Sawatch Range Sawatch Range The Sawatch Range is a high and extensive mountain range in central Colorado which includes eight of the twenty highest peaks in the Rocky Mountains, including Mount Elbert, at elevation, the highest peak in the Rockies. The range is oriented along a northwest-southeast axis, extending approximately from in the north to in the south. The range contains 15 peaks topping , also known as 14ers. The range forms a portion of the Continental Divide, and its eastern flanks are drained by the headwaters of the Arkansas River. The western side of the range feeds the headwaters of the
Mount Elbert of gneiss and schist. Unlike mountains of similar altitude elsewhere, Elbert lacks both a permanent snowpack and a prominent north-facing cirque, which can be attributed to its position among other mountains of similar height, causing it to receive relatively small quantities of precipitation. Mount Elbert was named by miners in honor of Samuel Hitt Elbert, the governor of the then-Territory of Colorado, because he brokered a treaty in September 1873 with the Ute tribe that opened up more than of reservation land to mining and railroad activity. The first recorded ascent of the peak was by H.W. Stuckle in 1874,