Front Range

Mountain range which forms the easternmost face of the southern Rocky Mountains. They extend for some 480 km/300 mi from southern Wyoming into Colorado. The highest summit in the Front Range is Grays Peak (4,349 m/14,270 ft). Other mountains here include Pikes Peak, Mount Evans, and Longs Peak.

In Wyoming, the Medicine Bow and Laramie mountain ranges run parallel to the Front Range, while in Colorado a single massif crosses the Rocky Mountain National Park and forms part of the Continental Divide. Passing west of Denver, the mountains continue south to near Colorado Springs, where their best-known summit, Pikes Peak, overlooks the Great Plains to the east. To the south, the Wet Mountains and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, extending into New Mexico, are often regarded as extensions of the Front Range. though the range officially ends north of the Arkansas River. In the 19th century, westbound travellers avoided the arduous journey over the range whenever possible. Today US 40 and Interstate 70 traverse it; the Berthoud (altitude 3,449 m/11,315 ft) and Loveland (altitude 3,655 m/11,990 ft) passes, west of Georgetown, were for a long time vital features of this route. However, since 1973 the Eisenhower Tunnel, just southwest of the Loveland Pass, has carried most traffic through the area.