Get ready to ride with the Defiance-25 roller coaster challenge and the chance to win a Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park Annual Thrill Pass!
Hold on tight and brace yourself for a gravity-defying adventure! This summer Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park is celebrating its 25th anniversary with an adrenaline-pumping challenge for roller coaster enthusiasts.
Celebrate 25 Years of Thrills
For a quarter-century, Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park has been the source of countless smiles for thrill-seekers of all ages, and the tradition continues. America’s only mountaintop theme park is marking its milestone anniversary with a special challenge for daredevils. In honor of its silver jubilee, the Adventure Park invites you to muster your courage and take on the Defiance-25 challenge.
The Challenge: 25 Rides on Defiance
Defiance is the Park’s most daring roller coaster. If you can brave this heart-pounding ride 25 times by August 15, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park Annual Thrill Pass.
Participating is easy! Grab a Defiance-25 punch card from the Guest Services Gazebo in the Main Plaza. Before boarding Defiance, attendants will stamp your card. You can ride up to ten times a day. Once you’ve collected 25 stamps, submit your punch card to a staff member at the Gazebo.
Complete the challenge, and you’ll be entered into the drawing for an Adventure Park Thrill Pass, valid for a whole year. The drawing for the winner will be held on Friday, August 16, coinciding with National Roller Coaster Day.
Experience the Thrills of Defiance
Defiance isn’t your ordinary roller coaster. Perched at the peak of Iron Mountain, what it lacks in real estate on the ground it more than makes up for in stature. Standing at 7,132 feet above sea level, it is the highest looping roller coaster in the United States.
Right out of the gate, the excitement builds with a slow, steep climb to the ride’s pinnacle. After a moment of teetering suspense, hang on tight as you plummet down a 110-foot drop with a record-breaking 102.3-degree incline! Once you’ve recovered, the ride continues with a series of full and partial inversions at speeds up to 57 miles per hour, delivering breathless non-stop thrills until you reach the docking station. Then, if you’re taking the Defiance-25 challenge, you can do it all over again!
Celebrate National Roller Coaster Day
August 16 is the perfect day to celebrate roller coasters. National Roller Coaster Day commemorates Edwin Prescott’s 1898 patent for the first vertical loop roller coaster. In Prescott’s day, roller coasters were constructed of wood and shaky from start to finish. Today’s roller coasters are crafted from steel, creating an incredibly sturdy structure, for a smooth, but exhilarating ride. Because of modern materials, coaster cars can go faster, take tighter curves, and navigate higher loops.
On Friday, August 16, not only will the Defiance-25 challenge drawing take place naming the winner of the Annual Thrill Pass, but the day is also a fantastic opportunity to take a turn on all three of Glenwood Caverns’ roller coasters. You can’t miss Defiance, with its striking vertical profile, it’s the first coaster you’ll see when arriving at the Park via the Glenwood Gondola.
Don’t Miss the Other Coasters
The Alpine Coaster, the Park’s first thrill ride, opened in 2001 and remains a theme park favorite. Recently upgraded with modern, comfortable green sleds, the ride features a throttle that allows riders to control their speed as they descend Iron 
Mountain. After flying down the mountainside at break-neck speed, sit back and relax for a gentle tow back up to the starting point.
The Cliffhanger Roller Coaster touted as the highest-elevation full-sized roller coaster in North America, stands 50 feet tall. Its location on the edge of Iron Mountain offers breathtaking views of Glenwood Canyon if you dare to open your eyes. This is one thriller you don’t want to miss, especially on National Roller Coaster Day!
Annual Pass Drawing, Festivities, and More!
Join the celebration on August 16 for a fun-filled day of roller-coaster excitement and commemorate 25 years of Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
Are you ready to take the Defiance-25 challenge? Let the thrills begin. Learn more and make plans to visit Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park this summer.
