Mount Wilson (Colorado)

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Mount Wilson

Mount Wilson is the peak in the far left background of this photo. (Wilson Peak is in the center foreground.)
Elevation 14,246 ft (4,342 m)[1][2]
Location Colorado, USA
Range San Miguel Mountains, San Juan Mountains, Rocky Mountains
Prominence 4,026 ft (1,227 m)[3]
Coordinates 37°50′21″N, 107°59′29″W[1]
Topo map USGS Mount Wilson
First ascent September 13, 1874, by A. D. Wilson, Franklin Rhoda, and others (Hayden Survey party)
Easiest route North Face (hike/snow climb/scramble)[2]

Mount Wilson is a fourteen thousand foot mountain peak in the U.S. state of Colorado. It is located in the Lizard Head Wilderness in Dolores County approximately 10 miles (16 km) north of Rico and 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Telluride. It is the highest peak in the San Miguel Mountains, a subrange of the San Juan Mountains. It is not to be confused with the lower, nearby Wilson Peak.

The peak was named for A. D. Wilson, a topographer with the Hayden Survey. He was in the first ascent party, which climbed the peak on September 13, 1874, via the south ridge (a difficult route, not often climbed today).[4]

Contents

[edit] Climbing

Mount Wilson is ranked among the top ten hardest of the Colorado fourteeners to climb[4][2]. The standard climbing route ascends the North Face from Navajo Basin. Some permanent snowfields exist high in the basin (sometimes termed "Navajo Glacier") and the climb usually involves snow travel, with ice axe and crampons recommended. Scrambling on rock then leads to the summit.

A popular, though long, outing for expert climbers is the mile-long ridge connecting Mount Wilson to El Diente Peak. The ridge is sharp and rocky, and requires difficult scrambling and often a small amount of rappelling.

[edit] Geology and history

Mount Wilson, and the rest of the San Miguel Mountains, are made up of a large, irregular tertiary igneous intrusion.[5]

The Mount Wilson region became the site of intense mining activity, particularly for silver, in the early 1880s. The most famous of these mines was the Silver Pick Mine, which gave its name to Silver Pick Basin, just north of Navajo Basin.

[edit] See also


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[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Mount Wilson on Topozone
  2. ^ a b c Louis W. Dawson, Dawson's Guide to Colorado's Fourteeners, Vol. 2, Blue Clover Press, 1996, ISBN 0-9628867-2-6, pp. 160-165.
  3. ^ Colorado high-prominence peaks at peaklist.org
  4. ^ a b Walter R. Borneman and Lyndon J. Lampert, A Climbing Guide to Colorado's Fourteeners (3rd ed.), Pruett Publishing, 1994, ISBN 0-87108-850-9, pp. 231-239.
  5. ^ Halka Chronic, Roadside Geology of Colorado, Mountain Press, 1980, ISBN 0-87842-105-X, p. 245.