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But on the other side of Ouray it doesn't look like the Alps at all -- Montrose area. It's only comparable for tiny pockets. The Rockies are probably a lot more similar to Central Asian mountains than the alps, like the ones in Mongolia and the Stans.
The Rockies remind me of a smaller version of the Andes.
Going by looks alone, the northern Cascades certainly bear a resemblance, but the Rockies are close and have the population density/distribution along with a good representation of the sporting lifestyle/resort culture.
Economically, I strongly associate the Alps with dairy, but that is not well represented in either of those two ranges quite the way it is in the Alps.
If the northern Cascades were in Wisconsin, we might have a winner :-)
None of our mountain ranges look like the alps. They're all a bit different. They don't have the rolling pastures and major cities in between, and except for the Cascades they're not as steep. Very often the valleys between the mountains in the west are empty deserts. The Rockies, Sierras, and Cascades are equally beautiful though.
The Appalachians would be the equivalent of the Black Forest, the Scottish Highlands, or some of the other lower, more eroded mountain ranges in Europe.
The Alps are often seen as the most iconic mountains in Europe, with their tall snowy peaks, their high quality skiing as well as a cultural unity shared across central Europe which is largely German in origin. What do you feel is America's equivalent to the Alps? I would say the Rockies in terms of looks and skiing, but the Appalachians in the sense that they have their own distinct trans-regional culture that has grown in and around the mountains. Overall, I'd say the Rockies. I'm planning to spend Christmas with my SO's foster family so we'll be driving across those beautiful Rockies and I'm definitely excited.
Note: When I ask about the cultural identity of the mountains, I'm not asking which is more similar to the culture of Bavaria or Switzerland, but the mountains that have a distinct cultural identity in America, just like the Alps do in Europe.
We don't have an answer to the Alps, period.
When one looks at the Alps, you are looking at valleys so deep with mountains soaring above those valleys. We are talking mountain prominence here. The US has nothing to answer the Alps. The Rockies are far too rounded or have very high valleys. The Sierra Nevada mountains and the Cascades have a few examples, but nothing like the Alps. The Alps were more glaciated and are steeper and deeper and more impressive to look at.
For example, Denver is at 5,000ft and the Rockies top out at 14,000ft, but Denver is far away from those peaks. Once you get into the mountains west of Denver, the difference between the valley floor and the peaks are more like 2,000 to 3,000ft at most, while more like 5,000 to 7,000ft in the Alps. There are valleys in the Alps where the mountains rise 8,000 feet up from the valley floor, and the mountains are very steep.
That doesn't happen here. Why do you think the movie Cliffhanger was filmed in the Alps and was supposed to be the Rockies. Because the Rockies don't look nearly as impressive in film.
And I'm not talking volcanic peaks like Mt. Ranier which stands alone. I'm talking mountain ranges with beautiful green valleys and mountains that rise straight up from those valleys. A single volcanic peak standing alone is not as impressive.
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