Mt. Sopris is a commanding presence in the Roaring Fork Valley of Central Colorado. Part of the Elk Mountain Range, it rises nearly 7,000 feet above Carbondale. Although it is only of medium height within a range of 14,000-foot peaks, it stands alone, starts from a lower base, and sharply interrupts the horizon line. Its profile might remind one of Japan's Mt. Fuji from certain angles, as it apparently did for a couple (she was born in Japan) who built their home in a location that replicates the mountain’s iconic view.

In truth, it has two summits separated by half a mile, reaching the same elevation of 12,950 feet. Between them lies a cirque, a steeply sloped bowl facing northeast. Sweeping beneath the twin peaks, its shaded orientation makes it ideal for the early buildup of snow that starts to fall at this time of year.

This prominent landmark was created by molten magma rising from deep beneath the Earth's surface. Geologically, the mountain is a pluton, a bulge in the crust formed as the Earth's molten core cooled and solidified, starting around 30 million years ago following the initial uplift of the Rocky Mountains.

While hiking up to the peak wasn’t difficult, footing can be tricky along the exposed mountain path due to loose and crumbling rock, and a few have slipped to their deaths. Along one arm of its western ridge, I took this photograph after a snowfall in the late afternoon of an early fall day, feeling vertiginous, captivated by the nearly vertical landscape of the cirque.