of your nose, why not just use very long stick?
posted by surlyben at 1:38 PM on July 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

Salem was also presented with two plaques commemorating his effort.

I have to say I now want to sit down with an aging engraver to hear tale of all the wondrous things people get plaques and trophies made for.

And what were the two plaques for? Was one not enough? Did he break some other record? Did they have alternate plaques made in case he succeeded but only came second fastest? I need to know. If he had pushed two peanuts simultaneously, would he have got a multi-ball bonus?
posted by inflatablekiwi at 1:39 PM on July 20, 2022

Ok I fell down a rabbit hole. Apparently Marion City, Ohio has held an annual peanut nose pushing competition since 1969. They also crown a Peanut King and Peanut Queen at the event.

I just have never wanted to have my nostrils that close to pavement or a frequently used hiking trail for humans and dogs before.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 1:58 PM on July 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER PEANUTS?

They were assaulted.
posted by nickmark at 2:00 PM on July 20, 2022 [11 favorites]

I'd like to see all the people complaining about the number of peanuts and the veracity of the nose push a peanut up a mountain with their noses.
posted by wesleyac at 2:03 PM on July 20, 2022

Seems to that what this guy's done is push nearly 24 different peanuts part of the way up Pikes Peak, averaging a little over 4.1666666% of the total distance with each individual nut.

I wonder if it’s like in the Great Alaska serum sled-dog run, where there was one peanut that did by far more of the distance than any other peanut. The Togo of peanuts. Disney should option the rights.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 2:21 PM on July 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

A man has completed his challenge to push a Brussels sprout up [Mount] Snowdon using his nose.

Stuart Kettell, from Balsall Common in the West Midlands, started out on Wednesday and reached the 1,085m (3,560ft) summit in three days.

The 49-year-old trained for his charity mission by pushing a sprout around his garden with his nose.
Mr Kettell said he selected a large sprout so it would not fall down a crevice in the rock.
….
Mr Kettell, who has previously raised money by staying inside a box for a week, said this latest challenge was the most uncomfortable yet.
"It hurt my arms, my legs, my feet, my knees and my neck," he said.


No notes. Perfect in every way. Even solved the “lost peanut” problem.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 2:53 PM on July 20, 2022 [5 favorites]

No notes. Perfect in every way. Even solved the “lost peanut” problem.

I too remember the Human Achievements chapter of my old paperback Guinness Book of World Records fondly.
posted by clawsoon at 3:05 PM on July 20, 2022 [3 favorites]

This makes me feel like my life is not so stupid, after all.
posted by theora55 at 3:46 PM on July 20, 2022 [3 favorites]

I feel like they buried the lede.

>"...and I have an old can of survival food from 1964 and there are little carbohydrate candies, and I was eating those," he said.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 4:16 PM on July 20, 2022 [3 favorites]

Loquacious, I don’t want to ruin it for you, but didn’t Harold draw that line with his purple crayon back in 1955?

I'm not sure why I didn't think of this back then just to be snarky with my artist friend. It would have been fun to call him Harold the whole time.

Anyway, I seem to recall that Harold lifted his crayon from the paper. The point of the dumb art stunt was to draw a continuous, unbroken line without taking the pencil off the paper. The artist friend doing the drawing would occasionally write something in cursive or do a little doodle or illustration when we paused to refill a roll of butcher paper and weren't moving.

I do remember thinking "hey, this is how they test pens and pencils and they have a machine that does this" but it's not quite the same thing without the hand of the artist directly involved.

I also recall there was a previous record and some target length he had in mind and had looked up or heard about and was aiming to beat, and in the end I think rolled out something like over a mile of butcher paper and we had to make a few orbits and double back and forth a few times in and around the main buildings and plaza of the arts district.

When I said "glorious mess" above I meant it. It was tremendous, some real wish.com Christo shit. And the reactions from onlookers, patrons, store owners and other artists was highly polarized. They either loved it or absolutely loathed it and were incredibly irritated. I can't say I blame them, it was kind of a major safety hazard.

No, the Guinness Book of World Records was never involved, though. Barring certain records or promotions you actually have to pay them to come out to verify this kind of thing, and I think that this has been true since the 90s or so, maybe even earlier.

Which is something to ponder if you're ever browsing the ridiculous records and stunts in the Book of World Records.

Not only was someone silly enough to do whatever that thing was that they did to end up in the book, but they actually paid the fees to have it witnessed and made official.
posted by loquacious at 4:25 PM on July 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Yeah, being the fourth person is an odd flex.

Meh. Lindbergh was the 27th person to fly across the Atlantic. (He was the first to do it solo.)

Name any of the previous 26.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:36 PM on July 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Nowadays? "first solo" remains the outstanding aspect. But that's not relevant in this case, where the fourth person hasn't added any unique value to an already-established accomplishment.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:12 PM on July 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

I immediately fell down the rabbit hole of the next post: "Frozen to Death on Pikes Peak"
posted by bendy at 9:49 PM on July 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

hasn't added any unique value to an already-established accomplishment.

"Most discussed on MetaFilter."
posted by biogeo at 10:09 PM on July 20, 2022 [4 favorites]

The most disturbing thing about this is that it's the 4th such achievement.
posted by liminal_shadows at 9:47 AM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

Imagine how the third guy now feels.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:23 PM on July 21, 2022

Imagine how the third guy now feels.

So about the third guy. And I didn't see it detailed *anywhere* in the other articles...and folks *sit down* because this blows the roof off.

So the third guy, Tom Miller, apparently did it in four days, 23 hours, 47 minutes and three seconds. Several days quicker than the time the current attempt was done in. But nobody can find him, and no one verified his record.

In 1976, a then-18-year-old University of Colorado student named Tom Miller supposedly completed his own Pikes Peak peanut push in a blistering-by-comparison four days, 23 hours, 47 minutes and three seconds. Miller's effort is the least-documented and no one is sure where he is today. ("I think he's full of [expletive]," Baxter told The Gazette in 2016. "I think he's somebody who decided to get a little press.")

Where's Tom's plaque? Why are the media slurring his record? We need Truth in Pikes Peak Peanut Pushing journalism.

Also another fun thing that I read way down the rabbit hole. Bill Williams, who originally did the first peanut push. Well it turns out it wasn't his first time pushing peanuts.

Williams had already pushed a peanut 11 miles in nine days in his hometown of Rio Hondo, Texas, and figured that a similar feat up Pikes Peak wouldn’t be that much different.

I have never been to Rio Hondo, Texas, but a quick look at topological maps suggest to me that there is just a smidge more uphill at Pikes Peak.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 1:52 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

Well it turns out it wasn't his first time pushing peanuts.

"You can bet this ain't my first peanut push."
posted by clawsoon at 2:08 PM on July 21, 2022

Even more on Bill Williams and the origin story here

In 1928 Bill made a wager with his Father-in-Law (FiL) relating to the outcome of that year’s presidential election: Bill bet on Al Smith and his FiL bet on Herbert Hoover.

The stakes were a little uneven, not to mention just downright bizarre: If Al Smith won the election, Bill’s FiL would stand on his head on the Rio Hondo (Texas, where else?) Bridge for one hour; if Herbert Hoover, won, Bill would push a peanut, with his nose, from Rio Hondo to the neighboring town of Harlingen,

Well, it seems that Mr. Hoover won and Bill, true to his, word did as he promised:


He was just out there hustling everyone.

The last anyone heard of Bill was in October of 1929 when he was reportedly looking for an adventure with an international flare and was seeking funds to finance the nose-rolling of a peanut across a bridge separating the United States from Mexico. The outcome of this quest is not known

I like to think he got that financing, nose rolled his nuts over the bridge with the money in his pocket and just lived out the rest of his best life somewhere in Mexico….
posted by inflatablekiwi at 2:45 PM on July 21, 2022