Mount Blue Sky
Mount Blue Sky | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Elevation | 14,271 feet (4,350 m)[1] NAVD88 |
Prominence | 2,770 feet (844 m)[2] |
Isolation | 9.79 miles (15.76 km)[2] |
Listing | |
Coordinates | 39°35′18″N 105°38′38″W / 39.5883°N 105.6438°W[1] |
Geography | |
Location | class 2[4] |
Mount Blue Sky (formerly Mount Evans) is the highest peak in the
The peak is one of the characteristic Front Range peaks, dominating the western skyline of the Great Plains along with Pikes Peak, Longs Peak, and nearby Mount Bierstadt. Mount Blue Sky can be seen from over 100 miles (160 km) to the east, and many miles in other directions. Mount Blue Sky dominates the Denver metropolitan area skyline, rising over 9,000 feet (2,700 m) above the area. Mount Blue Sky can be seen from points south of Castle Rock, up to (65 miles (105 km) south) and as far north as Fort Collins (95 miles (153 km) north), and from areas near Limon (105 miles (169 km) east).
The mountain was previously named for the second
Geography
Mount Blue Sky is the highest peak in a massif. The peak is 35 miles (56 km) west of Denver as the crow flies and approximately 51 miles (82 km) by road, via Idaho Springs. Other peaks in the massif are:
- Mount Spalding (13,842 ft or 4,219 m), 1.1 mi (1.8 km) northwest[5]
- Gray Wolf Mountain (13,602 ft or 4,146 m), 2.2 mi (3.5 km) north-northwest[6]
- The Sawtooth (13,780 ft or 4,200 m), 1.2 mi (1.9 km) west[7]
- Mount Bierstadt (14,060 ft or 4,290 m), 1.5 mi (2.4 km) west-southwest[8]
- Mount Warren (13,307 ft or 4,056 m), 1.2 mi (1.9 km) north-northeast[9]
- Rogers Peak (13,391 ft or 4,082 m), 2.33 mi (3.75 km) northeast.[10]
At least 7 deep glacial cirques cut into the massif. The cirques around Mount Blue Sky are the deepest cirques in the Colorado Rockies.[11] The bottoms of many of these contain tarns, the most notable being:
- Summit Lake at the head of Bear Creek, 0.5 miles (0.80 km; 800 m) north
- the Chicago Lakes at the head of Chicago Creek, 2 miles (3.2 km; 3,200 m) north
- Abyss Lake at the head of Lake Fork, 1 mile (1.6 km; 1,600 m) west-southwest
The
The Guanella Pass Scenic Byway passes within 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Mount Blue Sky, linking Georgetown and I-70 with Grant and US 285, 22 miles (35 km) to the south.[13]
A marked hiking trail roughly parallels the highway from
Most of the Evans massif is now part of the Mount Evans Wilderness area in Arapaho National Forest and Pike National Forest. The exception is a narrow corridor along the highway from Echo Lake that is excluded from the wilderness.[14] Summit Lake Park and Echo Lake Park are part of the historic Denver Mountain Parks system.[citation needed]
History
The history of the
The ruins of the Crest House (1941–1942) sit nearby. Once containing both a restaurant and a gift shop, it burned down on September 1, 1979, and was not rebuilt, but remains as a place of contemplation today. The rock foundation and walls remain as a windbreak for mountain travelers, and the viewing platform is one of Colorado's premier scenic overlooks.
The mountain, along with
Mount Blue Sky also hosts the annual
Environment
Climate
The atmospheric pressure on the summit is around 460
The climate on the summit of Mount Blue Sky can be extreme. The mean annual temperature on the summit is 18 °F (−8 °C).
Climate data for Mount Blue Sky 39.5835 N, 105.6454 W, Elevation: 13,665 ft (4,165 m) (1991–2020 normals) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 19.9 (−6.7) |
19.1 (−7.2) |
24.9 (−3.9) |
31.3 (−0.4) |
39.7 (4.3) |
50.4 (10.2) |
56.1 (13.4) |
53.4 (11.9) |
47.5 (8.6) |
36.9 (2.7) |
26.6 (−3.0) |
20.2 (−6.6) |
35.5 (1.9) |
Daily mean °F (°C) | 8.9 (−12.8) |
7.9 (−13.4) |
13.1 (−10.5) |
18.6 (−7.4) |
27.3 (−2.6) |
37.4 (3.0) |
43.4 (6.3) |
41.5 (5.3) |
35.4 (1.9) |
25.3 (−3.7) |
16.1 (−8.8) |
9.5 (−12.5) |
23.7 (−4.6) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | −2.0 (−18.9) |
−3.2 (−19.6) |
1.2 (−17.1) |
5.9 (−14.5) |
14.9 (−9.5) |
24.4 (−4.2) |
30.7 (−0.7) |
29.5 (−1.4) |
23.2 (−4.9) |
13.7 (−10.2) |
5.5 (−14.7) |
−1.2 (−18.4) |
11.9 (−11.2) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 3.58 (91) |
3.22 (82) |
3.43 (87) |
4.69 (119) |
3.31 (84) |
2.15 (55) |
3.55 (90) |
3.08 (78) |
2.11 (54) |
2.15 (55) |
2.80 (71) |
2.93 (74) |
37 (940) |
Source: PRISM Climate Group[32] |
2012 tornado
At 2:51 pm on July 28, 2012, a weak, short-lived tornado touched down northeast of Mount Blue Sky's summit at an elevation estimated by the National Weather Service of 11,900 feet (3,600 m) above sea level. The tornado was the second highest recorded in the United States but did not cause any damage because it was above tree line.[33][34][35]
Flora
The slopes of Mount Blue Sky include several distinct environments. Below
At tree line, the trees are reduced to krummholz, battered and twisted by wind and frost. The bristlecone pine grove on the east slope of Mount Goliath (39°38′24.95″N 105°35′56.24″W / 39.6402639°N 105.5989556°W) contains at least one tree that sprouted in the year 403 AD. For many years, these were the oldest known trees in Colorado, but in 1992, trees dating to 442 BC were found in the southern Front Range and South Park.[36] The Mount Goliath Natural Area, jointly managed by the United States Forest Service and the Denver Botanic Gardens protects this grove of old trees.[37]
Above tree line, the landscape is mostly
The tundra around
Fauna
The top predators found in the area are mountain lions (Puma concolor), anywhere on the mountain, and black bears (Ursus americanus), generally below tree line. These prey on bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) and mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus),[38] as well as one of the highest densities of yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) in the region. Above tree-line, pikas (Ochotona princeps) are common. Below tree line, elk (Cervus canadensis) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) are common.
Among birds, the white-tailed ptarmigan (Lagopus leucurus) are present on the mountain, but so well camouflaged that they are difficult to see even when almost underfoot.[39] Brown-capped rosy finches (Leucosticte australis), pipits and rock wrens (Salpinctes obsoletus) are also seen near the summit.[40]
Geology
Mount Blue Sky was carved from the rock of the Mount Evans
The body of this batholith has been deeply cut by
Scientific research
The easy access to the summit provided by the Mount Blue Sky Highway has made it a popular location for scientific research.
The first accurate measurement of the lifetime of the
In the summer of 1948,
In 1965, the
The
Mount Blue Sky has also been the site of significant research in the life sciences. In 1940, for example, it was the site of a significant study of high-altitude physiology.
Mount Evans Road is also noteworthy as a high-altitude vehicle testing venue for auto manufacturers.[52] With full visibility on a public road, most manufacturers' road test teams tend to conceal their designs with various creative styles of camouflage, e.g. wild zebra paint motif, possibly paired with other temporary body coverings.[53]
Name
Mount Evans was named after second territorial Governor of Colorado,
On March 3, 2023, Governor
On October 16, 2023, Joe Neguse (Colorado-2 Democrat) introduced H.R. 5962 to the 118th Congress titled "To redesignate the Mount Evans Wilderness as the 'Mount Blue Sky Wilderness', and for other purposes".[65][66]
See also
- List of mountain peaks of North America
- Mount Evans Scenic Byway — Colorado State Highway 5
- Mount Evans Hill Climb
References
- ^ a b c d "Blue Sky". NGS Data Sheet. National Geodetic Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Department of Commerce. Retrieved January 2, 2016. Note: The summit of Mount Blue Sky is +1.80 m (5.9 ft) higher than NGS station EVANS.
- ^ a b c "Mount Evans, Colorado". Peakbagger.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
- ^ a b "Mount Blue Sky". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
- ^ "Mt. Evans Routes". 14ers.com.
- ^ "Mt. Spalding". www.13ers.com. Archived from the original on May 6, 2010.
- ^ "Gray Wolf Mountain". www.13ers.com. Archived from the original on May 6, 2010.
- ^ "The Sawtooth". www.13ers.com. Archived from the original on May 6, 2010.
- ^ "Mt. Bierstadt". www.14ers.com. Archived from the original on April 17, 2008.
- ^ "Mt. Warren". www.13ers.com. Archived from the original on May 6, 2010.
- ^ "Rogers Peak". www.13ers.com. Archived from the original on May 6, 2010.
- ^ Bowman, Isaiah (1914). "Rocky Mountains III, Glacial Features". Forest Physiography. Wiley. pp. 368–369.
- ^ "Mount Evans". Colorado Department of Transportation. Archived from the original on June 16, 2010.
- ^ "Guanella Pass". Colorado Department of Transportation. Archived from the original on June 18, 2011.
- ^ "Mount Evans Wilderness". www.wilderness.net. Archived from the original on July 1, 2012.
- ^ Albert Bierstadt A Storm in the Rocky Mountains Archived 2014-08-08 at the Wayback Machine, 1866, in the American Art collection of the Brooklyn Museum.
- ^ Albert Bierstadt, Mountain Lake Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine, 13-by-19-inch oil on paper (330 by 480 mm), no date.
- ^ Byers, William Newton (January 1890). "Bierstadt's Visit to Colorado – Sketching for the famous painting "Storm in the Rocky Mountains"". Magazine of Western History. XI (3): 237.
- ISBN 978-0-87273-154-7.
- ^ William Henry Jackson, Chicago Lakes, Mount Rosalie, ID. Jackson, W.H. 1435 Archived 2014-08-08 at the Wayback Machine, ID. Jackson, W.H. 1436 Archived 2012-03-13 at the Wayback Machine ID. Jackson, W.H. 1437 Archived 2012-03-13 at the Wayback Machine U.S. Geological Survey Photographic Library Archived 2010-05-27 at the Wayback Machine, 1873.
- ^ W. H. Jackson, F. V. Hayden, 1873 Series, Descriptive Catalog of the Photographs of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories for the years 1869 to 1875, Inclusive, Second Ed., Washington, 1875; page 63.
- ^ H. Gannett, F. V. Hayden, Lists of Elevations principally in That Portion of the United States West of the Mississippi River, Fourth Ed., Washington, 1877; page 125.
- ^ "Denver Mountain Parks History Pages". Archived from the original on September 6, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
- ^ a b c Downing, William M. 1931 How Denver Acquired Her Celebrated Mountain Parks, a Condensed History of the Building of America's Most Unique Park System. In Municipal Facts. Volume 13, numbers 3–4 March–April.
- ^ "Car and Camera" 1920 The Mountain Parks. In Municipal Facts. Volume 3, numbers 3–4 March–April.
- ^ No Author 1921 Echo Lake Purchased. In Municipal Facts. Volume 4, numbers 9–10 September–October.
- ^ a b Sampson, Edith 1931 The Giant Highway. In Municipal Facts, Volume 13, numbers 3–4 March–April.
- ^ Sampson, Edith 1930 Along the World's Highest Automobile Road. In Municipal Facts, Volume 13, numbers 9–10 September–October.
- ^ Mount Evans and Echo Lake, Colorado, part of the APS Historic Sites Initiative; accessed Oct, 2019.
- ^ a b Erling Asmussen and Frank C. Consolazio, The Circulation and Rest and Work on Mount Evans (4,300 M.), [ajplegacy.physiology.org/cgi/reprint/132/2/555.pdf American Journal of Physiology], Vol 132, No. 2 (Feb. 1941); page 555.
- ^ Jack D. Ives and Barry D. Fahey, Permafrost Occurrence in the Front Range, Colorado Rocky Mountains, U.S.A. Journal of Glaciology Archived 2011-06-16 at the Wayback Machine, Vol. 10, No. 58 (Spring 1971); pages 105-111.
- ^ a b Robert E. Stencel, Challenges and Opportunities in Operating a High-Altitude Site, Organizations and Strategies in Astronomy, Vol. 6, Springer, 2006; page 97 (for weather data, see sections 2 and 3.2).
- ^ "PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University". PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
To find the table data on the PRISM website, start by clicking Coordinates (under Location); copy Latitude and Longitude figures from top of table; click Zoom to location; click Precipitation, Minimum temp, Mean temp, Maximum temp; click 30-year normals, 1991-2020; click 800m; click Retrieve Time Series button.
- ^ "July 28, 2012 Storm Reports". National Weather Service. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
- ^ Lofholm, Nancy (July 30, 2012). "Mount Evans twister rates a second in the record books". Denver Post. Archived from the original on August 1, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
- ^ "Rare Mountain Tornado Touches Down Near Mount Evans". CBS Denver. July 29, 2012. Archived from the original on August 9, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
- ^ F. Craig Brunstein, David K. Yamaguchi, The Oldest Known Rocky Mountain Bristlecone Pines (Pinus aristata Engelm.), Arctic and Alpine Research Archived 2016-06-10 at the Wayback Machine, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Aug. 1992); pages 253-256.
- ^ Maryann Gaug, 8 Mount Goliath Natural Area, Hiking Colorado: An Atlas of Colorado's Greatest Hiking Adventures, Morris Book Publishing, 2003; pages 61-66.
- ^ John Axelson, Region 2, Big Game Hunter's Guide to Colorado, Wilderness Adventure Press, 2008; page 245, 259.
- ^ Mary Taylor Gray, Herbert Clarke, White-Tailed Ptarmigan, The Guide to Colorado Birds, Westcliffe, 1998; page 74.
- ^ Hugh E. Kingery, Mount Evans, Birding Colorado Morris Book Publishing, 2007; page 131.
- ^ Ralph L. Hopkins and Lindy B. Hopkins, Hike 7: Chicago Lakes – The Mount Evans Batholith, Hiking Colorado's Geology, The Mountaineers, Seattle, 2000; page 67.
- ^ Scott S. Warren, Mount Evans Wilderness Area, Exploring Colorado's Wild Areas, 2nd ed, Mountaineers Books, Seattle, 2002; page 91.
- ^ Willis T. Lee, Peneplains of the Front Range and Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado United States Geological Survey Bulletin 730; page 15.
- ^ Ben Fogelberg and Steve Grinstead, Hike 25: Mount Evans – A Peak with a Past, Walking into Colorado's Past, Westcliffe, Englewood Colo,; page 119.
- ^ Arthur H. Compton, Chapter 19, The Cosmos of Arthur Holly Compton, Knopf, 1968; page 206.
- ^ Val L. Fitch, The τ-θ puzzle: an experimentalist's perspective, Pions to Quarks: Particle Physics in the 1950s Cambridge University Press, 1989; page 460.
- ^ Laurie M. Brown, Abraham Pais, Brian Pippard, Section 5.5, 20th Century Physics, AIP Press, 1995; Pages 394–399.
- ISSN 0031-899X.
- ^ Johnny Florea, Cosmic Ray Research: Seven Colleges Join to Study Nature's Mightiest Force (photoessay), Life, Vol. 25, No. 19 (Nov. 8, 1948); pages 119–125.
- ^ Lawrence W. Jones, The History, Highlights and Outcome of the Michigan – Wisconsin Echo Lake Cosmic Ray Program, 1965–1972: An Informal Review, UM-HE 73-9, University of Michigan, February 1973.
- ^ Elsworth Buskirk Archived 2010-06-12 at the Wayback Machine, from the Living History of Physiology Archived 2010-06-11 at the Wayback Machine web site of the American Physiological Society, 2008.
- ^ "Google snaps secret Porsche road test - Technology - BrisbaneTimes". www.brisbanetimes.com.au. January 2009. Archived from the original on January 3, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- ^ "Mount Evans - High Altitude Auto Test Lab". Archived from the original on October 24, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- ^ Peipert, Thomas (September 15, 2023). "Colorado mountain tied to massacre renamed Mount Blue Sky". AP News. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
- ^ "Polis Issues Executive Order To Review Troublesome Landmark Names. Is Mount Evans Next?". Colorado Public Radio. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
- ^ "New state board to reconsider racially insensitive names of Colorado mountains, public places". The Denver Post. The Denver Post. July 2, 2020. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
- ^ Colorado peak named after former governor linked to a massacre of Indigenous people has been renamed Mount Blue Sky
- ^ Zialcita, Paolo (March 16, 2022). "Mount Evans may be renamed 'Mount Blue Sky' under state proposal". Colorado Public Radio. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
- ^ Goodland, Marianne (August 19, 2022). "See the 6 proposed new names for Mount Evans". Denver Gazette.
- ^ Peipert, Thomas (November 18, 2022). "Panel OKs name change of Colorado mountain tied to massacre of Native Americans". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
- ^ Flowers, Tatiana (March 3, 2023). "Colorado governor formally asks federal government to change Mt. Evans' name to Mt. Blue Sky". The Colorado Sun. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
- ^ Zialcita, Paolo (March 9, 2023). "Federal vote to rename Mount Evans in Colorado delayed". Colorado Public Radio. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
- ^ Tassy, Elaine. "Mount Evans is now Mount Blue Sky". Colorado Public Radio. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
- ^ Blevins, Jason (September 15, 2023). "Mount Evans renamed Mount Blue Sky after federal naming board vote, effective immediately". The Colorado Sun. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
- ^ Flowers, Tatiana (October 17, 2023). "Congress will debate whether to rename the Mount Evans Wilderness west of Denver". The Colorado Sun. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
- ^ https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/5962/titles