A Mountain Spine Across Two Nations
The Rocky Mountains are North America's great mountain chain, running from British Columbia and Alberta in Canada south through Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado and Utah to New Mexico, known for peaks above 14,000 feet in Colorado, glacial lakes and some of the continent's most famous national parks. The Continental Divide follows the high crest, sending rivers to the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. Few ranges offer such range in a single journey, from jagged alpine ridges to broad sagebrush valleys.
Protected landscapes anchor the range. Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, Yellowstone and Grand Teton in Wyoming, Glacier in Montana and Banff and Jasper in Canada are each a different chapter of the same story, with elk, bison, bighorn sheep and eagles among the wildlife. Bases such as Denver and Canada's western gateways make it possible to link several of these in a single road-trip, with a different mountain character at every turn.
Ski Towns with Their Own Character
The Rockies' ski towns have shaped the identity of the American West. Aspen pairs a silver-mining past with a famous winter scene, Vail and Beaver Creek offer sweeping groomed terrain and European-style villages, and Telluride sits in a dramatic box canyon reached by a free gondola. In Utah, Snowbird and Park City bring famously light snow close to a major airport. Each has its own culture, from live music to refined mountain dining.
Summer opens a second season. Wildflower meadows, hiking trails above the treeline, white-water rafting, fly-fishing on gold-medal streams and festivals of music, film and food fill the calendar from June. Autumn brings the gold of aspen leaves, usually in late September, which is among the most beautiful scenes in the American West. For a tourist board, the Rockies is a year-round proposition rather than a winter-only one.
Read the full The Rockies guide on Visit Travel Group, or see TheRockies.co.uk on Visit Travel Group.