Mount Emma is a mountain summit located in
San Miguel County of
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
, United States.
It is situated three miles north of the community of
Telluride, on the south side of
Yankee Boy Basin
Yankee Boy Basin is an alpine basin in Ouray County, southwestern Colorado. It is in the San Juan Mountains, protected within Uncompahgre National Forest.
The basin−valley is well renowned for its display of wildflowers during the spring bloom ...
, in the
Uncompahgre National Forest
Uncompahgre National Forest is a U.S. National Forest covering 955,229 acres (1,492.55 sq mi, or 3,865.68 km2) in (in descending order of land area) parts of Montrose, Mesa, San Miguel, Ouray, Gunnison, Hinsdale, San Juan, and Delta ...
. It is part of the
Sneffels Range
The Sneffels Range, regionally conterminous with San Juans, is a young, prominent, and rugged range of mountains in southwestern Colorado of the San Juan Mountains. The Sneffels range form the southern border of Ouray County and run west to east. ...
which is a subset of the
San Juan Mountains, which in turn is part of the
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 straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
. Mount Emma is situated west of the
Continental Divide
A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...
, two miles south of
Mount Sneffels, and 0.8 mile south of
Gilpin Peak, the nearest higher neighbor. Emma ranks as the 197th-highest peak in Colorado,
and the 10th-highest in the Sneffels Range.
is significant as the south aspect rises above Telluride in approximately three miles. An ascent of Mt. Emma is a difficult climb with 2,180 feet of elevation gain covering three miles from Yankee Boy Basin, or 4,836 feet of elevation gain from Telluride.
[Don Scarmuzzi, 2013, ''Telluride Trails: Hiking Passes, Loops, and Summits of Southwest Colorado'', Graphic Arts Books, .] This mountain's name was officially adopted by the
U.S. Board on Geographic Names
The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...
.
Climate
According to the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
system, Mount Emma is located in an alpine
subarctic climate
The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...
zone with long, cold, snowy winters, and cool to warm summers.
Due to its altitude, it receives precipitation all year, as snow in winter, and as thunderstorms in summer, with a dry period in late spring. Precipitation
runoff
Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to:
* RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program
* Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed
* Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...
from the mountain drains into tributaries of the
San Miguel River.
Gallery
File:Stormy Evening Light over Telluride Estates.jpg, Gilpin Peak (left), Mount Emma (right)
File:Dallas Peak, Telluride.jpg, Mt. Emma upper right, Telluride below
File:Gilpin Peak and Mt. Emma.jpg, Mt. Emma to left of Gilpin Peak (viewed from Mt. Sneffels)
File:Mount Emma from golf course.jpg, Mount Emma (centered) seen from golf course looking northeast
See also
*
References
External links
* Weather forecast
Mount Emma* Emma Woodruff Hayden
Findagrave.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emma, Mount
Mountains of San Miguel County, Colorado
San Juan Mountains (Colorado)
Mountains of Colorado
North American 4000 m summits
Uncompahgre National Forest