Red Mountain Pass: Road Conditions, Weather & History

Check conditions before you go

Open all year, but avalanches, rockslides, and floods close it several times a year.

The state's official road map, with closures, chain and traction law alerts, and any working road cameras. There's also a COtrip Planner app.

The state's road conditions line, from any phone in Colorado.

The City of Ouray's cameras at the Visitor Center and on Main Street, looking north and south. Good for checking the weather in town.

11,018 feet, the high point of US 550 between Ouray and Silverton, on the Million Dollar Highway. (source)
Two more passes continue south. Past Silverton, US 550 also crosses Molas Pass (10,970 feet) and Coal Bank Pass (10,640 feet) on the way to Durango. (source)

Traction Law. You need winter, mud-and-snow, or all-weather tires with at least 3/16-inch tread, or chains or another traction device. The fine is $50 plus a $17 surcharge. (source)
Chain Law. The last step before the state closes the road. Watch for it on COtrip. (source)
Avalanche work. The road closes for planned avalanche control, sometimes with helicopters, and it can happen as late as the end of May. (source)
Deep snow. NOAA's records for the pass show an average deepest snowpack of about 89 inches, usually deepest in April, and about 41 inches of precipitation a year. (source)

A short, rich boom. Silver strikes around the pass set off a boom from about 1882 to 1893. Red Mountain Town, Ironton, and Guston all grew up within a few years. (source)
Red Mountain Town had a post office by January 1883 and more than 600 people at its peak. (source)
The silver crash of 1893 emptied most of the district. The Idarado Mine kept working on the Red Mountain side from the 1930s until 1978. (source)