Mount Elbert, in Colorado, is the highest peak of the Rocky Mountains.
The summit reaches 14,440 feet (4,401 metres) in Colorado’s Sawatch Range, near Leadville. It is also Colorado’s highest point and the highest summit in the contiguous United States after California’s Mount Whitney. Elbert lies within the San Isabel National Forest.
The mountain was named for Samuel Hitt Elbert, Colorado’s territorial governor from 1873 to 1874. Henry W. Stuckle made the first recorded ascent in 1874 while working with the Hayden Survey. Despite its height, the popular northeast-ridge route is often graded Class 1 to 2, earning Elbert the nickname “gentle giant.”
Mount Massive, immediately to the north, is a frequent source of confusion because it is nearly as tall. A nineteenth- and twentieth-century rivalry even led supporters of Mount Massive to build stone piles on its summit. Modern measurements and elevation-datum adjustments leave Mount Elbert clearly recognized as the Rockies’ highest summit.