Shoshoni Peak is a mountain

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 a m ...

on the boundary shared by

Boulder County Boulder County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado of the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 330,758. The most populous municipality in the county and the county seat is Boulder. Boulder County comprises th ...

and Grand County, in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, 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 wes ...

, United States.

Description

Shoshoni Peak is set on 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, no ...

in 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 encountere ...

which is a subrange 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 ...

. The mountain is located west of

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...

in the

Indian Peaks Wilderness The Indian Peaks Wilderness is a wilderness area in north central Colorado managed jointly by the United States Forest Service and the National Park Service within the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and small parts of the southern secti ...

, on land managed by

Arapaho National Forest Arapaho National Forest is a National Forest located in north-central Colorado, United States. The region is managed jointly with the Roosevelt National Forest and the Pawnee National Grassland from the United States Forest Service office in F ...

and

Roosevelt National Forest The Roosevelt National Forest is a National Forest located in north central Colorado. It is contiguous with the Colorado State Forest as well as the Arapaho National Forest and the Routt National Forest. The forest is administered jointly with ...

. It is the eighth-highest summit in the wilderness and 17th-highest in Boulder County. Precipitation runoff from the mountain's slopes drains chiefly into the headwaters of South St. Vrain Creek, except for the northwest slope which drains to

Monarch Lake Monarch Lake is a reservoir in Grand County, Colorado located within the Arapaho National Recreation Area. The reservoir is adjacent to the Indian Peaks Wilderness on its north and east sides. The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail passes a ...

via Cascade Creek.

Topographic relief Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin w ...

is significant as the summit rises above South St. Vrain Creek in less than one-half mile. An ascent of the peak involves hiking (round trip) with of elevation gain. The mountain's toponym was officially adopted in 1966 by the United States Board on Geographic Names.''Decisions of the United States Geographic Board'' No. 6602, (1966), US Government Printing Office, p. 9.

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, nota ...

system, the mountain is located in an alpine subarctic climate 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. This climate supports the

Isabelle Glacier Isabelle Glacier is an alpine glacier located northeast of Apache Peak and southwest of Shoshoni Peak, in Roosevelt National Forest in the US state of Colorado. The glacier is immediately east of the Continental Divide of the Americas, Continent ...

on the southwest slope.

Climbing

Established climbing routes on Shoshoni Peak: * North Couloir – class * North slope – class 2 * Southwest Couloirs – class 3–5.2

References

External links

* Shoshoni Peak
weather forecast
* Shoshoni Peak rock climbing
Mountainproject.com
{{Mountains of Colorado Mountains of Grand County, Colorado Mountains of Boulder County, Colorado Mountains of Colorado North American 3000 m summits Arapaho National Forest Roosevelt National Forest Great Divide of North America

Description

Climate

Climbing

See also

References

External links