Cumbres Pass and La Manga Pass

About Cumbres Pass and La Manga Pass

All 4 of the cams on this page from Cumbres Pass and La Manga Pass have been removed by CDOT!

These 4 important pass cams need to be placed back in service! Call and ask CDOT to return these cams asap! The main customer service number for CDOT is (303) 757-9011.

Cumbres Pass, elevation 10,029 feet (3,057 meters), is a Colorado high mountain pass in the San Juan Mountains, in the southern part of the state. The pass is traversed by Colorado State Highway 17 and the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. The highway has a moderate 5.8% approach on the north side and a gentler, 4% approach on the south side. If you’re heading south on the road or on the railway, you will enter New Mexico just a few miles after you hit the bottom of the pass. The pass normally sees a lot of snow, but while the road is not a major through highway, it is sometimes closed because of heavy snow in the winter, too.

Located in Conejos County, to the south of La Manga Pass, and within the Rio Grande National Forest. The first road through the pass was a toll road, built in 1879 and the current highway opened in 1923. The road to the summit today is totally paved. The pass is 47.1 miles (75.80km) long, running from the Colorado town of Antonito (in Conejos County) towards Chama (in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico).

The Continental Divide Trail runs over this pass, and if you join it here, it represents a transition between states. Head northbound and hikers stay in the state and can check out the beautiful San Juan Mountain Wilderness; while southbound hikers will enter New Mexico’s Carson National Forest after a short while.

Cumbres Pass has a subarctic climate. It sees more than 300 inches / 762 centimeters of snowfall each snow season, which runs from late September to mid May.