Rollins Pass
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| Rollins Pass | |
|---|---|
 Riflesight Notch railroad trestle on the way up Rollins Pass |
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| Elevation | 11,680 ft. |
| Location | Colorado,  United States |
| Range | Rocky Mountains |
| Coordinates | |
| Topo map | Terraserver map |
| Traversed by | Unpaved road |
Rollins Pass (el. 11,680 ft.) is a high mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of north-central Colorado in the United States. The pass is located on the continental divide at the crest of the Front Range southwest of Boulder, at the common boundary of Grand, Boulder, and Gilpin counties.
[edit] Description
Rollins Pass (a.k.a. Corona Pass) sits approximately 5 miles east and above the popular ski areas around Winter Park. The pass is traversed by an unpaved road until Needles Eye Tunnel, a short railroad tunnel which was closed in 1990 after part of the tunnel collapsed and seriously injured a Denver firefighter. There was also a tunnel bypass road which motorists in four-wheel drive vehicles used until the 1980's when it was washed out though 4-wheelers have begun to carve out a new path on the west side of the tunnel. The pass is closed in winter and is thus not used by regular vehicle traffic between Denver and Winter Park, which generally follows the route over Berthoud Pass to the south. The pass is popular recreational route for hiking and four-wheel drive vehicles during the summer months though note that you can not drive the entire road due to tunnel closure. The road up to the pass goes west from Colorado State Highway 119 at Rollinsville and passes through historic mining country in southwestern Boulder County.
The pass provides a route between the watershed of South Boulder Creek (in the basin of the South Platte River) with the basin of the Fraser River, a tributary of the Colorado River. The first recorded use of the pass by a wagon train was in 1862. It is named for John Rollins, who constructed a wagon road over the pass in the 1870s, providing a route between the Colorado Front Range and Middle Park. The pass was used heavily in the late 19th century by settlers to drive cattle over the continental divide to Middle Park, and at one time as many as 12,000 cattle at a time were driven over the pass [1]. In the early 20th century, David Moffat, a Denver banker, established the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railway with the intention of building a railroad over the Front Range in the vicinity of the pass. Moffat's plan was to build a tunnel at the crest of the mountains near the pass, but initial construction difficulties forced him to build a temporary line over Rollins Pass without a tunnel. The temporary line, known as the Moffat Road, ran 23 miles over the pass, with a 4% grade along many stretches, and was the highest railroad ever constructed in North America. A small rail stop called Corona was established at the top of the pass, with a restaurant and lodging, which allowed workers to help keep the rail line free of snow in the winter. Trains were often stranded for several days during heavy winter snows. Although Moffat did not live to see his tunnel completed, his enterprise was continued under a different name, and Moffat Tunnel opened just south of the pass on February 26, 1928. The route became part of the mainline across Colorado of the Denver and Salt Lake Railroad, and later the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. It continues to serve as the route for ski train passengers between Denver and Winter Park.
[edit] Recent events
- On July 30, 2006, a single engine airplane coming from Boulder, CO crashed on Rollins Pass. The two occupants of the 1969 Citabria 7KCAB were killed on impact. [2]
[edit] External links
