All the major

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

s in the

state of Colorado Colorado is a state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas to the east ...

, United States, are considered subranges of the

Southern Rocky Mountains The Southern Rocky Mountains are a major subregion of the Rocky Mountains of North America located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming, the central and western portions of Colorado, the northern portion of New Mexico, and ext ...

. As given in the table, topographic elevation is the vertical distance above the reference

geoid The geoid ( ) is the shape that the ocean surface would take under the influence of the gravity of Earth, including gravitational attraction and Earth's rotation, if other influences such as winds and tides were absent. This surface is exte ...

, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface. The

topographic prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

of a

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

is the elevation difference between that summit and the highest or key col to a higher summit. The

topographic isolation The topographic isolation of a summit is the minimum geographical distance, horizontal distance to a point of equal elevation, representing a radius of dominance in which the peak is the highest point. It can be calculated for small hills and is ...

of a summit is the minimum

great-circle distance The great-circle distance, orthodromic distance, or spherical distance is the distance between two points on a sphere, measured along the great-circle arc between them. This arc is the shortest path between the two points on the surface of the ...

to a point of equal elevation. All elevations in this article include an elevation adjustment from the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29) to the

North American Vertical Datum of 1988 The North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) is the vertical datum for orthometric heights established for vertical control surveying in the United States based upon the General Adjustment of the North American Datum of 1988. It superse ...

(NAVD 88). For further information, please see this

United States National Geodetic Survey The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) is a List of federal agencies in the United States, United States federal agency based in Washington, D.C. that defines and manages a national geographic coordinate system, coordinate system, providing the fou ...

br>note
If an elevation or prominence is calculated as a range of values, the

arithmetic mean In mathematics and statistics, the arithmetic mean ( ), arithmetic average, or just the ''mean'' or ''average'' is the sum of a collection of numbers divided by the count of numbers in the collection. The collection is often a set of results fr ...

is shown. __TOC__

Mountain ranges

Gallery

Image:Mount_Elbert_June_2006.jpg,

Mount Elbert Mount Elbert is the highest summit of the Rocky Mountains of North America. With an elevation of , it is also the highest point in the U.S. state of Colorado and the second-highest summit in the contiguous United States after Mount Whitney, w ...

is the highest peak of the Sawatch Range and the entire

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

. Image:Mount Harvard (Colorado) - 2006-07-16.jpg, Mount Harvard is the highest of the Collegiate Peaks and the third-highest peak of the

. Image:MtBlancaEast.jpg, Blanca Peak is the highest peak of the

Sangre de Cristo Mountains The Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Spanish language, Spanish for "Blood of Christ") are the southernmost mountain range, subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They are located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the United States. The mountai ...

and the fifth-highest peak of the

. Image:Uncompahgre peak.jpg, Uncompahgre Peak is the highest peak of the

San Juan Mountains The San Juan Mountains is a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. The area is highly mineralized (the Colorado Mineral Belt) and figured in the gold and silver mining industry ...

and the sixth-highest peak of the

. Image:Crestone peaks fall.jpg, Crestone Peak is the highest peak of the Crestones and the seventh-highest peak of the

. Image:Mt_Lincoln.jpg, Mount Lincoln is the highest peak of the Mosquito Range and the eighth-highest peak of the

. Image:Castle Peak CO Full.JPG, Castle Peak is the highest peak of the Elk Mountains and the ninth-highest peak of the

. Image:Grays and Torreys Peaks 2006-08-06.jpg, Grays Peak is the highest peak of the

Front Range The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado, and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encounter ...

and the tenth-highest peak of the

. Image:Mt Antero from Mt Shavano, CO.jpg, Mount Antero is the highest peak of the Southern Sawatch Range. Image:MtEvansCO.jpg, Mount Blue Sky is the highest peak of the Northern

. File:Wilson Peak and San Miguel Mountains.jpg, Mount Wilson is the highest peak of the San Miguel Mountains. Image:Mount Sneffels.jpg, Mount Sneffels is the highest peak of the Sneffels Range. Image:Pikes Peak from the Garden of the Gods.jpg,

Pikes Peak Pikes Peak is the List of mountain ranges of Colorado#Mountain ranges, highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. The Ultra-prominent peak, ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest, ...

is the highest peak of the Southern

. The mountain was the inspiration for "

America the Beautiful "America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Church (Newark), Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New ...

". Image:Mount of the Holy Cross.jpeg, Mount of the Holy Cross is the highest peak of the Northern Sawatch Range. This photograph was taken by William Henry Jackson in 1874. Image:Utemountain.JPG, Ute Peak is the highest peak of Ute Mountain. Image:Devil's Head Stairs.jpg, Devils Head is the highest peak of the Rampart Range.

Notes

References

External links

State of Colorado

Colorado Geological Survey (USGS)United States Geological Survey

USGS Geographic Names Information System queryUnited States National Geodetic Survey (NGS)

Geodetic Glossary @ NGS

NGVD 29 to NAVD 88 online elevation converter @ NGS

Survey Marks and Datasheets @ NGSBivouac.comPeakbagger.comPeaklist.orgSummitpost.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mountain ranges of Colorado, List of Mountains of Colorado Lists of landforms of Colorado Colorado, List of mountain ranges of Colorado, List of mountain ranges of Colorado, List of mountain ranges of

Mountain ranges

Gallery

See also

Notes

References

External links