| Snowdon Peak | |
| Elevation Ft: | 13077 |
| Prominence Ft: | 1317 |
| Isolation Mi: | 3.75 |
| Isolation Ref: | [1] |
| Parent Peak: | Twilight Peak (13,163 ft) |
| Etymology: | Snowdon |
| Location: | San Juan County, Colorado, US |
| Range: | Rocky Mountains San Juan Mountains Needle Mountains |
| Map: | Colorado#USA |
| Label Position: | bottom |
| Coordinates: | 37.7079°N -107.6889°W |
| Topo: | USGS Snowdon Peak |
| Rock: | Quartzite |
| Age: | Statherian |
| Easiest Route: | scramble NE ridge[2] |
Snowdon Peak is a 13077feet mountain summit located in San Juan County, Colorado, United States.[3] It is situated seven miles south of the community of Silverton, in the Weminuche Wilderness, on land managed by San Juan National Forest. It is part of the San Juan Mountains range which is a subset of the Rocky Mountains of North America, and is set nine miles west of the Continental Divide. Topographic relief is significant as the east aspect rises 4300abbr=offNaNabbr=off above the Animas River in approximately 1.5 mile. Neighbors include Mount Garfield three miles to the east-southeast, and Twilight Peak, which is the nearest higher peak, 3.7 miles to the south-southwest. This mountain can be seen from U.S. Route 550. The mountain is named after Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales.[4]
According to the Köppen climate classification system, Snowdon Peak is located in an alpine subarctic climate zone with long, cold, snowy winters, and cool to warm summers.[5] 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. Precipitation runoff from the mountain drains into tributaries of the Animas River.
Snowdon Peak is part of the Uncompahgre Formation, which is a sequence of quartzite and black phyllite some 8200feet in thickness.[6] The formation dates to the Statherian period and is interpreted as metamorphosed marine and fluvial sandstone, mudstone, and shale. The formation overlies plutons with an age of 1,707 million years.