Red Mountain Pass

by Terry Cunningham

For over a century, the veins of silver and gold that stripe the mountains of Southwestern Colorado have attracted speculators and profiteers of all stripes. Red Mountain Pass is a tale of how a combustible mix of greed and desperation can force seemingly rational beings to commit irrational acts in the name of self-preservation. Piloting a snowplow around a hairpin turn during a snowstorm in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, the plow driver can’t stop in time and sweeps a vehicle off the Million Dollar Highway and into the Uncompahgre Gorge. The vehicle’s owner can’t be found, which sets off a frantic search that encompasses isolated mountain passes, mining tunnels, and the most avalanche-prone highway in America. Meanwhile, Dr. Jim Philips recovers consciousness to find that he’s been kidnapped and sequestered in a remote, crumbling shack atop Imogene Pass (at 13,114 feet) by an unscrupulous business partner - and he’s slowly freezing to death. His only hope for survival is that a reclusive war veteran and a Telluride florist can team up to discover his whereabouts and rescue him before brutal winter conditions – or his equally brutal business partner – spell his demise.

352 pages, Paperback

Published February 18, 2020

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a first-time novel, I thought this was really good. Interesting characters and interesting setting. The story really kept me interested and I liked the depth the author added about mining, snowplowing and avalanches. I hope the author is considering another book!

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great story, full of great characters, edge of your chair action and sense of place, in this case Colorado’s San Juan mountains. For those of us who live in the Mountain West, his descriptions of winter road conditions, avalanche dangers and snowstorms definitely ring true. This is a first novel, written in the late 1990s. The author has provided several photos of various sites in the novel at https://www.redmountainpass.com/
For the interesting backstory and how it came to life see
https://www.kbzk.com/news/local-news/...
Would make a great movie!