Highest Colorado tree?

[CheapCigarMan]

Coming off of White Dome's south ridge a couple weekends ago we seen this evergreen on the east side just off the ridge. We clocked it at 13,543'.

[d_baker]

Tada!!!! Along NE ridge of E Trinity, maybe 13,666?? I think one of us pinged the elevation.

Screenshot_20261006_132622_Gallery.jpg

Not very far below summit of Arrow Peak....

Screenshot_20261006_132548_Gallery.jpg

[bdloftin77]

Nice!

[backcountrybrodes]

I've saw this in a thread here a few years ago. Someone here mentioned treeline in South America being over 14k feet.

That's because in South America, at least in Ecuador/Colombia/Venezuela/Brazil you are near the equator. The highest elevation something grows at is a function of the average temperature at that elevation at that latitude which is why in Colorado treeline is a bit higher in the San Juans than northern Colorado.

It's always fascinating to me that different places in the world have varying tree line levels. Lowest tree line I've seen is 10.5k feet in the Absaroka/Beartooth mountains in south Montana.

Anyone know where the lowest altitude alpine tree line on Earth is? Meaning sea level to trees to above tree line, and excluding polar tundra zones expanding towards the equator from the North and South Poles.

[Eli Boardman]

Anyone know where the lowest altitude alpine tree line on Earth is? Meaning sea level to trees to above tree line, and excluding polar tundra zones expanding towards the equator from the North and South Poles.

It's a continuum from the poles to the equator, more or less. Starting from the equator, the treeline keeps getting lower the farther north/south you go until the effective "treeline" falls below sea level, in which case we call that polar tundra. A better question might be how much does the treeline drop per degree of latitude, and what is the farthest north that trees occur (in other words, at what latitude does the treeline reach sea level).

In the Rocky Mountains, treeline drops noticeably each state going north. In Colorado it's around 11.5-12k (neglecting the outliers in this thread of course), in Wyoming it's around 9.5-10.5k, etc., and in Montana it's around 9k to under 7k (north, in Glacier). This is also why the treeline in Mexico is closer to 13,500-14,000 ft.

[Scott P]

Anyone know where the lowest altitude alpine tree line on Earth is? Meaning sea level to trees to above tree line, and excluding polar tundra zones expanding towards the equator from the North and South Poles.

It's a continuum from the poles to the equator, more or less. Starting from the equator, the treeline keeps getting lower the farther north/south you go until the effective "treeline" falls below sea level, in which case we call that polar tundra. A better question might be how much does the treeline drop per degree of latitude, and what is the farthest north that trees occur (in other words, at what latitude does the treeline reach sea level).

Sort of but there are so many exceptions that it doesn't work that well (other than comparing the Rockies with other places in the Rockies) when comparing the Rockies to other areas.

Mexico and Guatemala have the highest timberline I know of which grows actual forest. The Andes and Tibet have some higher trees but they are more schrubs and don't really form a real forest but are just scattered clumps.


For whatever reason the Rocky Mountains (and Mexico/Guatamala) seem to have the highest timberline of any equivalent latitude in the world. This is true from New Mexico into Canada. For example Mt. Shasta California has the same elevation timberline as the Canadian Rockies in Banff.

In most of the tropics the timberline is lower than it is in Colorado. Mexico and Guatemala are exceptions. So are some bushy scattered trees in the Andes and Tibet but that's about it.

Most areas in the tropics have a timberline of 4000-11,500 feet.

Most (probably all) areas in the world with the same latitude (or opposite latitude) as Colorado have a much lower timberline than Colorado. We must have tough trees. Our warm summers for the elevation have something to do with it as well. It is quite strange that Colorado and New Mexico have one of the highest timberlines and forests in the world, beat only by a few places closer to the equator.

[interloper]

Anyone know where the lowest altitude alpine tree line on Earth is? Meaning sea level to trees to above tree line, and excluding polar tundra zones expanding towards the equator from the North and South Poles.

Not sure about lowest in the world, but when I was in the Scottish Highlands it seemed to be around 1100ft. That was pretty crazy to see coming from CO.

[Dave B]

There's more to it than just latitude. Yes, tree line on average drops lower with increasing latitude, but mesoscale climate patterns can have a huge influence. For example, because it's cold, cloudy, and miserable, tree line in the NE USA is about half the elevation of areas at the same latitude out west. Also, the Cascades and Sierra are generally much lower than interior forests at similar latitude due to the maritime influence of the Pacific Ocean.