Mount Sneffels

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title: "Mount Sneffels" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["fourteeners-of-colorado", "mountains-of-ouray-county,-colorado", "san-juan-mountains-(colorado)", "four-thousanders-of-the-united-states", "uncompahgre-national-forest"] description: "Mountain in Colorado, United States" topic_path: "technology/web" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Sneffels" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Mountain in Colorado, United States ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox mountain"]

Field	Value
name	Mount Sneffels
photo	MtSneffelsMarch2008.jpg
photo_caption	View of Mount Sneffels from the north
elevation_system	NAPGD2022
elevation	14153.3 ft (4313.93 m)
elevation_ref
prominence	3050 ft (930 m)
prominence_ref
isolation	15.71 mi (25.3 km)
isolation_ref
listing	{{unbulleted list
location	High point of Ouray County, Colorado, United States
range	San Juan Mountains, Highest summit of the Sneffels Range
map	Colorado
map_caption	Colorado
coordinates
coordinates_ref
topo	USGS 7.5' topographic map
Mount Sneffels, Colorado
easiest_route	South Slopes: Easy Scramble,
::

| name = Mount Sneffels | photo = MtSneffelsMarch2008.jpg | photo_caption = View of Mount Sneffels from the north | elevation_system = NAPGD2022 | elevation = 14153.3 ft (4313.93 m) | elevation_ref = | prominence = 3050 ft (930 m) | prominence_ref = | isolation = 15.71 mi (25.3 km) | isolation_ref = | listing = {{unbulleted list |North America highest peaks 51st |US highest major peaks 37th |Colorado highest major peaks 18th |Colorado fourteeners 27th |Colorado county high points 16th | location = High point of Ouray County, Colorado, United States | range = San Juan Mountains, Highest summit of the Sneffels Range | map = Colorado | map_caption = Colorado | coordinates = | range_coordinates = | coordinates_ref = | topo = USGS 7.5' topographic map Mount Sneffels, Colorado | first_ascent = | easiest_route = South Slopes: Easy Scramble,

Mount Sneffels is the highest summit of the Sneffels Range in the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 4313.93 m fourteener is located in the Mount Sneffels Wilderness of Uncompahgre National Forest, 10.8 km west by south (bearing 256°) of the City of Ouray in Ouray County, Colorado, United States. The summit of Mount Sneffels is the highest point in Ouray County.

Mountain

Mount Sneffels is notable for its great vertical relief, as it rises 7,200 feet above the town of Ridgway, Colorado 6 miles to the northeast.

The primary route to the summit follows a creek bed up from Yankee Boy Basin and is rated class 3. 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. Geologically, the mountain is a Tertiary aged igneous stock (Ti) composed of intermediate rock (monzonite, monzodiorite, granodiorite, and minor monzogranite) intruded into a volcanic stack of older San Juan Volcanics (Tsj).

Seen from the Dallas Divide on State Highway 62, Mount Sneffels is one of the most photographed mountains in Colorado. It is also depicted on Colorado driver licenses and I.D. cards as of 2023.

Historical names

• Mount Blaine
• Mount Sneffels – 1906
• Sneffels Peak

References

References

1. (April 2024). "Moving mountains: reevaluating the elevations of Colorado mountain summits using modern geodetic techniques". Journal of Geodesy.
2. "Mount Sneffels, Colorado". Peakbagger.com.
3. {{cite ngs
4. {{cite gnis
5. "Mt. Sneffels Routes". 14ers.com.
6. "Mount Sneffels - South Slopes Route Description".
7. Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-1939, Geologic map of the Montrose 30' X 60' quadrangle, southwestern Colorado, Steven, T.A., and Hail, W.J., Jr. https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Prodesc/proddesc_10013.htm
8. "The Iconic Credential {{!}} Department of Revenue - Motor Vehicle".

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