Mount Columbia (Colorado)

Mount Columbia
Mount Columbia as seen from Mount Harvard
Highest point
Elevation14,077 ft (4,291 m)[1][2]
Prominence893 ft (272 m)[3]
Parent peakMount Harvard
Isolation1.90 mi (3.06 km)[3]
ListingColorado Fourteener 35th
Coordinates38°54′14″N 106°17′51″W / 38.9039357°N 106.2974989°W / 38.9039357; -106.2974989[1]
Geography
Mount Columbia is located in Colorado
Mount Columbia
Mount Columbia
LocationChaffee County, Colorado, U.S.[4]
Parent rangeSawatch Range,
Collegiate Peaks[3]
Topo map(s)USGS 7.5' topographic map
Mount Columbia, Colorado[1]
Climbing
First ascent1916 by Roger Toll[citation needed]
Easiest routeWest Slopes: Hike, class 2[5]

Mount Columbia is a high mountain summit of the Collegiate Peaks in the Sawatch Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 14,077-foot (4,291 m) fourteener is located in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness of San Isabel National Forest, 9.9 miles (16.0 km) northwest by west (bearing 301°) of the Town of Buena Vista in Chaffee County, Colorado, United States. The mountain was named by Roger W. Toll in honor of his alma mater, Columbia University,[1][2][3][4] and in commemoration of its rowing victory at the renowned Henley Royal Regatta in 1878.[6]

Mountain

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Along with nearby Mount Harvard, Mount Yale, Mount Princeton, and Mount Oxford, Mount Columbia is one of five Collegiate Peaks named for prominent universities. Due to a notoriously challenging scree field located on the standard route, Mount Columbia is usually only climbed by those wishing to climb all of Colorado's fourteeners. The forest service recommends that hikers take the user-created Horn Fork Basin Route, an 11-mile roundtrip that gains 5,800 feet in elevation. The area near the scree field is severely eroded, and although there are efforts to build a new trail to replace the current user-created trail, the formal trail has not yet been completed.[7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "COLUMBIA PK". NGS Data Sheet. National Geodetic Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Department of Commerce. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  2. ^ a b The elevation of Mount Columbia includes an adjustment of +2.081 m (+6.83 ft) from NGVD 29 to NAVD 88.
  3. ^ a b c d "Mount Columbia, Colorado". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  4. ^ a b "Mount Columbia". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  5. ^ "Mt. Columbia Routes". 14ers.com.
  6. ^ "Mount Columbia". Columbia Spectator. Vol. III, no. 1. New York, NY: Columbia Spectator. 1 Oct 1878. p. 3. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  7. ^ "Pike and San Isabel National Forests Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands - Mount Columbia (Fourteener)". www.fs.usda.gov. Retrieved 2017-11-16.
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