HCl and HF vertical mixing ratio (VMR) profiles have been retrieved from very high resolution, ground-based infrared solar absorption spectra taken from Denver, Colorado. The VMR profile retrieval is based on an iterative inversion algorithm, which incorporates a line-by-line layer-by-layer calculation for the forward model. The method has been successfully applied to both simulated and measured solar spectra. The HCl and HF profiles retrieved from the ground-based solar spectra are compared with the profiles measured by the UARS Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) instrument for the same day near 40 ¿N latitude. The ground-based HF profile agrees very well with the HALOE results. The HCl profiles agree with HALOE within the combined of error limits but are higher by 5 to 20%. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1996