Crystal Peak is a 12,777-foot mountain in central Colorado’s Elk Mountains, within the Rocky Mountains, standing in Gunnison National Forest north of Gunnison and west of the Continental Divide. Rising 1,777 feet above the Taylor River in about 1.5 miles, it has modest local relief. Its north slope drains toward the Taylor River’s headwaters, while its other slopes feed tributaries of the East River. The mountain has an alpine subarctic climate with snowy winters, cool to warm summers, year-round precipitation, summer thunderstorms, and a drier late spring. It is an officially recognized geographic landmark and should not be confused with another nearby Crystal Peak in Gunnison County.