Highland Peak is a prominent 12,381-foot summit in Colorado’s Elk Mountains, rising steeply above valleys near Aspen on the edge of the Maroon Bells–Snowmass Wilderness in White River National Forest. Its dramatic relief is a defining feature, with the mountain climbing thousands of feet above Conundrum Creek and East Maroon Creek in little more than a mile. Water from its slopes drains into tributaries of the Roaring Fork River and ultimately the Colorado River. Highland Peak has an alpine subarctic climate with snowy winters, summer thunderstorms, and a late-spring dry spell, conditions that also support the Aspen Highlands ski area on its slopes.