This remarkable bird's-eye view of the Colorado Rockies was created by notable artist and geographer Hal Shelton. It extends from the Front Range west to beyond Grand Junction and presents the mountainous terrain with stunning detail and locates numerous ski resorts including Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Vail, Aspen Snowmass, Crested Butte and more. The view utilized a new technique for illustrating elevation called natural color cartography, in which the map is colored to resemble the true landscape along with shading to emphasize elevation change. During the 1950s and 60s, the U.S. ski industry exploded, and the state trade association, Colorado Ski Country USA, needed an illustration to feature their membership. Shelton took on the project as a moonlighting opportunity and his creation was an instant success. Shelton's work became the standard view for the association, with many new ski areas added over the coming years. This 1967 edition is one of the earliest examples of this famous illustration.

Hal Shelton (1916-2004) worked for the U.S. Geological Survey (1938-49) before being hired by Jeppesen & Company, the leading publisher of maps for the aviation industry. In 1950, Jeppesen started publishing Shelton's natural color maps and the technique took off in popularity. Shortly thereafter, the firm licensed these maps to other map publishing firms including Rand McNally and H.M. Gousha and continued to do so over the next two decades. In 1997, Shelton was honored by the Library of Congress as one of "the four greatest living American mapmakers."

References: Brown (IMCOS #173) pp. 18-31.

Condition: A

Clean and colorful with minimal wear along the sheet edges.