These are the towering mountains of the Sangre de Cristo, the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains. This range was originally called “La Sierra Nevada”, “La Sierra Madre”, “La Sierra”, and  “The Snowies” (used by English speakers).

In 1719 the Spanish explorer  Antonio Valverde y Cosio renamed the range Sangre de Cristo (“Blood of  Christ”) mountains after being impressed by the reddish hue of the snowy peaks at sunrise, alpenglow. For the full story on this image visit the corresponding page on Where Eagles Fly