He pushed a hundred pounds of sugar up the road and never set it down.
Alton Weagle spent the 1950s inventing new ways to climb the same road: backward, blindfolded, barefoot, and once behind a wheelbarrow. He kept his own scorecard, and when his family was later asked whether any of it was verified, the answer was that he said he did.
This is the register nobody kept. Every first ascent from Weagle's own through last May, with a source attached and a grade saying how much weight it can carry.
Alton Weagle Day
Since 2011 the Auto Road has opened its season by inviting people to invent a first ascent of their own. Camels, Segways, pogo sticks, a penny-farthing, a van reversed the whole way, an inflatable T-Rex. In 2026 it drew a record forty-six.
It is free with an RSVP, and ideas go to the Auto Road by email. Here is how to write one that gets picked.
Four grades, no exceptions
Weagle self-documented. Most of what is written about him is a retelling of a retelling. So nothing here is stated flat.
documented
A contemporaneous report, photograph or official record exists and is linked on the entry.
attested
Repeated consistently by independent later sources. No primary document seen.
claimed
One source, or it traces back to Weagle. Printed because it is part of the story, not because it is settled.
disputed
Reliable sources contradict each other. The conflict is shown, not resolved.
A worked example
Weagle's death year has been given on this site as 1979 for as long as it has existed. The Associated Press, reporting the Auto Road's 150th in 2011 and quoting his niece by name, says 1984, aged 73. Two other outlets print 1911–1984 independently.
One website against three sources, one of them naming a living relative. The date is 1984, and the old page has been corrected.
Why this matters more than it sounds
Alton Weagle Day exists because a man's unverifiable claims were charming enough to become a tradition. A site that celebrates that should be scrupulous about the parts that can be checked. Otherwise it is just adding to the pile.
What is missing
The register has gaps and names them. The Auto Road has posted photo galleries since 2012 but never a participant list, so everything here is reconstructed from press coverage.
Years with no entries
2012, 2015, 2018 and 2024 all have galleries and no reporting that names anyone. 2020 and 2025 were not held.
Open questions
Why 2025 was skipped. Which year the camels went up. Whether Weagle really raced the Cog on foot. Whether the wedding was 10 September.