Nature
Whitecross Mountain is a 13,553-foot summit in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, in Hinsdale County on Bureau of Land Management land. Within the Handies Peak Wilderness Study Area, it is the seventh-highest peak and is notable for steep local relief, rising about 2,800 feet above the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River in less than a mile. Runoff from its slopes drains into that river system. Its name comes from a white quartzite formation near the summit resembling a cross, a name officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names. The mountain has an alpine subarctic climate with snowy winters, cool to warm summers, and frequent summer thunderstorms.
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Colorado · United States
