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Mount Blue Sky

Coordinates: 39°35′16″N 105°38′34″W / 39.58778°N 105.64278°W / 39.58778; -105.64278 (Mt. Evans)
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For the New Zealand mountain, see Mount Evans, New Zealand.
Mount Evans
Highest point
Elevation14,264 ft (4,348 m)
Prominence2,764 ft (842 m)[1]
Coordinates39°35′16″N 105°38′34″W / 39.58778°N 105.64278°W / 39.58778; -105.64278 (Mt. Evans)
Geography
LocationClear Creek County, Colorado, USA
Parent rangeFront Range
Topo mapUSGS Mount Evans
Climbing
First ascentdisputed:
1863 by Albert Bierstadt
1872 by Judge Lunt
Easiest routedrive

Mount Evans is a mountain in the Front Range region of the Rocky Mountains, in Clear Creek County, Colorado. It is one of 54 fourteeners (mountains with peaks over 14,000 feet (4,300 m)) in Colorado, and the closest fourteener to Denver. It is often compared to Pikes Peak - another Front Range fourteener - which it exceeds in elevation by 154 ft (50 m).

The peak is one of the characteristic Front Range peaks, dominating the western skyline of the Great Plains along with Pikes Peak, Longs Peak, and nearby Mount Bierstadt. Mount Evans can be seen from over 100 miles away to the east, and many miles in other directions. Mount Evans dominates the Denver Metropolitan Area skyline and can be seen as far south as Monument Hill at the Douglas-El Paso county line (79 miles (127 km) south) and as far north as Boulder (44 miles (71 km) north), and points east of Strasburg (105 miles (169 km) east). In the early days of Colorado tourism, Mount Evans and Denver were often in competition with Pikes Peak and Colorado Springs.

History

Mt Evans - Mountain Goats

Mount Evans was originally known as Mount Rosa or Mount Rosalie (named for the wife of Fitz Hugh Ludlow who would later be the wife of Albert Bierstadt, and featured in Bierstadt's painting "Storm in the Rocky Mountains"), and is located in what is known by locals as the Chicago Peaks Range. It is believed to have been climbed first in 1872 by Judge Lunt and a friend, but many accounts point to Albert Bierstadt as the first ascender in 1863. In 1895, Colorado's legislature officially renamed the peak in honor of John Evans, second governor of the Colorado Territory from 1862 to 1865.[2]

After a toll road was built to the summit of Pikes Peak, Robert Speer, mayor of Denver, asked for funds to build a road to the summit of Mount Evans. Construction began in 1917 and concluded on October 4, 1927. As of 2009, the Mount Evans Scenic Byway, leading to the summit overlook, is the highest paved road in North America.[3]

The byway has made Mount Evans a very accessible peak to all varieties of tourists and mountaineers. The peak is 38 miles (61 km) west of Denver, as the bird flies, and approximately 51 miles (82 km) by road. From Denver, one can get to Mount Evans by taking I-70 west to Idaho Springs. From there, one proceeds south on State Highway 103, climbing past Echo Lake Park, then turning right on the Mount Evans Highway (State Highway 5).

The partially-rebuilt remains of the Crest House serve as an observation platform near the summit.

The ruins of the Crest House (1941–1942) sit nearby. Once containing both a restaurant and a gift shop, it burned down on September 1, 1979 and was not rebuilt, but remains as a place of contemplation today. The rock foundation and walls remain as a windbreak for mountain travelers, and the viewing platform is one of Colorado's premier scenic overlooks.

From the entrance station on State Highway 5, one can get to the summit by driving the byway or by hiking the trail which runs along nearby. Along the route are several scenic sites and overlooks, including - Echo Lake, the upper Goliath trailhead and scenic overlook, Summit Lake including the Chicago Lakes scenic overlook, and Lincoln Lake - and other nearby peaks - Goliath Peak, Roger Peak, and Mount Warren. From the parking lot at the road's end (14,130 feet / 4,307 m) a short trail leads to the summit. There are also several other trails inside the Mount Evans Wilderness Area, which are accessible from several points along the Byway.

Mt. Evans also hosts the annual Mt. Evans Hill Climb, a 27.4 miles (44.1 km) bicycle race with a total of 6,915 feet (2,108 m) of climbing.

Mount Evans (on the far right) as seen from Castle Rock, about 35 miles south of Denver


Climate

The atmospheric pressure on the summit is around 460 torr, while a standard atmosphere (sea level) is 760 torr. At this pressure, many people suffer from altitude sickness.[4] Federal Aviation Regulations require use of supplemental oxygen use at all times when flying at this altitude.[5]

The climate on the summit of Mount Evans can be extreme. Temperatures rarely fall below 0°F (-18°C), but occasionally fall as low as -40°F (-40°C). The highest temperature recorded on the summit was 65°F (24°C). The maximum wind speed measured was 107 knots (123 mph or 198 km/h), while the average is from 25 to 30 knots (28 to 35 mph or 46 to 56 km/h). When the wind speed is over 15 knots (17 mph or 28 km/h), the wind is almost always from the west-southwest.[6]

Geology

Mount Evans was carved from the rock of the Mount Evans Batholith, formed by an intrusion of magma into the earth's crust about 1.4 billion years ago (in the Mesoproterozoic Era of the Precambrian Eon). Much of the rock is granodiorite, a close relative of granite, modified by later intrusions of quartz and pegmatite.[7]

The body of this batholith has been deeply cut by glacial cirques and canyons. Each of the nearby lakes, Summit lake, the Chicago Lakes, Lincoln Lake and Abyss Lake are tarns located in cirques or glacial canyons surrounding Mount Evans.[8] Echo Lake was dammed by a lateral moraine of the glacier that formed Chicago Canyon. Prior to glaciation, Mount Evans, Long's Peak and several other summits were monadnocks in an upland Peneplain. Glaciation has not entirely destroyed the ancient Flattop Peneplain, named for Flattop Mountain in Grand County. The peaks of these mountains are all remnant features of this peneplain.[9]

Scientific Research

The easy access to the summit provided by the Mount Evans Highway has made it a popular location for scientific research. Arthur H. Compton conducted pioneering research on Cosmic Rays on the mountain in 1931, shortly after the road to the summit was completed. The University of Denver built a pair of A-frame buildings on the summit to house cosmic-ray researchers.[10][11] In By the 1950s, Mount Evans, the Aiguille du Midi, the Pic du Midi and the Jungfrau were considered the premier locations for high-altitude physics experiments.[12]

In 1965, the Midwestern Universities Research Association (MURA) began doing high-energy physics experiments on the summit using cosmic rays to explore energies above those accessible with the most powerful particle accelerators of the day. The first experiments were conducted in a semi-trailer, and then in 1966, a temporary laboratory building was erected near the summit. This building was moved to Echo Lake that fall, where research continued until 1972.[13]

The University of Denver erected the 0.6m (24 inch) Ritchey-Chrétien telescope in its summit laboratory in 1972. This was used to observe Comets Kohoutek and Halley in 1972 and 1986. In 1996, the University finished construction on the Meyer-Womble Observatory, near the site of the former A-frame laboratory buildings. At 14,148 feet (4,312 m) this was, from 1972 to 1999, the highest optical observatory.[6] It is now the second highest.

Mount Evans has also been the site of significant research in the life sciences. In 1940, for example, it was the site of a significant study of high-altitude physiology.[4] Pioneering studies on the effects of altitude training on track athletes were conducted on Mount Evans in 1966.[14]

Mt Evans highway above Summit Lake, highest paved road in North America
Mount Evans towers above the city of Denver
Mount Evans from Evergreen, Colorado
View from the top

See also

References

  1. ^ Colorado peaks with Prominence over 2,000 feet (610 m) on peaklist.org
  2. ^ Federal Writers' Project, Tour 15A, Colorado -- A Guide to the Highest State, Hastings House, New York, 1941; page 403.
  3. ^ City and County of Denver. "Denver Mountain Parks FAQ - Mount Evans". Retrieved 2006-09-25.
  4. ^ a b Erling Asmussen and Frank C. Consolazio, The Circulation and Rest and Work on Mount Evans (4,300 M.), [ajplegacy.physiology.org/cgi/reprint/132/2/555.pdf American Journal of Physiology], Vol 132, No. 2 (Feb. 1941); page 555.
  5. ^ Federal Aviation Regulations, Section 91.211, 14 CFR Ch. 1 (1-1-06 Ed.); p 236
  6. ^ a b Robert E. Stencel, Challenges and Opportunities in Operating a High-Altitude Site, Organizations and Strategies in Astronomy, Vol. 6, Springer, 2006; page 97 (for weather data, see sections 2 and 3.2).
  7. ^ Ralph L. Hopkins and Lindy B. Hopkins, Hike 7: Chicago Lakes -- The Mount Evans Batholith, Hiking Colorado's Geology, The Mountaineers, Seattle, 2000; page 67.
  8. ^ Scott S. Warren, Mount Evans Wilderness Area, Exploring Colorado's Wild Areas, 2nd ed, Mountaineers Books, Seattle, 2002; page 91.
  9. ^ Willis T. Lee, Peneplains of the Front Range and Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado United States Geologic Survey Bulletin 730; page 15.
  10. ^ Ben Fogelberg and Steve Grinstead, Hike 25: Mount Evans -- A Peak with a Past, Walking into Colorado's Past, Westcliffe, Englewood Colo,; page 119.
  11. ^ Arthur H. Compton, Chapter 19, The Cosmos of Arthur Holly Compton, Knopf, 1968; page 206.
  12. ^ Val L. Fitch, The τ-θ puzzle: an experimentalist's perspective, Pions to Quarks: Particle Physics in the 1950s Cambridge University Press, 1989; page 460.
  13. ^ Lawrence W. Jones, The History, Highlights and Outcome of the Michigan - Wisconsin Echo Lake Cosmic Ray Program, 1965-1972: An Informal Review, UM-HE 73-9, University of Michigan, February 1973.
  14. ^ Elsworth Buskirk, from the Living History of Physiology web site of the American Physiological Society, 2008.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mount Evans.
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