Mount Yale

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title: "Mount Yale" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mountains-of-chaffee-county,-colorado", "san-isabel-national-forest", "fourteeners-of-colorado", "four-thousanders-of-the-united-states"] description: "Mountain in Colorado, United States" topic_path: "technology/web" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Yale" 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 Yale
photo	Mount Yale from Horn Fork Basin.jpg
photo_caption	Yale as seen from the Horn Fork Basin
elevation_system	NAPGD2022
elevation	14,197.0 ft (4,327.24 m)
elevation_ref
prominence	1896 ft (578 m)
prominence_ref
isolation	5.55 mi (8.93 km)
isolation_ref
listing	{{unbulleted list
location	Chaffee County, Colorado, U.S.
range	Sawatch Range,
Collegiate Peaks
map	Colorado
map_caption	Colorado
coordinates
coordinates_ref
topo	USGS 7.5' topographic map
Mount Yale, Colorado
first_ascent	August 18, 1869 by William Brewer, William Davis, Robert Moore, S. Sharpless, Josiah Whitney
easiest_route	Southwest Slopes: Hike,
::

| name = Mount Yale | photo = Mount Yale from Horn Fork Basin.jpg | photo_caption = Yale as seen from the Horn Fork Basin | elevation_system = NAPGD2022 | elevation = 14,197.0 ft (4,327.24 m) | elevation_ref = | prominence = 1896 ft (578 m) | prominence_ref = | isolation = 5.55 mi (8.93 km) | isolation_ref = | listing = {{unbulleted list |North America highest peaks 47th |US highest major peaks 33rd |Colorado highest major peaks 16th |Colorado fourteeners 21st | location = Chaffee County, Colorado, U.S. | range = Sawatch Range, Collegiate Peaks | map = Colorado | map_caption = Colorado | coordinates = | range_coordinates = | coordinates_ref = | topo = USGS 7.5' topographic map Mount Yale, Colorado | type = | age = | first_ascent = August 18, 1869 by William Brewer, William Davis, Robert Moore, S. Sharpless, Josiah Whitney | easiest_route = Southwest Slopes: Hike,

Mount Yale is a high and prominent mountain summit of the Collegiate Peaks in the Sawatch Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 4,327.24 m fourteener is located in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness of San Isabel National Forest, 15.2 km west by north (bearing 276°) of Buena Vista, Colorado. The mountain was named in honor of Elihu Yale, the primary benefactor of what is now Yale University.

Geography

The term "Collegiate Peaks" comes from some of its individual peaks, which are named after universities, including Mount Harvard, Mount Princeton, Mount Oxford, Mount Columbia, and Mount Yale itself. Much of the upper part of the mountain is covered in scree and boulder fields. The summit is 14,199 ft in elevation.

Climate

|location = Mount Yale 38.8437 N, 106.3092 W, Elevation: 13406 ft (1991–2020 normals) |single line = y

|Jan high F = 22.7 |Feb high F = 22.0 |Mar high F = 27.2 |Apr high F = 32.3 |May high F = 41.2 |Jun high F = 53.1 |Jul high F = 58.3 |Aug high F = 56.2 |Sep high F = 50.2 |Oct high F = 39.9 |Nov high F = 29.3 |Dec high F = 22.9

|Jan mean F = 11.1 |Feb mean F = 10.2 |Mar mean F = 14.8 |Apr mean F = 19.7 |May mean F = 28.6 |Jun mean F = 39.1 |Jul mean F = 44.6 |Aug mean F = 43.1 |Sep mean F = 37.0 |Oct mean F = 27.4 |Nov mean F = 18.2 |Dec mean F = 11.7

|Jan low F = -0.4 |Feb low F = -1.6 |Mar low F = 2.4 |Apr low F = 7.0 |May low F = 15.9 |Jun low F = 25.2 |Jul low F = 30.8 |Aug low F = 29.9 |Sep low F = 23.9 |Oct low F = 15.0 |Nov low F = 7.1 |Dec low F = 0.5

|precipitation colour = green |Jan precipitation inch = 3.62 |Feb precipitation inch = 3.49 |Mar precipitation inch = 3.26 |Apr precipitation inch = 4.11 |May precipitation inch = 2.73 |Jun precipitation inch = 1.25 |Jul precipitation inch = 2.58 |Aug precipitation inch = 3.12 |Sep precipitation inch = 2.37 |Oct precipitation inch = 2.45 |Nov precipitation inch = 2.97 |Dec precipitation inch = 2.73

|source=PRISM Climate Group{{cite web |url= http://prism.oregonstate.edu/explorer/ |title= PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University |publisher= PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University |access-date= October 10, 2023 |quote= 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.}}

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Mt.yale_edit.JPG" caption="Yale is the highest peak seen in this picture"] ::

Mount Yale was first climbed by a research team from Harvard University led by Josiah Whitney. The group named the taller Mount Harvard (14,420 ft) after their own university and the shorter Mount Yale after Whitney's alma mater.

Due to the similarity in heights of Mount Princeton and Mount Yale (Princeton is 1 ft higher), it was once a tradition for the alumni of each school to carry rocks to the top of their respective mountain in order to add to the stone pyramid built at the summit. The graduates used these rock towers to ensure their mountain was the tallest.

Hiking

Mount Yale has achieved great popularity as a non-technical fourteener. The mountain offers fantastic views of the Sawatch Range and Buena Vista, and is a favorite "training" mountain for those wishing to tackle more difficult fourteeners later in the season.

The standard route for climbing Mount Yale was once Denny Gulch, but overuse turned the trail into both a safety and environmental issue. The Denny Gulch trailhead was closed by the Forest Service for restoration, and now most hikers use the nearby Denny Creek Trailhead to begin their hike.

The climb up Mount Yale is 9.5 mile long with 4,300 ft elevation gain. It is rated as class 2.

References

References

1. (April 2024). "Moving mountains: reevaluating the elevations of Colorado mountain summits using modern geodetic techniques". Journal of Geodesy.
2. "Mount Yale, Colorado". Peakbagger.com.
3. {{cite gnis
4. {{cite ngs
5. "Mt. Yale Routes". 14ers.com.
6. "Mount Yale - Southwest Slopes Route Description".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::