Colorado Web Cams

Red Mountain Pass Cams, Colorado

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Red Mountain Pass (elevation 11,200 feet/3,414 meters) is a high-mountain pass in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, located on U.S. Route 550 between Ouray and Silverton. With flat-out stunningly beautiful alpine views in all directions, this scenic part of US 550 is called  the "Million Dollar Highway", and it's famous for steep cliffs, narrow lanes, and a lack of guardrails. The pass gets its name from Red Mountain, located on the northeast side of the pass.

Red Mountain Pass has a subalpine climate, bordering on an alpine climate. While the views on Red Mountain Pass are flat-out breathtaking, the road itself is one of Colorado's most dangerous mountain passes to drive on, in part because of weather conditions. It's know for being treacherous in the wintertime due to steep 8% grades and switchbacks, many sections of the road is winding, narrow and has no shoulder to go with the no guardrails, with drop-offs exceeding 1,000 feet in places. Avalanches on the road are frequent and block the highway from time to time, with many people in the past being killed on the road directly because of avalanches. Unofficially, 500 inches of snow falls on the pass and roadway each year, and the road sometimes closes during times of heavy snowfall.

While some sources cite a potential total of over 300 fatalities (including several snow plow operators throughout the years) spanning the road's entire history (it opened in 1880) while driving their vehicles off the edge of the road, a high concentration of accidents occurred in a 14-mile stretch south of Ouray. But, after the opening of the new Red Mountain Pass tunnel/snowshed, sometimes called the Riverside Tunnel, in 1984, the number of fatal avalanches have dropped big time. The tunnel's concrete structure was specifically designed to channel snow and avalanches over it (and the roadway). It is located roughly 8 miles north of the summit, and it mitigates one of the most dangerous avalanche paths (the East Riverside slide) in the area.  

Note: The most important Red Mountain Pass Cams have been removed by CDOT, we can only hope they will be replaced with new cams in time.

US 550 South of  Ouray; 2.2 miles N of Ironton, Red Mountain Pass
(Hwy 550 - between Silverton and Ouray)

US 550 2.2 miles N of Ironton, Red Mountain Pass: Looking North
(Hwy 550 - between Silverton and Ouray)

2.2 miles N of Ironton Red Mountain Pass
(Hwy 550 - between Silverton and Ouray)

US-550: South of  Ouray on Red Mountain Pass: Looking at Ouray County Road 18

Hwy 550, 0.2 miles W of CO 110, entering Silverton on Million Dollar Highway

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