Mount Sneffels
Encyclopedia
Mount Sneffels is a fourteen thousand foot
mountain peak in the U.S. state
of Colorado
. It is located in the Mount Sneffels Wilderness
of the northern San Juan Mountains
, in Ouray County
approximately 5 miles (8 km) west of the town of Ouray
. The summit
of Mount Sneffels is the highest point in Ouray County. Mount Sneffels is notable for its great vertical relief, as it rises 7,100 feet above the town of Ridgway, Colorado
to the northeast.
The primary route to the summit follows a creek bed up from Yankee Boy Basin
. A secondary route follows a ridge line to the summit from the saddle of Blue Lakes Pass.
Mount Sneffels was named after the volcano Snæfell
, which is located on the tip of the Snæfellsnes peninsula in Iceland
. That mountain and its glacier, Snæfellsjökull
, which caps the crater like a convex lens, were featured in the Jules Verne
novel
A Journey to the Center of the Earth. An area on the western flank of Mount Sneffels gives the appearance of volcanic crater
.
Seen from the Dallas Divide
on State Highway 62
, Mount Sneffels is one of the most photographed mountains in Colorado.
Fourteener
In mountaineering terminology in the United States, a fourteener is a mountain that exceeds 14,000 feet above mean sea level. There are 547 fourteeners in the world. The importance of fourteeners is greatest in Colorado, which has the majority of such peaks in North America...
mountain peak in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. It is located in the Mount Sneffels Wilderness
Mount Sneffels Wilderness
The Mount Sneffels Wilderness is a wilderness area in southwest Colorado managed by the Uncompahgre National Forest. It is about 5 miles west of the town of Ouray. The area is named for Mt. Sneffels a prominent fourteener in the San Juan Mountains...
of the northern San Juan Mountains
San Juan Mountains
The San Juan Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado. The area is highly mineralized and figured in the gold and silver mining industry of early Colorado. Major towns, all old mining camps, include Creede, Lake City, Silverton, Ouray, and...
, in Ouray County
Ouray County, Colorado
Ouray County is one of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado in the United States. The county population was 3,742 at U.S. Census 2000. As of 2010, U.S. Census data place the population at 4,436. The county seat is the City of Ouray...
approximately 5 miles (8 km) west of the town of Ouray
Ouray, Colorado
The historic City of Ouray is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Ouray County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 813 at the U.S. Census 2000 and 1,000 as of the U.S. Census 2010...
. The summit
Summit (topography)
In topography, a summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a local maximum in elevation...
of Mount Sneffels is the highest point in Ouray County. Mount Sneffels is notable for its great vertical relief, as it rises 7,100 feet above the town of Ridgway, Colorado
Ridgway, Colorado
The Town of Ridgway, coined Gateway to the San Juans, is a Home Rule Municipality in Ouray County, in the southwestern portion of the U.S. State of Colorado. The town is a former railroad stop on the Uncompaghre River in the northern San Juan Mountains...
to the northeast.
The primary route to the summit follows a creek bed up from Yankee Boy Basin
Yankee Boy Basin
Yankee Boy Basin is an alpine basin in Ouray County, Colorado in the United States and is located in the Uncompahgre National Forest. It is well renowned for its display of wildflowers during the spring and for Twin Falls on Sneffels Creek....
. A secondary route follows a ridge line to the summit from the saddle of Blue Lakes Pass.
Mount Sneffels was named after the volcano Snæfell
Snæfell
There are three volcanoes with the name Snæfell in Iceland:* The famous mountain Snæfellsjökull with its big glacier on top lies to the west of the island ....
, which is located on the tip of the Snæfellsnes peninsula in Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
. That mountain and its glacier, Snæfellsjökull
Snæfellsjökull
Snæfellsjökull is a 700,000 year old stratovolcano with a glacier covering its summit in western Iceland. The name of the mountain is actually Snæfell, but it is normally called "Snæfellsjökull" to distinguish it from two other mountains with this name...
, which caps the crater like a convex lens, were featured in the Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
A Journey to the Center of the Earth. An area on the western flank of Mount Sneffels gives the appearance of volcanic crater
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
.
Seen from the Dallas Divide
Dallas Divide
Dallas Divide is a high mountain pass in the United States state of Colorado located on State Highway 62 about west of the town of Ridgway....
on State Highway 62
Colorado State Highway 62
State Highway 62 is a 23.41 mile long state highway in the U.S. state of Colorado.-Route description:SH 62 starts at a junction with just north of Ridgeway in the San Miguel River valley and heads northeast up the Leopard Creek Canyon. The highway bends slowly to the east before crossing the...
, Mount Sneffels is one of the most photographed mountains in Colorado.
See also
- List of Colorado fourteeners
- Mountain peaks of ColoradoMountain peaks of ColoradoThis article comprises three sortable tables of the major mountain peaks of the U.S. State of Colorado.Topographic elevation is the vertical distance above the reference geoid, a precise mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface...
- Mountain ranges of ColoradoMountain ranges of ColoradoThe following table lists the major mountain ranges of the U.S. State of Colorado.-Mountain Ranges:-See also:*4000 meter peaks of Colorado*Colorado mountain passes*Geography of Colorado*Lists of mountains*Mountain peaks of Colorado...