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Rocky Mountain National Park

Keyboard of the Winds

High up in the Rocky Mountains, there’s a place where the air itself plays the landscape like an instrument. At over thirteen thousand feet - above treeline - a serrated granite ridge called the Keyboard of the Winds connects Longs Peak and Pagoda Mountain. Seven jagged towers rise from the ridge, their pinnacles like the splintered keys of an old piano. Some as tall as a modern skyscraper. When powerful gusts sweep through the spires, the wind roars across the rock and builds deep, resonant vibrations that are both heard and felt. Scientists describe the sound as pink noise: a steady, low-frequency, natural hum. Shaped by storms over eons, the ridge stands sharp against the Colorado sky. The Keyboard of the Winds… ready to be played among the clouds.

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About Colorado Postcards

Colorado Postcards are snapshots of our colorful state in sound. They give brief insights into our people and places, our flora and fauna, and our past and present, from every corner of Colorado. See more postcards.


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