Pike Expedition
On November 15, Pike recorded the first sight of the distant mountain he called "Grand Peak". It has since been called Pikes Peak in his honor. Pike tried to climb the peak, hoping to get a view of the surrounding area to record on maps, the 14,000-foot summit. Pike's group ascended a lesser summit nearby—likely Mount Miller, which was named for Theodore Miller, one of the soldiers who accompanied Pike. With winter threatening, Pike pressed onward up the Arkansas, and on December 7 the party reached Royal Gorge, a spectacular canyon on the Arkansas at the base of the Rocky Mountains.
Nickell Peak
Nickell Peak () is an ice free peak standing at the west side of Victoria Upper Lake, 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) southeast of Sponsors Peak, in Victoria Land. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) for Gregory W. Nickell, manager of the Eklund Biological Center, and of the Thiel Earth Sciences Laboratory at McMurdo Station. He died accidentally on May 15, 1974, when a truck he was driving left the road between McMurdo Station and Scott Base.