Argentine Pass

Argentine Pass
The mountains along Argentine Pass as seen from the ghost town of Waldorf, in September 2022.
Elevation13,207 ft (4,025 m)[1]
Traversed byUnimproved road
LocationClear Creek / Summit counties, Colorado, U.S.
RangeFront Range
Coordinates39°37′31″N 105°46′57″W / 39.62528°N 105.78250°W / 39.62528; -105.78250
Topo mapUSGS Grays Peak

Argentine Pass, elevation 13,207 ft (4,025 m), is a high mountain pass that crosses the Continental Divide in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado in the United States. Argentine Pass is located on the crest of the Front Range along the boundary southwest of Georgetown and is the highest named vehicle-accessible pass in the state.

Some early references use other names for the pass. An 1867 description of the trip from Georgetown into the valley of the Snake River refers to it as Sanderson Pass.[2] A lithograph caption from 1869 calls it the Snake River Pass.[3]

  1. ^ "Argentine Pass". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
  2. ^ Over the Plains to Colorado, Harpers New Monthly Magazine, Vol XXXV, No. CCV (June 1867); pages 1-21, pages 13-15 discuss the trip over Sanderson Pass, which must be what is now known as Argentine Pass.
  3. ^ Alfred e. Mathews, Grays Peak, Gems of Rocky Mountain Scenery, self published, New York, 1869; pages are not numbered.