Mount Sniktau

The name "Sniktau" refers to the pen name of Edwin H. N. Patterson, a journalist in the Clear Creek County area during the 1860s.{{cite web|title=Mount Sniktau Trail|url=http://www.rei.com/guidepost/detail/colorado/hiking/mount-sniktau-trail/12419|work=Colorado Hiking|publisher=Trails.com/REI|access-date=30 November 2012}} Patterson was a close friend of the famous poet, Edgar Allan Poe, and the two men are known to have exchanged letters in the 1840s.{{cite web|title=Edwin Howard Norton Patterson|url=http://www.eapoe.org/people/patteehn.htm|work=People|publisher=Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore|access-date=30 November 2012}}

Patterson claimed to have received the nickname "Sniktau" from Native Americans, although it may simply have been adopted from a fellow journalist named W. F. Watkins, who had reversed the letters of his own name to create the pen name "Sniktaw." Patterson had moved to Colorado from his native Oquawka, Illinois, in 1875 to become editor of the Colorado Miner, a newspaper printed in Georgetown, roughly 15 miles from the mountain. He is buried in Alvarado Cemetery, located near Georgetown.

Mount Sniktau sits immediately east of the Continental Divide on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The summit is located less than a mile south of Interstate 70 and east of the Eisenhower Tunnel.{{cite web|title=Mount Sniktau|url=http://www.summitpost.org/mount-sniktau/152332|work=Climbing, Hiking and Mountaineering|publisher=SummitPost.org|access-date=30 November 2012}} The larger Grays Peak, Torreys Peak, and Mount Parnassus sit within a {{convert|5|mi|0|adj=on}} radius of Mount Sniktau, and the closest major town is Silver Plume.{{cite web | title = 13ers.com - Mount Sniktau | url= http://13ers.com/peaks/peak.php?peakkey=5040 | access-date = 2012-11-30 }} By car, Mount Sniktau sits within the Arapaho National Forest and is roughly one hour west of Denver.{{cite web|title=Mount Sniktau|url=http://www.hikingincolorado.org/snik.html|work=hikingincolorado.org|publisher=Hiking in Colorado|access-date=30 November 2012}}

The mountain's immediate drainage basin is Clear Creek (Colorado) and then the South Platte River. Ultimately, runoff from the peak reaches the Platte River, the Missouri River, the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.

File:Mount Sniktau hiker.JPG

The Mount Sniktau trail, which allows hikers to reach the summit of the mountain by foot, is accessible immediately off of a parking lot at Loveland Pass on U.S. Highway 6. The trailhead begins above the treeline at about {{Convert|12000|ft|m|-1}} and rises to {{Convert|13234|ft}} at the peak, but reaching the summit does not necessarily require the use of extra mountain climbing equipment such as ropes. Visitors can also reach Grizzly Peak, a nearby mountain (not to be confused with the taller Grizzly Peak in Chaffee County), from the same point along Loveland Pass.

The walk from the trailhead at Loveland Pass to the peak measures about two miles, but it features an elevation gain of over {{Convert|1000|ft|-1}} in the initial mile of hiking.{{cite web|title=Mt. Sniktau|url=http://www.summitcountyexplorer.com/HIKES/Mt.%20Sniktau%20-%20Hiking%20Trail.htm|work=Hiking trails|publisher=Summit County Explorer|access-date=30 November 2012}}{{cite web|last=Surfer|first=Mike|title=Mount Sniktau|url=http://www.peakware.com/peaks.html?pk=2960|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304122101/http://www.peakware.com/peaks.html?pk=2960|archive-date=2016-03-04|work=PeakWare - Peaks|publisher=Interactive Outdoors, Inc.|access-date=30 November 2012}} Because of its relatively convenient accessibility by automobile from population centers like Denver, Boulder, and Breckenridge, the mountain is a popular destination for hikers.

File:View from Mount Sniktau trail.png

From the summit, hikers see Loveland Pass below them at {{convert|11990|ft|0|abbr=on}}, plus views of nearby Grizzly Peak, Grays Peak, Torreys Peak and the Gore Range. Also visible are the skiing runs of the adjacent Loveland Ski Area, as well as those of Arapahoe Basin, Keystone, and Breckenridge across the Divide in Summit County.

When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the 1976 Winter Olympics to Denver in May 1970,{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YbZeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UjAMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6169%2C2364144 |newspaper=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho)|agency=Associated Press |title=Denver and Montreal awarded 1976 Olympic Games|date=May 13, 1970 |page=13}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LZBaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WEoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4240%2C3056604 |newspaper=Deseret News |location=(Salt Lake City, Utah)|agency=UPI |title=Denver, Montreal shock Olympic site hopefuls |date=May 13, 1970 |page=1D }} the local organizers' proposal included the development of Mount Sniktau as the primary venue for alpine ski racing for downhill and giant slalom, with slalom at Loveland Ski Area.{{cite journal|url=https://www.si.com/vault/1971/02/15/554303/olympian-snafu-at-sniktau|magazine=Sports Illustrated |title=Olympian snafu at Sniktau|last=Rapaport|first=Roger|date=February 15, 1971 |page=60}}{{cite web |url=http://history.denverlibrary.org/blog/content/denver-never-was-1976-winter-olympic-games |publisher=Denver Public Library |title=The Denver That Never Was: 1976 Winter Olympic Games |date=August 2013 |access-date=December 27, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228012609/http://history.denverlibrary.org/blog/content/denver-never-was-1976-winter-olympic-games |archive-date=December 28, 2013 |url-status=dead }} By early 1972, it was decided to move the alpine events to Vail because the proposals did not meet the Olympic standards.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rdtVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JuEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6685%2C76566 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |title=Way cleared for '76 Games as Denver changes okayed

|date=February 1, 1972 |page=2B}}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19720201&id=YfcbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qFMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3083,158024|newspaper=Pittsburgh Press |agency=UPI |title=Olympic notes: Appeal on Schranz rejected |date=February 1, 1972|page=30 }} Sniktau and Loveland were submitted in the 1970 bid to satisfy a requirement of proximity to the Olympic Village (at the University of Denver).{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nr5SAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_30DAAAAIBAJ&pg=7302%2C4423415 |work=Deseret News |location=(Salt Lake City, Utah) |last=Kadleck |first=Dave |title=Utah scores ski 'plus' |date=February 22, 1972 |page=B7}}

In November 1972, Colorado voters rejected public funding for the Olympics;{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aNFSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MH8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=1930%2C1952173 |work=Deseret News |location=(Salt Lake City, Utah) |agency=UPI |title=Winter Olympics out in Colorado |date=November 8, 1972 |page=A4}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KgpWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UuEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1893%2C2046827 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |title=Voters reject 'privilege' |date=November 8, 1972 |page=1C}} three months later, the Games were relocated to Innsbruck, Austria,{{cite web|title=Denver Defers the 1976 Games|url=http://www.skimuseum.net/pdf/1972-76.pdf|work=Ski Museum.net|access-date=12 May 2014|page=2|quote=...1976 Winter Games, they were originally awarded to Denver.|format=PDF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512231535/http://www.skimuseum.net/pdf/1972-76.pdf|archive-date=12 May 2014|url-status=dead}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GaxfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tTIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2730%2C1104935 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |agency=Associated Press |title=Innsbruck gets '76 Games |date=February 5, 1973 |page=10}} which had recently hosted in 1964.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tFQqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=clMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=678%2C1794742 |work=Pittsburgh Press |agency=UPI |title=Innsbruck given Winter Olympics |date=February 5, 1973 |page=25}} The next Winter Olympics in 1980 were in the U.S., at Lake Placid, New York.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6qIrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nPwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6886%2C4879442 |work=Nashua Telegraph |location=(New Hampshire) |agency=UPI |last=Wimmer |first=Ferry |title=Moscow, Lake Placid awarded Olympics |date=October 23, 1974 |page=38}}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YbNeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7y8MAAAAIBAJ&pg=5414%2C5743508 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |agency=Associated Press |title='80 Olympic Games go to Moscow, Lake Placid |date=October 24, 1974 |page=15}}{{cite news |url=https://www.si.com/vault/1974/11/04/615825/back-where-the-games-belong |magazine=Sports Illustrated |last=Johnson |first=William O. |title=Back where the games belong |date=November 4, 1974 |page=28}}

• Big Professor
• Engelmann
• Engelmann Peak
• Mount Sniktau – 1926

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{{portal|Geology|Geography|North America|United States|Colorado|Mountains}}

• List of Colorado mountain ranges
• List of Colorado mountain summits
• List of Colorado fourteeners
• List of Colorado 4000 meter prominent summits
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• List of Colorado county high points

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{{sister project links}}

• [http://13ers.com/peaks/peak.php?peakkey=5040 Mount Sniktau on 13ers.com]
• [http://www.summitpost.org/mount-sniktau/152332 Mount Sniktau on SummitPost]

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Sniktau

Category:Arapaho National Forest

Sniktau