Colorado School of Mines held its annual M Climb event on Friday where students and faculty carried a 10-pound rock from their hometown to form an M on a local mountainside.
The school says the tradition dates back from 110 years ago when students and faculty built a monument on Mount Zion by loading a supply train of burros and packing it way up. Today, a students hike up Lookout Mountain Road, which is closed to motor traffic during the procession. When students reach the M, rocks are white-washed and then placed on the side of the mountain.
Mining is popular. The school received 13,281 applications for the 2018-2019 academic year and accepted about 1,380. The average high school GPA was 3.8 on an unweighted 4.0 scale.
The incoming class is 31 percent women and 22.5 percent underrepresented domestic ethnic or racial groups.
About six per cent of the incoming class is international students. Top countries represented outside the U.S. are Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Kuwait, China and Nigeria.
Have you packed your 10 lb rock for the #MClimb? pic.twitter.com/mUCBxkWdFt
- CO School of Mines (@coschoolofmines) August 13, 2018
Prepping the hard hats!! #MClimb pic.twitter.com/g1Yt2TxTld
- CO School of Mines (@coschoolofmines) August 17, 2018
Here we go!! #MClimb pic.twitter.com/4w1ZcNU8K8
- CO School of Mines (@coschoolofmines) August 17, 2018
Our M has a fresh coat... and our new #Orediggers have a fresh coat! It's a clean start to the semester! #MClimb #HelluvaEngineer pic.twitter.com/YCJJczYie8
- CO School of Mines (@coschoolofmines) August 18, 2018
Here's to an awesome #MClimb! Thank you, Blue Key, @MinesAthletics and all of the student organizations that came out to welcome our new #Orediggers!! #HelluvaEngineer pic.twitter.com/clB4gp45ZY
- CO School of Mines (@coschoolofmines) August 17, 2018
Feature photo courtesy of Colorado School of Mines.