Redcliff is a mountain summit located in Hinsdale County, in southwest

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, 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 ...

, United States. It is situated nine miles northeast of the town of Ouray, in the

Uncompahgre Wilderness The Uncompahgre Wilderness (formerly called the Big Blue Wilderness) is a U.S. Wilderness Area in southwest Colorado comprising . Elevation in the Wilderness ranges from to , at the summit of Uncompahgre Peak. Managed by the Uncompahgre Na ...

, on land managed by

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

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 ...

which are a subset 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 great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

, and 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 ...

. Redcliff ranks as the 175th-highest peak in Colorado, and

topographic relief Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

is significant as the west aspect rises above the West Fork Cimarron River valley in approximately one mile. Neighbors include

Precipice Peak Precipice Peak is a mountain summit located in Hinsdale County, of Colorado, United States. It is situated 10.5 miles northeast of the community of Ouray, in the Uncompahgre Wilderness, on land managed by Uncompahgre National Forest. It is par ...

and

Dunsinane Mountain Dunsinane Mountain, or officially Dunsinane, is a mountain summit located in Hinsdale County, of Colorado, United States. It is situated 11 miles east of the community of Ridgway, in the Uncompahgre Wilderness, on land managed by Uncompahgre N ...

along the west-middle Cimarron divide three miles to the north, and nearest higher neighbor Coxcomb Peak one-half mile to the south. An ascent of Redcliff involves 3,300 feet of elevation gain and 10 miles of hiking, round-trip.Mike Garratt, Bob Martin, 1992, ''Colorado's High Thirteeners: A Climbing and Hiking Guide'', Johnson Books, , page 108. The mountain's name was proposed by the

Colorado Mountain Club The Colorado Mountain Club (CMC), formed in 1912, is a nonprofit, 501 (c)(3) outdoor education organization based in Golden, Colorado that gathers and disseminates information regarding Colorado's mountains in the areas of art, science, liter ...

, and was officially adopted in 1966 by the

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a Federal government of the United States, federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geogr ...

. It is so named because of a large reddish-colored cliff on the mountain's east face.United States Board on Geographic Names, ''Decisions on Geographic Names in the United States'', Decision List No. 6602, 1966, page 9.

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Redcliff is located in an alpine

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental 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 ...

zone with 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 from the mountain drains into headwaters of both the west and middle forks of the Cimarron River.

References

External links

* Weather forecast
National Weather Service
* Redcliff photo
Flickr
{{Mountains of Colorado Mountains of Hinsdale County, Colorado San Juan Mountains (Colorado) Four-thousanders of the United States Uncompahgre National Forest

Climate

See also

References

External links