Thatchtop is a mountain summit in Larimer County, Colorado, United States.
Description Thatchtop is set one mile east of the Continental Divide in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The mountain is situated within Rocky Mountain National Park, approximately southwest of Estes Park. Precipitation runoff from the mountain drains into tributaries of Glacier Creek which in turn is a tributary of the Big Thompson River. Topographic relief is significant with the summit rising above Glacier Gorge in 0.75 mile (1.21 km).
Etymology
The mountain's descriptive name refers to the matted groundcover of the roof-shaped mountain. The landforms's toponym was officially adopted in 1932 by the United States Board on Geographic Names,Decisions of the United States Geographic Board No. 2, (June 30, 1932), US Government Printing Office, p. 8. although it appeared in publications as early as 1911 if not earlier.Enos A. Mills (1911), The Spell of the Rockies, Houghton Mifflin, p. 341. The Arapaho called the mountain "Buffalo Climb."Randi Minetor (2019), Historic Rocky Mountain National Park, Lyons Press, , p. 21.
Climate According to the Köppen climate classification system, Thatchtop is located in an alpine subarctic climate zone with cold, snowy winters, and cool to warm summers. Due to its altitude, it receives precipitation all year, as snow in winter, and as thunderstorms in summer, with a dry period in late spring.
See also List of peaks in Rocky Mountain National Park
References
External links Weather forecast: Thatchtop Thatchtop rock climbing: Mountainproject.com