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Mt Sneffels (March 2008) — Debivort, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Mt Sneffels

Mt. Sneffels

By Jon Pinnow
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Mount Sneffels is one of Colorado’s most spectacular peaks and a photographer’s favorite. It’s the mountain on the face of the Colorado driver’s license. And it’s named after a volcano — in Iceland. That volcano in faraway Iceland is where the heroes of a Jules Verne novel began their "Journey to the Center of the Earth." And that fact may be the reason Colorado’s mountain got the name, or it may be because the western side of Mount Sneffels looks like a volcanic crater. Also unknown? The names of those who made the first recorded ascent in 1873. Ever since, mountaineers have braved a near-vertical world of sharp ridges, icy slopes, and ragged peaks to reach the summit. Others four-wheel as far as possible from Yankee Boy Basin and then hoof it up the last mile or so to the summit. However you get there, the reward at the top of Mount Sneffels is an iconic Colorado view, and the heroic feeling of a journey to the top of the world.

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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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