| Mount Cirrus | |
|---|---|
 East aspect, centered, fromTrail Ridge Road | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 12,808 ft (3,904 m)[1] |
| Prominence | 400 ft (122 m)[1] |
| Parent peak | Howard Mountain (12,826 ft)[1] |
| Isolation | 0.56 mi (0.90 km)[1] |
| Coordinates | 40°26′05″N105°54′07″W / 40.4346827°N 105.9019049°W /40.4346827; -105.9019049[2] |
| Naming | |
| Etymology | Cirrus cloud |
| Geography | |
  Mount Cirrus Location in Colorado Show map of Colorado Mount Cirrus Mount Cirrus (the United States) Show map of the United States | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Colorado |
| County | Grand County /Jackson County |
| Protected area | Rocky Mountain National Park Never Summer Wilderness |
| Parent range | Rocky Mountains Never Summer Mountains |
| Topo map | USGSMount Richthofen |
| Geology | |
| Rock type(s) | shale andgranodiorite[3] |
| Climbing | |
| Easiest route | Southwest Ridgeclass 2[4] |
Mount Cirrus is a 12,808-foot-elevation (3,904-meter) mountainsummit inColorado, United States.
Mount Cirrus is situated on theContinental Divide along the boundary shared byGrand County andJackson County.[5] It is the third-highest peak of theNever Summer Mountains which are a subrange of theRocky Mountains.[6] The mountain is situated on the western boundary ofRocky Mountain National Park and is visible fromTrail Ridge Road within the park. The west side of the peak is in theNever Summer Wilderness, on land managed byMedicine Bow–Routt National Forest. Precipitationrunoff from the mountain's west slope drains into tributaries of theMichigan River and the east slope drains into headwaters of theColorado River except a portion which is diverted by theGrand Ditch. The counterintuitive direction of water flow is because the Continental Divide forms a loop in this area, whereby the peak's west slope runoff flows to the Atlantic Ocean and the east slope to the Pacific.Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises 3,600 feet (1,100 meters) above the Colorado River in three miles (4.8 km) and 2,600 feet (790 meters) above the South Fork Michigan River in one mile (1.6 km).
The mountain's toponym was applied in 1914 byJames Grafton Rogers,[7] and was officially adopted in 1932 by theUnited States Board on Geographic Names.[2] Rogers also namedMount Cumulus andMount Nimbus, with the three names referring to different types of commonclouds. As President of the Colorado Geographic Society, Chairman of the Colorado Geographic Board, and President of the American Alpine Club, Rogers participated in naming many of Colorado's mountains.[8] The north ridge of Cirrus, officially named Hart Ridge, is named in remembrance of Eldon Charles Hart, Jr., of the Kansas Air National Guard, who was killed in the crash of his plane on this ridge on January 30, 1967, at age 26.[9]
According to theKöppen climate classification system, Mount Cirrus is located in an alpinesubarctic climate zone with cold, snowy winters, and cool to warm summers.[10] 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.
Mountains portal
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