Otis Peak 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 Grand County and

Larimer County Larimer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 359,066. The county seat and most populous city is Fort Collins. The county was named for William Larimer, Jr., the founder of Denver. ...

, in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the 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 western edge of t ...

, United States.

Description

Otis Peak is set along 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 The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado, and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encountere ...

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 in ...

. The mountain is situated within

Rocky Mountain National Park Rocky Mountain National Park is an American national park located approximately northwest of Denver in north-central Colorado, within the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The park is situated between the towns of Estes Park to the east and ...

and southwest of

Estes Park Estes Park is a statutory town in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 5,904 at the 2020 United States Census. Estes Park is a part of the Fort Collins, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Cor ...

. Precipitation

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

from the mountain drains chiefly into tributaries of Glacier Creek which in turn is a tributary of the

Big Thompson River The Big Thompson River is a tributary of the South Platte River, approximately 78 miles (123 km) long, in the U.S. state of Colorado. Originating in Forest Canyon in Rocky Mountain National Park, the river flows into Lake Estes in the town ...

, and the lower west slope drains to Grand Lake via North Inlet. A portion of that water that arrives at Grand Lake is then diverted to the east side of the Continental Divide via the

Alva B. Adams Tunnel The Alva B. Adams Tunnel is the principal component of the largest transmountain water project in Colorado, the Colorado-Big Thompson Project (C-BT). The tunnel transfers water from the western slope of the Colorado River drainage to the eastern F ...

which is bored under Otis Peak.

Topographic relief Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin word ...

is significant as the summit rises above Loch Vale in one mile.

Etymology

The mountain's toponym was reported in publications as early as 1915, and was officially adopted in 1932 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 ...

. The peak is named for Dr. Edward Osgood Otis (1848–1933), a recognized authority on tuberculosis, who spent time mountain climbing in this area in the 1880s.''Essays and Monographs in Colorado History'' (1983), Publisher: Colorado Historical Society, p. 84.

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Otis Peak 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. This climate supports the

Andrews Glacier Andrews Glacier is an alpine glacier in a cirque below Otis Peak () in Rocky Mountain National Park in the U.S. state of Colorado. The glacier extends from Andrews Pass at nearly with some perennial snow extending to Andrews Tarn, a small progla ...

below the south slope of Otis Peak.

Gallery

File:Otis Peak and Hallett Peak.jpg, Otis Peak (left) and Hallett Peak from northeast File:Otis, Hallett, Flattop.jpg, Otis Peak (left), Hallett Peak (center), Flattop Mountain (right) File:Taylor, Otis, Hallett.jpg, Taylor Peak, Otis Peak, and Hallett Peak File:Otis Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park.jpg, Otis Peak

Notes

Elevation for Otis Peak ranges from 12,481 feet measured by

LiDAR Lidar (, also LIDAR, or LiDAR; sometimes LADAR) is a method for determining ranges (variable distance) by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. It can also be ...

, 12,486 feet on USGS topographical map, and 12,504 feet with a

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...

unit.

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Otis Peak
* Dr. Edward Osgood Otis in memoriam
National Library of Medicine
* Otis Peak rock climbing
Mountainproject.com
{{Mountains of Colorado Mountains of Larimer County, Colorado Mountains of Grand County, Colorado Mountains of Rocky Mountain National Park Mountains of Colorado North American 3000 m summits Great Divide of North America