MOUNT OF THE HOLY CROSS

'Mount of the Holy Cross' is the northernmost fourteen thousand foot mountain in the Sawatch Range, part of the Rocky Mountains in the US state of Colorado. It is located in the Holy Cross Wilderness near Holy Cross City (an apparent ghost town) and in Eagle County. It was named for the distinctive cross-shaped snowfield on the northeast face. The mountain was formerly a U.S. National Monument but lost that status in 1950 by which time the cross formation had lost much of its distinctiveness due to erosion and rock slides.
This mountain has been much celebrated in the past by painters and photographers. The first known publicly available photograph was published in National Geographic magazine. Thomas Moran supposedly painted this mountain but the painting is now apparently lost. It is still much photographed but it is not as well known today as it was in the past.
Nearby features include Bowl of Tears Lake, directly under the east face of the peak, Tuhare Lakes, in a cirque that lies south of a significant subpeak, and several other lakes. Notable locations within include the Dotsero Volcano (near Interstate 70), Vail and Aspen. US 24 runs nearby the peak through Gilman.
The first recorded ascent of Holy Cross was in 1873, by F.V. Hayden and photographer W.H. Jackson during one of Hayden's geographical surveys. However the peak may well have been ascended previously by miners or Native Americans.^[5] The first winter ascent of the peak was made in 1943 by Russel Keene and Howard Freedman of the 10th Mountain Division, then stationed at Camp Hale.
Holy Cross can be climbed by at least four different routes, with the easiest and most common route being the North Ridge, which involves of vertical gain over and is rated YDS Class 2 for moderate scrambling. The Cross Couloir route forms the vertical portion of the famous cross feature, and provides an advanced snow climb or extreme ski descent.

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See also

References

External links

See also

★ Colorado 4k peaks

★ Colorado fourteeners

★ Colorado mountain peaks

★ Colorado mountain ranges

★ Mountain peaks of North America

★ Mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains

★ Mountain peaks of the United States

References

1. Peakbagger.com - Mount of the Holy Cross. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
2. Holy Cross on Topozone
3. NGS web site (access "Datasheets" and search for "Mount of the Holy Cross")
4. Holy Cross on Summitpost
5. Louis W. Dawson II, ''Dawson's Guide to Colorado's Fourteeners: Volume I, The Northern Peaks'', Blue Clover Press, 1994, ISBN 0-9628867-1-8, pp. 36-44.

External links

★ Mount of the Holy Cross on peakware.com

★ Mount of the Holy Cross on PeakBagger.com