Mount Jasper is a mountain

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

on the boundary shared by

Boulder County Boulder County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado of the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 330,758. The most populous municipality in the county and the county seat is Boulder. Boulder County comprises th ...

and Grand County, in Colorado, United States.

Description

Mount Jasper is set on the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

in the Front Range which is a subrange of the Rocky Mountains. The mountain is located west of

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

in the

Indian Peaks Wilderness The Indian Peaks Wilderness is a wilderness area in north central Colorado managed jointly by the United States Forest Service and the National Park Service within the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and small parts of the southern sectio ...

, on land managed by Arapaho National Forest and

Roosevelt National Forest The Roosevelt National Forest is a National Forest located in north central Colorado. It is contiguous with the Colorado State Forest as well as the Arapaho National Forest and the Routt National Forest. The forest is administered jointly with ...

. Precipitation runoff from the mountain's east slopes drains into Jasper Creek and Boulder Creek, whereas the west slope drains to

Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...

via Cabin Creek. Topographic relief is modest as the summit rises above Jasper Lake in two miles (3.2 km) and above Cabin Creek in two miles. An ascent of the peak involves hiking with of elevation gain.James Dziezynski (2012), ''Best Summit Hikes in Colorado'', AdventureKEEN, , p. 67. The mountain's toponym was officially adopted in 2003 by the

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...

. Prior to that, it was called Jasper Peak.

Climate

According to the Köppen climate classification system, the mountain is located in an alpine

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

zone with cold, snowy winters, and cool to warm summers. 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.

Climbing

Established climbing routes on Mt. Jasper: * East Ridge – * Northeast Ridge – class 3 * Northeast Slope – class 2 * ''Snow Lion'' – class 3 * ''Snow Leopard'' – class 3 * ''Gaiteraid'' – class 2 * Storm Gulch and South Slope – class 2

Gallery

File:Mount Jasper, Colorado.jpg, Mt. Jasper, east aspect File:Mount Jasper in Colorado.jpg, Mount Jasper viewed from Arapaho Glacier Trail

References

External links