El Diente Peak is a
high summit in the
San Miguel Mountains range 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 ...
of
North America. The peak is located in the
Lizard Head Wilderness
The Lizard Head Wilderness is a wilderness area in southwest Colorado. It contains and is jointly managed by the Uncompahgre and San Juan National Forests. It is southwest of the town of Telluride and is named for a prominent rock formation t ...
of
San Juan National Forest
The San Juan National Forest is a U.S. National Forest covering over 1,878,846 acres (2,935.7 sq mi, or 7,603.42 km²) in western Colorado. The forest occupies land in Archuleta, Conejos, Dolores, Hinsdale, La Plata, Mineral, Montezu ...
, north by east (
bearing 8°) of the
Town of Rico in
Dolores County
Dolores County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,326. The county seat is Dove Creek.
History
It is thought that the area has been the site of human habitation since at least 2500 B ...
,
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
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. "El Diente" is Spanish for "The Tooth", a reference to the shape of the peak.
[
]
Climbing
The topographic prominence
In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...
of El Diente Peak is only , so by a strict cutoff rule, it would not be counted as a separate peak from its higher neighbor Mount Wilson. However, the 3/4 mile (1.2 km) connecting ridge is a significant climbing challenge ( Class 4/5), making El Diente more independent than its prominence would indicate.[
]
Hence, it is often regarded as a full-fledged fourteener.
El Diente is one of the more dramatic peaks in Colorado in terms of local relief and steepness. As a result, it is one of the most challenging climbs among Colorado's fourteeners. All routes involve at least class 3 scrambling on loose talus, and poor route-finding can expose the climber to more difficult and dangerous terrain.
Historical names
*El Diente
*El Diente Peak [
]
See also
*List of mountain peaks of Colorado
This is a list of major mountain peaks in the U.S. State of Colorado.
This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaksThis article defines a significant summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence, and a m ...
**List of Colorado fourteeners
This is a list of mountain peaks in the U.S. State of Colorado that exceed of elevation.
In the mountaineering parlance of the Western United States, a ''fourteener'' is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least 14,000 feet. This is a co ...
References
External links
*
*
Mountains of Colorado
Mountains of Dolores County, Colorado
North American 4000 m summits
{{Colorado-geo-stub