Mount Massive Mount Massive Mount Massive is the second-highest summit of the Rocky Mountains of North America and the U.S. state of Colorado. The prominent fourteener of the Sawatch Range is located in the Mount Massive Wilderness of San Isabel National Forest, west-southwest (bearing 247°) of the City of Leadville in Lake County, Colorado, United States. Mount Massive edges out the third-highest summit of the Rockies, Mount Harvard, by , but falls short of Mount Elbert by . It ranks as the third-highest peak in the contiguous United States after Mount Whitney and Mount Elbert. Mount Massive was first surveyed and climbed
Mount Elbert head with the Mount Massive supporters building large piles of stones on the summit to boost its height, only to have the Mount Elbert proponents demolish them. The effort was ultimately unsuccessful and Mount Elbert has remained the highest peak in Colorado. The first motorized ascent of Elbert occurred in 1949, when a Jeep was driven to the summit, apparently to judge suitability for skiing development. The summit of Mount Elbert is an alpine environment, featuring plants such as "Phacelia sericea" (sky-pilot), "Hymenoxys grandiflora" (old-man-of-the-mountain), and "Geum rossii" (alpine avens). Also noted are "Carex atrata" var. "pullata", "Salix desertorum", "Platanthera